Are You Doing Enough to Promote Equality for Women in the Workplace?

More women are getting a quality education, achieving high-level positions and starting their own businesses than ever before. In fact, in the education arena, significantly more women than men are graduating college, causing a bit of a graduation gender gap.

However, that said, there still is a discrepancy in the number of women cracking the C-level "glass ceiling" compared with their male counterparts and there are far fewer CEOs across all industries. While organizations always should be extremely conscious in making sure they have created an equal opportunity work environment for all, Women’s History Month is as good a time as any to put a spotlight on the subject and evaluate the demographics within your own organization.

The technology sector has been a leader in this space—many high-profile companies have completely shattered the glass ceiling, with women not only in line-of-business managerial roles but also the CEO slot. Hewlett-Packard did it with Carly Fiorina years ago. eBay and then HP did it with Meg Whitman. Then there is Carol Bartz, former CEO of Autodesk and Yahoo!. Anne Mulcahy was CEO of Xerox. And most recently, Yahoo! appointed Marissa Mayer its CEO. And there are many more examples.

These women and many others laid the difficult groundwork for others to follow. But not every businesswoman is cut out to be a CEO, just as not every man is. Regardless, organizations need to look at its structure from top to bottom and evaluate if they are balanced and giving women the same opportunities as men. This includes the CFO, CIO, CMO and even chief legal counsel positions.

For women entrepreneurs, however, there still exists some disparity between their ability to raise the same amount of capital to start a business compared with men, according to the Small Business Administration. As a result the SBA is offering women resources and tools to help get them going.

Throughout the year, the SBA works to provide services for women entrepreneurs and identify opportunities to empower them to start and grow businesses. As a part of this effort, the SBA counsels and trains approximately 500,000 women through its partner network specifically its Women’s Business Center.

This month alone the administration is hosting three different educational Twitter chats specifically designed for businesswomen—“Office Hours,” March 12 from 2-3 p.m. Eastern;  “How to Sell Online,” March 19 from 2-3 p.m. Eastern; and, “‘STEM and Growing Hi–Tech Firms,” March 24 from 2-2:30 Eastern.

The SBA also is helping businesswomen access capital more easily. In fact, between 2009 and 2013, the SBA made 57,831 loans worth $17.2 billion to women-owned businesses, the agency said. In 2013 alone, SBA made $3.8 billion in capital available to women, a 31 percent increase since 2009. It also improved its policies around underwriting loans worth $350,000 or less, which will allow for more loans to women-owned businesses.

This month is Women’s History Month. Take a look at your organization and evaluate if you have truly removed the glass ceiling and provided the same opportunities.