As a slew of tech and Internet companies, from Apple to Twitter, release diversity data showing women are massively underrepresented, and horror stories about sexisim in the VC community abound, it's clear that the tech industry has a gender problem. It's a hot topic among many of the women at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, California. Many here are talking about how to raise the percentage of women who work at, start-up and invest in tech companies.

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A number of the women have talked about what feels like a vicious cycle: Just a small percentage of engineers at tech companies are women, which means there's a smaller pool of women to leave and become entrepreneurs. The problem is on the financing side as well: There are fewer women partners at VC funds, which tend to back more male entrepreneurs. Until there are more women trained as engineers—which could take years to happen—this seems like an unbreakable cycle of limited opportunity for women to break through to the next level of success in Internet and tech companies.

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But the mood at the Fortune conference, which began Oct. 6 and ends Oct. 8, is optimistic. These leaders are finding opportunities to foster the next generation of power players. And they are starting to see a new level of awareness of the problem, and a shift in perspective, from both men and women. Raytheon's chief information officer, Rebecca Rhoads, says she thinks mentorship is key, as is education. Raytheon is focused on inspiring middle school kids—both boys and girls—interested in math and science. Why middle school? Rhoads says that's when kids start making decisions about what subjects they like and are good at—which could be the key point to seed the next generation of engineers.