Alimah Fagbenro
December 18, 2023
Women entrepreneurs are a foreign term for most because the idea is relatively new. Would you believe that 40% of businesses in the United States are womenowned? This percentage increased 114% just in 20 years alone and if you summed up the revenue for all women entrepreneurs, we are looking at 1.7 trillion in value. When you look at this achievement you would think that women would be appreciated as much as men, based on their success rather than their gender, but this is still not true for most in modern-day. This prevents many other talented women from pursuing a dream due to a fear of prejudices.
Women face more and more barriers in the entrepreneur world with presumptions to be 2x as good as men to get recognized, so trying to achieve more societal expectations. Their mannerisms are heavily taken into account when they’re being criticized on how well they dress, speak, and communicate with their team and other entrepreneurs. They’ll look at your personality to see whether you’re too serious or lenient, maybe they'll deem you too aggressive and unapproachable. It’s a constant battle of not being able to fit in as women are trying to be more like men to get more respect, but it’ll look frowned upon regardless. Nothing you do will be accepted by anyone, so women entrepreneurs shouldn't limit themselves to fit a narrative, but rather they should combat it.
There are various ways to refute stereotypes, but it starts with comfortability. It’s difficult to walk into a room primarily male executives, but it’s important to stay true to yourself and don’t change your personality for anyone. This is your business, talk about it proudly because it’s an accomplishment that should be shared amongst others too. The women CEOs who lasted and became wealthy didn’t try to meet anyone's expectations. Your gender will be overseen once you make yourself available and radiate confidence. There’s no set personality for a leader, so be as bold as you want. The hard part about building a business is done, this is the fun part to build your brand and network. Your authenticity will help you remain an honest leader with integrity in such a competitive environment. A common misconception is that women entrepreneurs lack negotiation skills because they don’t have a strong personality. This isn’t difficult to master when you prepare prior. You just need to understand background knowledge of your business and determine your goals and objectives. These basics will prevent you from getting stumped and allow you to sell your business idea to other entrepreneurs.
Lastly, having a mentor is an essential step for any entrepreneur that will keep you in the right direction. Women entrepreneurs have seen increased sales by 34% and profits by 29% with the assistance of a woman mentor. The gender similarities only improve a relationship with your mentor and make it much easier to see improvement. The exchange of experiences with other female business leaders will help you understand challenges and how to overcome them. Let's beat these allegations of women having to act like men to grow a business and introduce more women into the entrepreneurial world.
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