Boardroom bootcamps and other gender stories of the week

Welcome to your weekly digest of stories about how the gender gap plays out around the world – in business, health, education and politics.

Is the gender gap finally closing? Millennials are surprisingly optimistic. (World Economic Forum)

But female scientists still struggle to reach the top. We have to stop accommodating them and start offering genuine life choices.(World Economic Forum)

What’s pushing women out of STEM? Spoiler: it’s not about pipeline or personal choices (Harvard Business Review)

How to build a gender-balanced tech company. “What’s depressing is, it really isn’t hard to do,” says one CEO. (Fortune)

Sheryl Sandberg’s boardroom bootcamp. A two-day drill for women and minorities. (Bloomberg)

Is it time for boardroom quotas? The cases for and against.(Financial Times)

How to sell mole to New Yorkers. Teaching women the secrets of entrepreneurship. (World Economic Forum) 

What happens when women speak up? They’re seen as incompetent and unsuited for leadership. (Recode)

Rural women in Tunisia make their voices heard. “We have been silent for a long time, today we want to act.” (Guardian)

The Egyptian woman who passed as a man for 42 years. It started as a way to beat working restrictions. (New York Times)

Interview with a murderer. A woman who spent most of her life in the unspeakably brutal Russian prison system. (Open Democracy)

In 40 years, little has changed for Ethiopian women. A culture of belittling women has exposed them to despicable crimes. (Addis Fortune)

Michelle Obama’s girlie dresses. A lesson in how to erase a stereotype. (New York Times)

Feminism isn’t about whether to ‘go natural’ or making the first move. It’s about breaking down power structures. (Guardian)

Angelina Jolie will get Hollywood talking about the menopause. Right now, the ‘change’ is barely mentioned. (Quartz)

Statistic of the Week

93% of the pay gap between male and female executives is rooted in incentive pay, according to a new study.

Quote of the Week

“I have told my story, and thousands of people have heard it. If I’ve helped level the playing field for women and minorities in venture capital, then the battle was worth it.”

Ellen Pao, who this week lost her landmark gender bias case.

Author: Saadia Zahidi is a Senior Director, Head of Gender Parity and Human Capital and Constituents at the World Economic Forum.

Image: Women laugh on the Bund, on the banks of the Huangpu River, in Shanghai September 3, 2009. REUTERS/Aly Song