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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Female founders get 2% of all venture capital funding, a proportion that’s remained virtually stagnant for years.

There’s no disputing this statistic (though we can and should start talking more about how mixed-gender founding teams aren’t included in that statistic). However, in a moment when I’ve been getting questions from readers and other women about signs of progress for women, I think it’s worth talking about a related fact that doesn’t get as much daylight: the proportion of angel investors who are women has drastically increased over the last 20 years.

Loretta McCarthy, the co-CEO of angel investor network Golden Seeds, is celebrating her organization’s 20th anniversary this year. At an event in midtown Manhattan last night, she noted that when Golden Seeds was founded in 2004, just 5% of all angels in the U.S. were women. Today, that number stands at 47% (according to UNH’s Center for Venture Research). That, to me, is real progress, and McCarthy agrees. “Women have learned that they too—we too—have the skills, the capital, and also the professional networks to do this invigorating work,” she said.

To qualify as an angel investor, you do have to meet the accredited investor thresholds—which include a minimum net worth of $1 million (excluding your primary........

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