Women in the workplace
A generous donation from VMware supports research and greater collaboration between Stanford researchers and business leaders as the answer to long-term, sustainable progress.
Stanford University has launched the VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab, an ambitious research and collaboration initiative that seeks to permanently close the gender divide in the workplace. The lab is made possible by a $15 million gift from a donor-advised fund of VMware, the Palo Alto-based information technology giant that has long embraced open discussions and policies aimed at ensuring women are treated equally on the job.
Stanford sociology professor Shelley Correll will be the director of the VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab. According to Correll, there is both an urgent need for the kind of long-term, evidence-based studies that the new lab will undertake and for the insights they yield to turn into concrete action. “We are calling this new endeavor a ‘lab’ to underscore our goal of creating broad research collaborations that break down barriers across organizational contexts," she said. "It's critical that we close the gap between what is known in academia and what organizations have been doing in practice."