Various Factors That Affect the Women in Their Entrepreneurship - Example

BUSINESS Introduction In the recent past, the labor force participation within the women has increased significantly. Women have now endeavored in doing business and these desires have also developed the economies since the 1950s.According to recent research about 48% of employees in urbanized economies, 66% of women, compared to 80% of men, are economically empowered. However, this is not shown in the various levels of women who are in self employment by having their own businesses. (Barnett, 1988) There are about 3.6 Billion women across the globe since the year 2013, nevertheless the World Economic Forum has reported that most nations have are not yet to attain gender equality which is dependent on their residence.Ordinarily,the women have access to 58-70% of the economic, educational, health and political resources.Therefore,there is need to examine the various factors that affect the women in their entrerenuership.This paper seeks to analyze the challenges that the women faces in reference to the case study of Kate and Sally, it will majorly focus on the woman entrepreneurship,scruitinising their needs and various stereotypes. (Abrar, 2011) Findings and analysis. The stand of women in business has been affected by misogyny which is the hate of women and the contempt for women or girls. The misogyny has come from various theories that affect the progress of the women. The great man theory explains how the women are not fully involved in the business. This theory exploits the physical traits which includes power and authority over the business. Sally is made the managing director of the business yet she was not given the power over the business. The people thought that her husband had employed her as his accountant. Kate had to allow part time work in the business. She is committed to the work at her home. She recruits other staff members to help her in her business. This is evidenced in Sally where the clients believe that only her husband and the boys could handle technical work. This stereotype was not true since Sally was the expert in that area. This theory segregates them on the basis that they are weak vessels. The theory also says that business require high mental abilities or intelligence. (Carter, 2001) According to this theory men are considered to have high intelligence of women have a small position. The theory also stipulates that the business should have good personality traits, this involves being aggressive of the business trends, sociability, emotional control, self-confidence, and adaptability. Kate has been on the look out to see that the business trends have been on the look to be on the competitive advantage. Women have been believed to be highly emotional and therefore would not be able to adopt the business. It is evidenced that this theory limits the women from the progress and many have been disadvantaged in their progress because of this stereotype. (Colyle, 2005) Women have also lacked role models who would inspire them to start companies. (Barnett, 1988)Kate has her mum as her role model and this has made her to join her mum after working in an engineering firm for three years. Mentorship is important for winning entrepreneurs; avoiding mentoring could make women to have the low share of women in growth. (Ahl, 2006)..Sally had also a mentor who was her mother who showed her some business skills. Kate has a good mentor who is her mother. This has enabled Kate to resign her job in the engineering firm just to help her mother. Ordinarily, male entrepreneurs say that lessons learned from failures are a greater factor in their success than lessons from successes are. This is not always true because failures can be avoided just as Kate avoided them. Layering these survey findings with previous studies about how entrepreneurs of both genders experience failure may show that women are more likely to regroup and apply knowledge gained from failures to future ventures. Women experience a greater financing gap than men do. (Beauvoir, 1973) Nearly 80 percent of the women in the study used personal savings as their top funding source, even though 31 percent of them had angel investors and 14 percent had venture capital funding. (Marich, 2014) Another common theory is the traditionalist theories of patriarchy. (Colyle, 2005) This theory emanates from the religious view which asserts that male dominance is given by God and that men are to take leadership. (Beauvoir, 1973) This was evidenced in the Sally case where the industry was dominated by male and women were seen as inferior. She was the director yet without power. The customers had a strong trust in Sally’s husband and the boys; they believe that Sally could not handle the technical jobs. However, Kate is of the idea that what a man can do, a woman can also do it. Generally, the perception was that business or the project that is under a man will always take a lead.Traditionaly; biologists also believe that a man will always remain a hunter and that he will dominate. This theory has become persuasive and convincing in such a way that men have always been believed to be leaders and this theory has really affected the development of women in their business. (Carter, 2001) According to Marxist theories of Patriarchy, the Marxist feminists of early 1970s viewed