100 Women challenge: Breaking the glass ceiling

1. A team of women in Silicon Valley have spent a week trying to tackle a problem - the glass ceiling
2. Their innovations were unveiled at an event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California
3. BBC 100 Women names 100 influential and inspirational women around the world every year
4. Upcoming challenges are tackling female illiteracy (Delhi); improving public transport safety for women (London); and challenging sexism in sport (Rio de Janeiro)

Your thoughts on the glass ceiling challenge

Who else is on the team?

There are members of #teamlead all over the world - including Amy Cuddy.

She's a social psychologist, body language expert and has one of the most-watched TED talks of all time.

If you can have a ping-pong table...

BBC

African-American women get labeled as angry if they "lean-in", whereas Asian or white women don't, says Rumman Chowdhury, who works in artificial intelligence and is part of our team. She also has something to say about tech companies' priorities...

Reality Check

Do women on boards increase profits?

"Having women on company boards leads to better financial performance" came the headlines from report after report, highlighting a business statistic guaranteed to capture the imagination and prompt debate.

What better way to encourage companies to focus on equality and diversity than to make them think of their bottom line?

In the UK, the 30% Club was set up in 2010 with the aim of having women make up at least 30% of the members on every board.

Of course, there are many other - and some say better - reasons to argue for gender equality, but we wanted to look at whether this broadly accepted claim is true - does having more women on the board really mean the company makes more money?

Read more here.

A glass ceiling - or a broken ladder?

Are women hitting a glass ceiling, or are they also climbing a broken ladder?

What not to say in the workplace

Sasha Perigo, a student at Stanford, had an unpleasant experience at a small start-up where she did an internship.

She says a male engineer said to her: "If we ever said anything rapey to you, you could just tell us."

Your thoughts via WhatsApp

BBC Outside Source

Here's what listeners had to say about the glass ceiling:

Nadia, in Bangladesh, says that women need to believe in themselves in order to be confident.

She says that as a teacher, she has noticed that "many strong women like to introduce themselves as the sons of their parents, rather than daughters".

In order for girls to be proud, their parents and teachers must motivate them, but women also need to know they "are unique" and that "you can, when many say you can't".

Ben, in South Africa, argues that the most important thing needed to smash the glass ceiling is "equal salary and equal positions" for women in the workplace.

Diane, in Jamaica, meanwhile says that the term "confidence gap" is in itself problematic.

"Everything women do must be compared to or in reference to men," she says. "I don't quite understand why and I think that's part of the problem."

She adds that education is an important tool, especially in skills like negotiation that can help women in the workplace.

'We shouldn't point fingers'

Bill Reichert of Garage Ventures says companies need to implement change.

That means you cannot put it on the shoulders of the individual to be responsible for speaking up, for figuring out tactics and tips. You should learn tactics and tips, for speaking out and stepping out - but if you want to build a highly successful company... you've got to create a culture in which the opinions of everyone on the team are solicited."

Bill ReichertVenture capitalist

The rubber chicken solution

Fatuma Kayembe from Atlassian works in an office where they bring a rubber chicken into meetings.

When someone dominates the conversation, the chicken is squeezed and a squeaky noise lets them know they should give up the floor

Silicon Valley doesn't represent diversity

'We want to change bro culture'

Roya Ramezani, one of our #teamlead members, says the group has already narrowed down their priorities for the glass ceiling challenge.

She says they want to come up with innovations that help to change Silicon Valley's "bro culture", and help women become more confident.

Could it be a tech-based solution, our host Nuala McGovern asks?

Roya says yes, they want one innovation geared towards men and one geared towards women.

Our partner Ozy is live-streaming the discussion on Facebook.

'Higher bar for women everywhere in tech'

Lori Nishiura Mackenzie says that research at the Clayman Institute has shown that when venture capitalists evaluate an idea, there is little problem for women entrepreneurs. But the issue is when they evaluate the entrepreneurs themselves.

"There is a higher bar for women everywhere in tech," she says.

Diversity consultant Marilyn Loden agrees.

"Hyper masculine culture has pervaded most companies in Silicon Valley... and has spawned a lot of myths about who the brilliant people are," she says.

Your ideas on smashing the glass ceiling

Getty Images

You have been sending us your ideas on how to tackle the glass ceiling holding back women in the work place.

Here are some of your ideas:

'Boys need to be taught about equality' - Anna, Philippines

In our country, gender biases are still the norm. The pressure for women to do it all while working, and men to just work is ridiculous.

A lot of insensitive sexual comments about women are still discussed in boardrooms as jokes and I have to get the guys to stop. Or reverse it towards them...

It's a culture that can only be sorted through education at a young age. Boys need to be taught about equality and girls need to know they can be more than mothers or homemakers.

'Young female academics should mentor men' - Katarzyna, Switzerland

How about establishing a mentoring program linking young female academics to older male academics?

We can change the existing direction of mentoring from female (mentee) - male (mentor), to female being a mentor and male becoming a mentee learning how to "stand in the shoes" of a female in academia.

Read more ideas.

The discussion takes an unpredictable turn

Are you guilty of mansplaining?

Or are you simply a bropriator?

Here's a guide to not being hated in an office meeting.

100 Women: Mansplaining, mansplained

Everyone should help in a meeting

Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, head of the Clayman Institute of Gender Research at Stanford University, who is on the 100 Women Glass Ceiling challenge team, says it is not just down to quieter women to speak up.

"I think it's the team leader's responsibility" to enable that, she says.

Speaking up in meetings

The panelists are discussing speaking up in meetings.

Erin Akinci, a data scientist for Asana, says she feels more comfortable raising her voice when meetings are full of women.

In a 45-minute meeting, filmed by the BBC, she did not speak once.

"I wish I had more things to say!" she says.

Shellye Archambeau advises that women who are nervous about speaking in meetings should plan what they are going to say in advance. Meanwhile Marilyn Loden suggests: "Think about if there are any allies in that meeting."

Trouble in the tech industry

Silicon Valley is the front line in the battle for gender equality in the workplace. A recent study showed just one in 10 senior positions here are held by women.

In June came the resignation of the CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick – whose troubles began when a former employee made allegations of sexual harassment at the firm.

Then in August an engineer from Google was sacked after writing a memo arguing that women were less suited to leadership and engineering jobs than men.

All this rings true for Sasha and Lea. They are starting their careers in tech in Silicon Valley and have already experienced routine sexism in some of the smaller firms where they’ve been interns. This is their story.

Lea and Sasha are starting on their professional journey and are already battle-scarred

'I coined the term glass ceiling'

Marilyn Loden says yes, it's true, she coined the term "glass ceiling" way back in 1978.

Our host Nuala McGovern notes that while the term has been around for 40 years, our team has just one week to find a way to tackle it.

Yes I’m embarrassed to say it’s that long ago."

Marilyn LodenDiversity consultant

The gender gap… and the race gap

Shelley Archambeau from MetricStream gets a big cheer as she points out she’s one of only 0.1% of CEOs in Silicon Valley who are African-American.