MADEUS
Where there are no chairs at the table,
women must create their own seats.
SEE ME, I SEE GREATER
Like Ciara, other women are leveling
up by creating and owning their own
businesses. More than 11 million U.S.
firms are now owned by women,
employing nearly 9 million people
and generating $1.7 trillion in sales,
according to data reported by the
National Association of Women
Business Owners (NAWBO).
NAWBO reported that 5.4 million firms
are majority-owned by women of color
in the U.S., and those firms employ 2.1
million people and generate $361 billion
in revenues annually. Women-owned
businesses are bringing home the bacon,
but they’re still doing more with less.
Forbes recently reported in an article
that, “a 2018 survey from graphic design
company 99designs of more than
3,000 men and women entrepreneurs
worldwide uncovered the surprising
number of challenges women
entrepreneurs face. According to the
study, surveyed male entrepreneurs
were twice as likely to raise $100,000
or more of outside funding for their
startups than female entrepreneurs.”
The article goes on to report, “Further,
a recent study by Guidant Financial
shows business loan approval rates
for women are 15-20 percent lower
than they are for men. The top funding
method for women entrepreneurs
remains an SBA loan, which, while
useful, may not yield a huge influx of
start-up capital.”
It would seem sisters could do it for
themselves by becoming the venture
capitalists that invest in women-owned
businesses. But, the data there is
disheartening too.
According to an article from the
Harvard Business Review, “Over the
past several years, the U.S. has seen
an increase in the number of female
venture capitalists (from 3 percent of all
VCs in 2014 to an estimated 7 percent
today), but the funding gap has only
widened.”
The article goes on to show, “Female
entrepreneurs receive only about 2
percent of all venture funding, despite
owning 38 percent of the businesses in
the country.”
Arguments for gender-blind financing,
increased diversity training, and
improved government loan programs
could and have all been made
for leveling the playing field for
women. The challenge is turning the
arguments into actions.
THE FUTURE IS STILL FEMALE
In September, the video game
streaming service Twitch announced
its C-suite team was majority women.
A rare and groundbreaking moment
for women, especially women in tech.
Such moments give hope to women
that there are people in places and
policies in motion just for us.To
name a couple, there is the Paycheck
Fairness Act and the 100x25 Advocacy
Initiative. The Paycheck Fairness
Act is before Congress and if put in
motion
would prohibit employers from
retaliating against employees who
discuss their wages and prohibit
screening of job applicants based on
their salary histories. The Rockefeller
Foundation’s 100×25 initiative aims
get more women to the C-suite. The
goal is to have have 100 Fortune 500
women CEOs by 2025.
Sisters, and brothers, the path ahead
may not always be illuminated. But,
hold on to hope that it is indeed
bright. Continue to arm yourself with
information and engage yourself in the
fight for equality.
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