Since mentoring many small business hopefuls, I have come to realize a very disturbing fact. Many very bright and hopeful female entrepreneurs have crossed my office threshold with the mistaken idea that just being a woman gives them an advantage over their male counterparts. Sadly, this is not as true as we have been led to believe.
Certainly the female population of today is much better off than their mothers or grandmothers, but obtaining financial support, loans is not viewed by bankers any differently than it is for male entrepreneurs. A myth has been circulating for years that has led entrepreneurs to believe that womenowned and minorityowned businesses can obtain loans easier. Unfortunately, that is only a myth.
If your entrepreneurial dream requires a bank loan, the process is not any easier if you are a woman or a minority. The only slight advantage is that there may be additional lending sources available if you are in either of these categories. But you still have to sell the lender on your business and means of repayment.
Both male and female executives in the corporate arena have much in common in terms of professional aspirations. However, the playing field is far from being equal. A survey was done by a non-profit research group called Catalyst recently. Male & female executives at 1,000 of the largest corporations in the U.S. were surveyed and more than half of the women said that they aspire to a CEO position. They were even willing to make sacrifices such as delaying a marriage and or children, and that very willingness shouts to us that the field is not equal.
Other survey results were as follows:
49.5 percent of all employed managers and professionals are women, but they still tend to manage only other women.
The highest-paid female executive still earns only 68% of the salary paid to her male counterpart.
Firms that include women on their senior management teams showed greater improvement in corporate performance.
62 percentof the firms that included women on their senior management team saw their market share grow, compared with only 39% of companies with no female senior management.
Advancements in technology should help ease the movement of more women into leadership. Computers enable women to work more flexible hours and better balance work and family commitments, which is not expected of their male counterparts. (How equal is that?)
So-called feminine leadership traits will grow in importance in the 21st century, according to more than 160 international companies and 75 senior executives a view of their firms progress toward gender equity.
Most respondents, predominantly male, predicted wide-spread abandonment of the command and control managerial style for a more team-oriented approach. That does not seem all that bad to me. I can think of a lot of companies that could use more teamwork and less monarchy leadership.
These business gurus saw this new style as requiring skills that are more feminine than masculine, thus giving an edge to female managers. However, another 15-year study has shown that female managers are no more inclusive or democratic than men when making workplace decisions.
As grim as these facts might be, I do not want to discourage any prospective female entrepreneurs. We female business owners know that we may have to work twice as hard for half the recognition and pay, but ladies statistics show we will outlive our male counterparts.
We know that any woman who is a wife and mother and also in business, could do the job of two air traffic controllers without breaking a sweat even as the airport burns to the ground.
About Women In Business
Since the growth rate of women in business has doubled in the last 20 years, there has been considerable impact experienced on a local and global scale. The economic impact of women in business has been relatively ignored in the past, but there are people who are standing up and taking notice because the sales rate in women owned businesses are off the sales charts.
Any business that contributes to the local economy is considered to be a success. When the business is woman owned, however, there seems to more of an impact on both a personal and professional level for everyone who works for that compact. The impact that a women-owned business has on the community is felt by families when they have better insurance plans and other health benefits and the community benefits from these plans.
Women managers have a direct impact on how their departments contribute to the success of a business. The success of male-owned businesses has been directly related to the contributions made by the women placed in any type of management position. Some businesses do not want to give direct credit to the employee's contributions because they are privately owned firms who fear that their public image might be damaged if that type of news was released.
The income levels of people who work for women-owned business enterprises have a direct impact on the community too. The taxes taken from the stellar income levels that come from a women-owned business will help to support the infra-structure of cities and towns across America. The towns will use those funds for expansion and the impact from the salaries, taxes and other benefits included in their employment packages will have a direct effect on the local economy.
The volunteer contributions made by women-owned businesses have a direct impact on the lives of people in the community too. These large businesses benefit from charitable contributions that they make annually, but the company still feels that it is necessary to contribute on a more social level in their community.
The impact of women-owned businesses is heartfelt in their effort to improve the lives of people that are on skid-row or those that are homeless. The impact is positive and productive because these businesses play a direct role in volunteering for all sorts of self-help projects. These self-help projects allow people to help themselves attain a higher standard of living and to become more active in the community that they live in.
The impact of the small successes achieved through self-help programs add up and through their financial contributions and volunteer efforts people are getting the training they need to enter the business world and support themselves. The money that was previously allotted for their welfare payments can now be returned to the community to help finance other self-help projects or any other project in the community that will have a direct impact on somebody else's life.
Both Ann Williamson & are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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