Gloria Steinem opened the door. Now women need a seat at the table

When David Grinberg’s 22-year-old daughter, Ily, started her career in wealth management in Chicago this summer, he was thrilled.

But as an M&A attorney at Sidley Austin who has spent years advising entrepreneurs — and as the father of three daughters — he noticed something else: Ily was usually the only woman in the room.

Then, just a couple months into the job, Ily was asked to present part of a proposed wealth plan to a real client.

She nailed it and received terrific feedback from her team.

For David, it was a small but important moment.

Because what he wants for his daughters isn’t complicated: the opportunity to do whatever they are capable of doing, without being held back because they are women.

But he also knows ability alone isn’t always enough.

David, who also serves on Girls With Impact’s Los Angeles board, represents founders and family-owned businesses, many in the beauty and wellness industry and many led by women.

He has watched extraordinarily successful female entrepreneurs build companies worth hundreds of millions of dollars — and still encounter people who second-guess their judgment.

He has seen how important it can be for women entering male-dominated fields to have other women around them: as mentors, sounding boards and examples of what is possible.

When I asked him what young women need most to navigate that world, he came back to one word: confidence.

“The younger someone can start learning skills, the sooner they will understand what they can accomplish and the better they will be,” he told me.

Confidence, he believes, comes from doing something successfully and realizing: I can do that.

Then carrying that belief into the next challenge.