gender as a main structure of discrimination and oppression. The theory stipulates that the women always form a classic example of a reserve of labor, although this has been criticized, to serve the needs of a few. This implies that the women were not working since time immemorial. This theory intimidates the women efforts and it has become one of the demotivational factors towards the business. (Bradley, 2007) Ordinarily, the society has become patriarchal to the extent that it is male-dominated, identified, and centered as in the case of Sally where technical jobs are believed to be for the male. This has become one of the key aspects that crops up the oppression of women that yields radical feminism and womens subordination in the long run. (Anonymous, 2012) Androcentricity which analyses the way in which thinking, feeling and acting has been negatively applied to the women and it has become segregating without gender neutrality. This has primarily favored men and it has taken absolutely no explanation of the life situations and experiences of women. This has left the women disadvantaged in their business endevours.The perceptions are diverse across the globe. Sally has been considered that she cannot hold technical jobs Perceived barriers to starting a business - % of entrepreneurial population Women have not been able to advance in the business due to various reasons. Most of them have failed to utilize the available connections most female entrepreneur do not appreciate how important it is to have networks and trusted advisors. Men have always understood and developed very strong relationships and networks, which women have long known as the boys club. Sally has established networks through her husband. Since her husband has a lot of trust in the business, he is keeping the business to run. In almost any type of entrepreneurial endeavor, a key contributor to success is obtaining introductions and connections to people who can help you to get through the door. If you get through the door of a decision maker as the result of a friends recommendation, you will inevitably walk away having learned valuable information from the meeting. Women ought to support one another through developing strong girls clubs. (Fallon, 2014) The women have also failed to be decisive in the businesses. A prerequisite to being an entrepreneur is to finely tune your decision-making abilities. Most women have their families and majority think that taking care of their families will be greater (Fallon, 2014) Women have also suffered in accessing the funds as in the case of Kate, this is the major reason for her partnering with her mother. Ordinarily, women face greater obstacles than men when starting and growing businesses, especially when it comes to receiving angel and venture capital. Though it might be unintentional, men fund people who look and sound just like them, and the consequences are just as harmful as if there was malicious a fore thought. The women therefore must seek advice from a variety of sources, including co-founders, professional advisers such as accountants and lawyers, peer advisory groups, CEO mastermind groups, boards of advisers, and family members including others. (Fallon, 2014) Ordinarily, there are flourishing female entrepreneurs throughout the globe, but male entrepreneurs get better media coverage and visibility. Sally has been considered invisible in the job since the technical jobs are for the men.Normaly, women will start businesses in the sectors where they have work experience, skills and networks. The low percentages of female startups in the tech sector reflect the low numbers of women working in this sector in general is due to the invisibility and ignorance towards the women. This can be solve through rising the number of women employed in technical positions, as well as in other male-dominated sectors such as construction, transportation and mining and also to increase the number of female startups in these industries (Fallon, 2014) Normally, the working women face the expectation to do well in all areas of their all-around lives. In general, men are judged by how well they do in their careers, while women are judged by how well they excel with family, friends, looking their best and, if they work, their career. Its a struggle to find enough time in the day to focus on them this needs. The women should prioritize their needs and also set goals and put a plan in place to reach them. (Fallon, 2014) Sally has worked with a gendered identity that is inactive until sexist stereotyping springs the active into life. However, the negative relations which front position this move to active gender identity are uncomfortable leading to a politicized identity, where gender becomes the basis for political attachment. Therefore she takes a feminist position, but she discards the opportunity to enact a politicized identity (Bradley, 2007) though she is educated negative relation and perceptions have still remained to be dominant. There have been so many chores that have made the women to fail to manage time and therefore fail to manage the businesses. It can be devastating to manage the time, communicate efficiently and stay organized while developing the business skills. As a woman entrepreneur, you need to work on the business, not in it. Therefore they should learn to delegate persistently, and