Career progression and work-life balance difficulties are the top concerns of women working in venture capital who have or plan to have children, according to a new report by WVC:E, a global community for women in VC.
The study, which examined the challenges of navigating VC as a mother, finds that 71% of the surveyed women are concerned about returning to work in the industry after their maternity leave; 84% are worried about the amount of time off and level of pay during parental leave; and 61% expressed concerns about the long-term sustainability of working in venture capital and parenting.
Despite gradual progress in recent years, with over 350 female partners in Europe, VC is still a heavily male-dominated industry. Women make up a third of investing teams and represent only 16% of European general partners, according to a report from European Women in VC.
“The concerning stats in this [WVC:E] report should be a wake-up call for the VC industry where parents, particularly women, have been massively let down,” says Check Warner, cofounding partner of Ada Ventures and cofounder of Diversity VC — a non-profit that promotes diversity in VC across Europe, the US and Latin America.
The report also suggests women in VC who either are mothers or are planning to have children have myriad concerns, ranging from promotion opportunities to establishing boundaries at work, such as when attending evening events. This is evident with 79% of respondents feeling there was room for improvement in their return to the workplace.
“Unfortunately, the findings in this report chime with the stories of numerous women who have children when working in VC and have felt completely unsupported by the funds they work for,” Warner adds. “This is a big missed opportunity, as VC should be compatible with having a family.”
The report, which is titled ‘Investing in women: The untold stories of women in VC’, surveyed 120 women in VC from almost 20 countries — 80% of them already being mothers — and funds ranging from less than €50m to upwards of €500m.