Last week, Bret wrote a post on Gender Diversity in the Workplace and I wanted to write a follow-up to that from a female perspective as I’ve noticed this point being brought up several times in the past few weeks.

Particularly in the Silicon Valley area where the world revolves around tech, diversity figures are still pretty dismal. However, I believe that the key to balancing this equation lies in increasing the talent pool in male-dominated fields and recently, several companies have been taking action to make this happen. A few months ago, Procter & Gamble’s Always feminine hygiene brand launched their #LikeAGirl campaign that speaks out about young girls’ capabilities being downplayed by this phrase by society and how we need to change this way of thinking, especially with girls at an impressionable age. GoldieBlox is a relatively new toy company funded by Kickstarter two years ago that aims to inspire an interest in engineering in girls from a young age.

There are several other initiatives that are spurring the move towards a more gender diverse workforce. Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, authored Lean In  which was written to inspire and empower women in the workforce. Most recently, supermodel Gisele Bundchen signed on to be a spokeswoman for Under Amour and was featured in an advertisement showing that women need to grow a thick skin and be tough.

The internet has allowed women to take a stand and make their voices heard. We have learned that female empowerment sells, but we also are walking a fine line between making sure that our purpose is achieved instead of turning it into a fad. And while I see that gender diversity in the workplace is unbalanced, just take a look at Megan Smith, the first female CTO of the United States. I believe it’s safe to say that women are strong-arming the glass ceiling at a pretty good pace.

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For further reading, check out Soft Feminism.