When my Masthead Media co-founder Julie and I were in the process of launching our content marketing company back in 2011, we'd heard that it could be a lot tougher for women to secure funding for their businesses than men.

Research shows that investors tend to back entrepreneurs who have similar backgrounds to their own, so if a female entrepreneur is pitching to a room of all-male VCs, she's already working at a big disadvantage.

"When there aren't women in the room, there isn't anyone to see the entrepreneur's business from a female point of view," said Racheal Cook, business growth strategist for women entrepreneurs.

A separate study published in Harvard Business Review also found that VCs tend to be biased in how they frame their questions, asking male entrepreneurs about the potential for growth and female entrepreneurs about the likelihood of losses. .

Helping women get more funding isn't simply good for that would-be business owner: Providing women with adequate and equitable funding benefits everyone since women are more likely to take money earned from their business and invest it back into their community