I am a woman and I applied for this round along with my male co-founder. I'm moving back to SF from LA at the end of this year, specifically because I recognize it is a better location for my startup. Although I still have a decent network in the Bay Area to tap back into, I do value the mentorship and camaraderie a program like YC could offer an early stage venture. When I described my startup or did a demo of my app for other people at Startup School, I was impressed by the intellectual generosity. People gave a lot of great feedback, freely. Acceptance by YC won’t make or break my startup, but it would make networking and fundraising a little easier as it implies a certain ‘quality’ stamp.

FYI, if you haven’t read it, Illuminate Ventures’ whitepaper on the performance of female founders in tech relative to male founders, it is an interesting read: http://www.illuminate.com/whitepaper/. You’ll have to request the whitepaper via email, but they respond quickly.