Even for professions that require serious smarts, "explicitly linking success to raw intellectual aptitude is likely to discourage participation by women because—despite being as intellectually capable as men—women will nevertheless interpret such messages through the lens of the current stereotypes."

TEQuitable is among a wave of businesses emerging in the wake of widespread revelations of sexual misconduct in workplaces. The startups, many of which have female founders or co-founders, want to disrupt a costly and persistent problem. A Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll this fall reported that nearly half of women say they have been sexually harassed at work, and the financial stakes for employers are substantial.

The credit risk of women-owned firms that are six or more years old are indistinguishable from their male counterparts, according to Small Business Credit Survey Report on Women-Owned Firms. The under-capitalization of women-owned firms places significant limits on their growth. Women’s activism to correct this injustice has been building, as evidenced by the rising tide of financing options for women entrepreneurs. Now, the #MeToo movement could bring a tidal wave of funding as women are inspired to stand up and speak out against sexism.

But it has become clear that masking is, at best, a partial solution. While it might allow more women to get through interview rounds, there is little evidence that it would get more women hired. In fact, the low-tech version of masking — removing names from résumés — has been tried, without much documented success.

Reflecting on my career in the wake of the ongoing, important discussions about gender imbalance in tech, I believe there are four groups critical to bucking the brogrammer culture and encouraging women in STEM.

Over the years, I have realised that gender stereotypes still very much exist in our professional environments, albeit in a subtle manner. No longer do you hear outright opinions of what men and women ‘should’ do. Instead, views are put across with a famous tag that people hide behind – “Just kidding!” Snide remarks and sniggers behind the back may have replaced in-your-face comments, but it only goes to show that the very stereotypes we were trying to throw out the window have only been hidden out of sight.

Experts point to bystander intervention as a way to fight sexual harassment. They say it may even be more effective than traditional harassment training, which uses videos and quizzes that research shows are focused on companies trying to avoid legal liability in place of effective prevention. Supporters of bystander intervention say it targets the norms around harassment and empowers bystanders to step in when they witness bad behavior.

In line with discussing the transgressions of popular, influential individuals, today’s whistleblowers also appeal to journalists who pride themselves on holding people in power accountable. Some women have lawyers to shoulder their cases and choose to remain anonymous. Even still, by pursuing allegations against prominent, powerful individuals, they draw media attention because it is hard to keep investigations quiet when the accused is high-profile and forced to take a leave of absence or is fired. At this moment in time when it comes to politics, nothing is believed and everything is debated, but women are able to seize the moment and lead conversations about sexual assault. But are women supported and respected enough to become whistleblowers on issues other than sexual assault?

“Regardless of who you work for, you will run into the same people over and over again who will not want to work with you just because you reported harassment. In most cases women become unemployable because of it.”

Initially, IPPR says, automation could narrow the gender pay gap since it would displace women from jobs that tend to earn below-average pay. (According to the latest OECD data, the gender wage gap in the U.K. is 17.1%; in the U.S., it’s 18.9%.) But that progress would remain only if displaced women re-entered the labor market at around the new average salary for their gender. That’s unlikely, IPPR says. Some industries dominated by women (such as retail or child and elderly care) are seeing less investment in productivity-raising technology, perhaps because the current human labor is so cheap.

An M.B.A. education is no longer just about finance, marketing, accounting and economics. As topics like sexual harassment dominate the national conversation and chief executives weigh in on the ethical and social issues of the day, business schools around the country are hastily reshaping their curriculums with case studies ripped straight from the headlines.