Entrepreneurship is undeniably affected by gender issues, because, to some extent, women’s work is conditioned by gender. In many cases women executives and workers make less money than men, and double standards are almost innumerable. In this context, Pantene, a company produces beauty products, recently made an advert criticizing gender based discrimination in an ironic way: a man in a position of power is “the boss” or a leader, a woman is simply bossy; a man that looks after himself is clean, a woman is vain; a father that choses to work full time is dedicated, a woman is selfish…and the list goes on. In fact, stereotyping of women’s’ role in the workplace and beyond is deeply rooted in many societies.
These issues affect women entrepreneurs in Latin American. Beliefs and values affect every facet of life: from business to high schools, where young women are profiled to go into humanities, arts and design rather than to science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors. In Mexico, most of the 4 million female entrepreneurs work in services, commerce and consulting while just a few Mexican women entrepreneurs are in sectors that handle technology based projects.
Once they decide to take the leap to become business owners, women face other challenges, including access to funding, which might be the biggest of all challenges. Raising funds is a challenge for any entrepreneur, and can be more challenging for women: some 90 per cent of investors are men and women receive less than 12 per cent of all venture capital investment globally.
So, what’s missing?
Angélica Rodriguez from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in a recent article for Forbes asked: “What does Mexico need to propel female entrepreneurs into exploring new sectors, outside their traditional areas of focus when creating new ventures?” She looked at general aspects that apply to both women and men, like the presence of coordinated systems with good links between universities and research centres and provision of support for businesses development. Then she went on to highlight specific issues related to women. She argued that is imperative to empower women to embrace their technological capacity, their ability to take risks and step outside their comfort zone and, above all, to raise a generation of women that has systems in place to support pioneering women entrepreneurs.
The task is immense and, in many ways, it is in the hands of youth. Promoting a shift in beliefs must start in schools and workplaces as well as in homes and social groups. Changing in beliefs by challenging stereotypes will result in an increase of women working and creating enterprises in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
All in all, empowering young women can and will change the world into a better place, pushing humanity forward but, in the words of Isabel Allende, we need to be “working together linked, informed and educated” and it all starts with today’s youth.
About the Author:
Rocío Paniagua is the co-founder of Ronin Public Relations, a company focused on technological projects. In 2012 she represented Mexican women at the UN’s regional leaders’ forum, where she spoke about entrepreneurship, technology and gender. She currently covers the Mexican startup and tech scenes in TechCrunch and is part of the StartupBus crew. Follow her on twitter: www.twitter.com/lachinous
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Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world attend the session. Read the NGO advisories.
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Want to know more?
Email: goyrexec@gmail.com; Blog: theyouthreps.wordpress.com; Twitter: @theyouthreps
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To read the full report,click here.
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