This week, a California law was signed that will require publicly traded companies to include at least one woman on their boards by the end of 2019. And depending on the size of the board, just one woman is not enough—if a board has five directors, two must be women; if a board has six or more directors, three must be women. Companies have until 2021 to get compliant with this portion of the law.

Parity.org is proud to celebrate our first anniversary and thank our supporters, sponsors, and partners, who have all helped make our inaugural year a success. This year, we were able to ring the opening bell at Nasdaq on International Women's Day, speak at the 14,000-attendee Silicon Slopes conference, add to our team, and see the ParityPledge™ signed in four continents.

   —Catalyst. Pyramid: Women in S&P 500 Companies. New York: Catalyst, November 20, 2017 If you were to ask any company what matters most in hiring or promotion decisions, they would probably give an answer that the decision comes down to merit. It’s an unquestioned belief in American culture, as well as in many other places, that hard work and talent are the only keys to success, and that the best employees always get promoted or hired.

No two women, even identical twins, are exactly the same. As a nonprofit that advocates for women, we celebrate the diversity of women across the world. We also recognize that while women face challenges in the workplace, not all women experience the same struggles or biases at work.

On April 26, Nasdaq and Parity.org hosted the Columbia University Gender Parity Innovation Challenge. Students from Columbia University School of Professional Studies and the School of Arts and Sciences were given the opportunity to participate in a challenge to measure gender parity in two industries: universities and the private tech industry. The students had three weeks to complete the challenge before presenting their findings at Nasdaq's headquarters in NYC.

Here are some numbers that might surprise you: last year, companies founded by women accounted for a mere 4.4% of VC deals. If that sounds low, wait until you hear that those female founders only received 2% of all venture capital funding, meaning that when women-led companies did make deals, they received far less funding (less than half) than companies with male founders.

One of the paradoxes of diversity is that a company can have a very diverse workforce without ever hiring a single woman. Because diversity is measured across many different metrics (age, ethnicity, country of origin, religious beliefs, gender, etc.), a company might meet a lot of diversity goals while still omitting women from its executive and board levels. That’s why at Parity.org, we encourage companies to consider representation, not just diversity.

Concerns that the #metoo and the Times Up movements have gone too far are rising. We’re hearing that men are ostracizing women from meetings and not including them in conversations out of fear of being accused of doing the wrong thing. In tandem, the “Pence Rule” – where men will not meet 1:1 with a woman without others present – seems to be growing in popularity.

It’s hard to believe it’s been less than a year since we’ve launched Parity.org. Since last September, we’ve seen nearly 250 organizations sign the ParityPledge, vowing to interview at least one female candidate for every leadership role VP and higher. These organizations span industries – healthcare, technology, retail, education and more. It’s exciting to reflect on the progress we’ve made in such a short time.

For quite some time now, I’ve grappled with the plight of gender disparity I was witnessing firsthand and through the grapevine. While a little over half the U.S. population is women, barely 20 percent of S&P 500 corporate executive teams and board members are females. Women deserve a fair chance at executive positions. So last year, I decided I was going to take a stand and devote my time towards this cause. Taking a page from the NFL playbook, Parity.org was modeled after the Rooney Rule.