Business Women Breaking Old Systematic Constraints (5 of Series 3)

In 1988, Congress passed the Women’s Business Ownership Act for the first time. This abolished laws requiring “male relatives” as co-signers of business and loan documents. A male co-signer can be anyone, from a husband to an uncle to a son. This prevented women from starting their own businesses. 1988 was not so long ago. Unraveling the layers of the past takes time. Within 30 years, the number of women-owned businesses has grown from her 4.1 million to her 12.3 million, and her four-tenths of U.S. businesses are female-owned. We should be proud of how far we’ve come, and these stats only tell part of the story. Most women-owned businesses are small businesses and there are still many internal and external barriers facing women.

Business veteran Kym Gold co-founded True Religion Jeans in 2002 and launched his latest business, Style Union Home, in 2020. “Wow, women in business have evolved dramatically during my time in the business world. Early in my career, I faced discrimination of all kinds. As a major shareholder, I was underappreciated and underappreciated.My ideas were consistently dismissed or rejected by entirely white, male boards.Worse, men said, “She Many times I whispered comments such as “Are you on your period?” I can’t even think it happened. Members of the board have since apologized, which shows evolution and shows that we’ve come a long way. You no longer need to shout to be heard, and today’s companies are full of diverse people. ”

Michelle Cordeiro Grant, Founder and CEO of LIVELY and GORGIE added: It felt like survival of the fittest instead of supporting each other and raising the whole group. Since then it has subsided. Because there is a growing sense that the more we lift each other up, the more prosperous we all become. ”

The paradigm of the past was to lead primarily by masculinity. In the past, women felt they had to cut off their femininity in order to fit into a male-dominated system. Times have changed and in today’s reality this kind of leadership is not the most effective. Society has evolved beyond rigid adherence to the gender roles we were born into. We are moving towards a balanced dynamism. Having the ability to access both qualities creates multidimensionality and great adaptability. For more insight into feminine and masculine qualities, see Feminine and masculine work dynamics.

There are real efforts to expand female entrepreneurship, and women are still cutting into social structures historically designed asymmetrically for men. Redesigning social structures to meet the needs of both genders requires a joint effort by men and women. Turning the tide into a fair one requires awareness of the entanglement of our past and patience with the future we want to create. An equitable future is still being explored. It takes both women and men to build this prosperous future. Equality means knowing that everyone has different experiences, needs, and gifts to offer. We must stop trying to be like each other and start embracing equality by celebrating our differences. Every step we take to acknowledge and respect people’s efforts based on merit rather than bias is essential. not.