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Gender equity for partners in Venture Capital (VC) has reached a major milestone in Canada, one that took decades to accomplish.
Canadian Women in Venture Capital (CWVC), a non-profit dedicated to promoting, retaining and championing female talent in the industry has long been tracking the status of gender parity. An independent study done by CWVC in 2025 found that 50% of Canadian VC firms surveyed had at least one female partner
Reaching this level of gender representation is a milestone, but we're not at the finish line.
CWVC's research reveals a deeper issue. Of firms with a female partner, only 15% have more than one woman at the General Partner (GP) level indicating that investment committees remain to be majority male dominated. To give more women seats at the table, it's important to nurture and retain the junior talent. In CWVC's Mapping Female Talent Report they concluded that 1 in 4 women in Canada have left venture since 2020, an alarming finding indicating that the pipeline to diverse leadership is diminishing.
We know there's a retention challenge in VC, but the bigger question is why? CWVC dug into this and surveyed 200+ investors in Canada to understand their motivations for leaving. The majority noted the lack of growth opportunities as reasons to leave, suggesting that many firms are not effectively creating clear pathways for internal team members to advance into leadership roles on future funds. This is particularly concerning because, without intentional development and advancement pathways, top female talent risks being lost rather than nurtured into the next generation of fund leaders and the data shows this is a reality today.
The issue is clear. We may have women in senior leadership today, but what about tomorrow?
The next question becomes how do we solve the issue of retention for female employees? Outside of career progression discussions, the answer lies within today's current GPs whose role is one of advocacy and sponsorship for the women within their networks. Mentorship is great, but real career change comes from people behind closed doors advocating for younger talents.
Advocacy looks like:
- Seniors championing women inside the organization for promotions
- Creating clear career progression frameworks in GP organizations
- Encouraging upskilling and professional development
- Electing juniors to board observer positions to develop portfolio management skills
This responsibility cannot fall solely on female GPs. We must move beyond the idea that it is only a woman's responsibility to hire or advance other women.
Allyship matters. It is the role of men, just as much as women, to be allies within their organizations and the broader VC community. There are still rooms women are not in, and even in rooms they are they should not be the only one advocating.
The impact of allyship and increasing women's voices is not merely to solve for gender equity, it is better for business. Diversity in capital allocators leads to diverse perspectives that shape how decisions are thought about and made. More women allocating capital is long overdue, and it matters. Capital allocators shape which founders get funded, which ideas scale, and ultimately which companies contribute meaningfully to our economy. Increasing representation at this level has the power to reshape outcomes for funds junior investors and founders alike. In fact, new data from Colibri Institute show that funds with women general partners deliver a 1.6 percent IRR advantage on average, showcasing that female investors have a direct impact on fund performance too. Women don't just bring different perspectives, they contribute to the bottom line.
The milestone is worth celebrating, but the real test is whether we can continue to build systems that ensure women stay and lead for decades to come.