inspire employees to work harder to enable that the business mission is accomplished. (Fallon, 2014) The women also face the challenge of fearing to succeed. Sally had some fears of success due to financial constraints. Research revealed that they are usually much depressed on the stages of the business and this affects their performance. This is because of the low level of the control of emotions. The women should figure out how to recognize the fears and manage them appropriately. They should learn to treat themselves as business owners so others can treat them the same way so as to beat this fear. (Fallon, 2014) Ordinarily, analysts have showed discrimination in various ways. The Sticky floor and walls analysis will describe a biased employment pattern that keeps a certain group of people at the bottom of the job scale. On the other hand, glass ceiling analysis will always put an invisible discriminatory barrier which blocks the advancement of women in the aspects of business. Savior effect reveals that a man will be brought back into the management role when a woman or occupational minority leaders fails. The leaky pipeline shows that the women are educated but are not represented in jobs. However Kate did not suffer this discrimination since she decided to work with her mother. The women have lacked role models. Kate had a role model who was her mother to show her the way to go. Sally also had her mother as her role model. The traditional theories have prevented the progress of women at the greater extent. The role models that are too considered have been made invisible and this has made it hard for the women to rise in the corporate ladder. (Eagly, 2002) Intersectionality which is study of intersections between systems of oppression, domination or discrimination among women reveals that the women have been considered minority in most organization set up. (Bradley, 2007)The women have also lacked mentoring. Women have the fear of unknown; the husbands have become so possessive at the expense of living the women not economically empowered. The men always want to detect and monitor the program of their women and this has reduced the women to economic stagnation. (Ruthermond, 2011) Ordinarily, women have a dual burden and role that involve work load problems. This spans from the family care and other maternity challenges. Kate was able to shorten her maternity period to concentrate on the business. However, she still had to go for the maternity and thus affecting the business significally.Kate has to multitask so as to ensure that the business and the family are taken care off. (Ibarra, 2003)This is evidenced when she sayed that ‘It’s me that sorts out the child care, you know, if I need to be at a seminar on a day when I shouldn’t be working then it’s me that contacts the nursery and it’s me that knows where Henry has got to be, when he’s got to be there, what he’s got to take with him. Ehm, as well as what meetings I’ve got that day, what software we’re buying, what websites we’re building, it’s me that has the whole responsibility for that really. ‘This means that the women are caught in a multiple of roles which needs organization to be able to solve them all. Most women are taught the enterprise course but the childcare issues are ignored and this has affected their progress. (Marich, 2014) Though Kate tried to balance the between the family and business she was a mumprenuers.This is because she operated at the boundary between paid work and motherhood. From this case it can be evidenced that women likely to own businesses that operate from home and are part time. This is to enable them to meet and take care of their families. They also require a business that has lower order services, with limited growth potential though Kate was against this idea. (Cuncliffe, 2004) Recommendations There is need for the women to put up day that will be celebrated and will not only change the women perception. This can be done by partnering with PwC firm, BNP Paribas, Microsoft and UN foundation .For example In USA Women’s Entrepreneurship Day was celebrated at the UN in New York City on November 19th, 2014. (Carter, 2001) This was the world’s largest celebration of women innovators and job creators. This helps the women to open startups business that brings ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare in 144 countries including the UK. (Holmes, 2007)Apart from Kate just getting in touch with mums business he should join such groups so as to drive the economic growth. As it has been discussed above it is evidenced that the requirement of a role model will go long way to help the women to be incorporated in the business. (Cuncliffe, 2004) There is also the need impression management whereby folks will seek to influence the perception of doing business among the women. If the perception is changed, the women will be able to excel in their businesss.Ordinarily, women will always account for under a third of those in self-employment, but over half the increase in self-employment since the recession started in 2008 across the globe. (Fallon, 2014) According to Oakley’s Theory, socialization will enable the women not to be invisible. This is because it will transmit the culture and motivation to contribute in established social relationships.Ordinarilly, agencies of socialization will include the