A recent meeting of the National Governor’s Association, hosted by Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, illustrated a problematic disparity: Out of 50 United States Governors, Raimondo is one of only six women, four Republicans and two Democrats.

“People are still a little uncomfortable with women in the top job,” Raimondo said in an interview with Boston Public Radio Thursday. “They’re much more comfortable, I think, with sending a woman to Congress or the Senate, more than governors.”

Before running for governor, Raimondo worked in another male-dominated field — venture capital. Raimondo says she doubts much has changed since then.

“I think it’s probably not much different today than it was, and it is predominately male,” she said. “In the course of my career, I sat on a dozen plus company boards, and almost always, I was the only female. I can count on one hand the amount of times I had a female colleague also on the board, almost always you backed a male CEO.”

Raimondo served as the Vice President of a venture capital firm in Williamstown, and then as the co-founder of Rhode Island’s first venture capital firm, Point Judith Capital. “My firm, small, was all guys,” she said. “If you just pull up the website of any major venture capitol or private equity firm in Boston, you will see a wall of men. It’s just the way it is, and that is a problem.”

The solution lies with executives and firm heads, Raimondo said. “Not to be cavalier about it, but you have to try,” she said. “You have to say, this is a priority, as a firm, we care about diversity, diversity of opinion, diversity of talent, and we’re going to make a greater effort to find talented women, bring them into the firm, mentor them, nurture them, invest in them. It’s not … there’s no magic about it, but it has to be a priority.”

According to Raimondo, the approach for women in politics should be no different. “More women need to run and be in the game, and more men … the leaders of our party, the same way the leaders of a firm, need to care about it, [and] need to try harder," she said.

“You need to find women,” she continued, “encourage them to run, help them raise money, develop a pipeline, and support them in order to run.”

To hear Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo’s full interview with Boston Public Radio, click on the audio link above.