family, School, Peer Group and Mass Media. (Beauvoir, 1973) Kate should concentrate on this to avoid the aspects of invisibility that may crop up. Kate should also be in a non gender business networks that will enable them actively to be involved in the business. (Fenwick, 2003) The non gender business will blend both men and women so that the women can pick up. In order for the women to reduce the funding gap, the following remedies are vital. (Ilgaz, 2014) I. The women should broaden their funding horizons. The women should not only raise capital in form of in the form of venture capital or equity financing but also in many wonderful options such as including bank loans, crowd funding, lines of credit and Small Business Administration loans.Therefore,reliable education on the variety of available funding sources to find out which one suits your needs best. (Ilgaz, 2014) II. They should network with others. Ordinarily, entrepreneurs who build a strong network have usually a greater amount of resources and funding opportunities. There are many women networking organizations, such as Elevate, that support business growth, provide financial advice and offer mentorship opportunities. (Ilgaz, 2014) III. The women should always get involved in business. They should be advocates for the change that is needed in the business landscape. As they look for funding opportunities, support other women and any initiatives that advocate women in business. IV.  They should also seek corporate and government support. Big-name players, such as American Express should not create a wrong perception that women cannot make it. Women should move into the express since it is now creating support programs for women entrepreneurs by giving useful content, forums and even boot camps. The government management also sets aside contracts and funds for minority-owned, veteran-owned and women-owned businesses. There are countless opportunities: You just need to take the plunge. (Ilgaz, 2014) V. The women should not hold themselves back. According to Sandberg, women leaders often get in their own way by underestimating their abilities and goals. Ordinarily, being cautious can assist in some areas of business, but when it comes to raising capital, you need to move toward funding sources with a winning attitude. (Ilgaz, 2014) Conclusion In conclusion it can be observed that Kate and her mother were affected in their quest to become economic empored.As it has been discussed, factors such cultural norms, stereotypes and lack of role models will always make women to be less involved in an entrepreneurial career and they also become less confident in their business. The paper has also dealt with the perceptions concerning the appropriate vocational roles for the women. (Barnett, 1988) The gender invisibility that has caused women to be more invisible and unconsidered has been scrutinized effectively. (Ekinsmyth, 2012) The lack of networks has also caused the women to be inactive in entrepreneur. The forces of patriarchy have also been discusses in this paper. Women have been considered to have multiple roles and other factors that affect them. (Bradley, 2007) Works Cited Abrar, A. (2011). Gender and Entrepreneurial Learning: A Case of Female. Essex: Essex business school. Ahl, H. (2006). Why Research on Women Entrepreneurs Needs New Directions,Entrepreneurship, Theory and Practice. pp595-621. Anonymous. (2012). Women starting business. Retrieved 2015, from www.chwaraeteg.com Barnett, F. (1988). Working Together: Entrepreneurial Couples. Carlifonia: Ten Speed press. Beauvoir. (1973). The second sex. New york: vintage. Berley, P. (2009). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. London,New york: Routledge. Bradley, H. (2007). Gender. Cambrigde,UK: Polity press. Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New york: Routledge. Carter, S. (2001). Women’s Business Ownership:. Small business service . Colyle, H. (2005). Gendered Contexts of Learning: Female entreprenuers in male dominated industries. Retrieved 2015, from http://pages.towson.edu/ncctrw/summer%20institutes/PapersWebsite/Coyle%2005.pdf(Accessed: 10 July 2012). Cuncliffe, A. (2004). On Becoming a Reflexive Practitioner’,. Journal of management education vol 28 , 407-426. Eagly, A. (2002). Congruity Theory of Prejudice Toward FemaleLeaders, Psychological Review. 573-598. Ekinsmyth. (2012). The Mumpreneur Debate and contemporaly feminism,ISBE Enterprising matters e magazine. Retrieved 2015, from www.isbe.org.uk/The-mumpreneur-debate-andcontemporary-feminism> Fallon, N. (2014). Female Entrepreneurs Share Their Biggest Challenges. Retrieved 2015, from http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6760-biggest-challenge-female-entrepreneurs.html Fenwick, T. (2003). Women Entrepreneurs: A Critical Review of the Literature. Holmes, M. (2007). What is gender? London : Sage. Ibarra, H. (2003). Working identity. Boston MA: Harvard Business school press. Ilgaz, Z. (2014). Ways Women Entrepreneurs Can Overcome the Funding Gap . Retrieved 2015, from http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/242011 Marich, M. (2014). Female Entrepreneurs Key to Economic Growth. Retrieved 2015, from http://www.kauffman.org/blogs/policy-dialogue/2014/november/womens-entrepreneurship Ruthermond, S. (2011). Women’s Work Men’s Cultures. New york: Palgrave Macmillan. Read More