With the world economy still recovering from the severe inflation of the past few years, momentum is growing for a forthcoming sustainable and inclusive industrial revolution. Even more significant is the recognition that women-led businesses are the new engines of this equitable and viable economic progress, as well as the rising stars of developing nations like India. Subsequently, women are becoming more prominent in the national and global market, not only as workers but also as managers, entrepreneurs, investors and leaders.
Changing Outlook
McKinsey & Company highlighted in their research that companies with the highest levels of gender diversity have a 28% higher chance of outperforming their rivals financially. To increase the representation and participation of women and other minorities in organisations, more and more workplaces are therefore striving to become inclusive. Nowadays, for such an outlook to be successful and sustainable, businesses whether owned by men or women, are systematically attempting to break down the barriers limiting women’s participation and effectiveness, improving their existing structures, policies, and practices.
Women Backing Women
Over the decades, women who have successfully pushed the limits in the workplace and challenged the status quo by heading nontraditional jobs or standing up to mistreatment have also simultaneously paved the way for other marginalised or underprivileged women in their professional community to follow in their footsteps. Women-led startups and mentorship initiatives have, without a shadow of a doubt, played a critical role in assisting many women in confronting challenging situations and instil optimism in them to demand professional opportunities and even kick-start their own businesses.
Tackling Social Taboos and Stigmas
Women-led businesses are not only just ballooning employment opportunities for others but are also actively engaging in more diverse problem-solving that has been bothering women. After centuries of silence and shame, many women-owned businesses have held the torch of freedom by openly discussing, sharing, and educating society about culturally ingrained taboos and stigmas that have largely hampered the growth of so many promising young female entrepreneurs. The men-shaped world, fueled by decades-old biased narrative, is being hammered away by each new female venture that enters the market and grows head-to-head with their counterparts.
A Long March: Barriers that Still Hold Back Women
Women’s rights and the overwhelming number of women in leadership positions are trendy subjects, but advancement in fulfilling women’s representatives and inclusion at work is substantially slow. Both men and women encounter hurdles when starting their own businesses, but the roadblocks for women are larger and more challenging to conquer. They are frequently confronted with an absence of government policy, laws, and services, and in some nations, legal disparities between men and women limit women’s economic opportunities. The reality that many women receive inadequate education, skill training, or career guidance only adds to these hurdles, and the lack of tech know-how or access to contemporary, inexpensive technology further prevents women from reaching their full potential.
Several studies have revealed that when it comes to starting a business, women are influenced more by traditional and structural factors than by legal or regulatory hindrances. Similarly, in many regions of the world, entrepreneurship is regarded as an unsuitable career path for women. Women’s prospects for full-time work or starting businesses are often limited in societies with stringent views of customarily male and female roles, which are frequently endorsed by cultural and religious doctrines. Sexist norms, at the same time, limit women’s obligations to domestic and family work, preventing them from operating independently.
Going Forward
It is becoming increasingly apparent that women are and will continue to be impactful agents of advancement. When men and women become more equal, businesses grow faster, relatively few people stay poor, and overall well-being goes up. This is supported by a McKinsey Global Institute study, which found that increasing opportunity equality could boost the global economy by $12 trillion by 2025. Therefore, it is important for policymakers, international development organisations, investors, private corporations, and civil society organisations to mobilise, gear up and roll out more policies that help women start their businesses by making essential resources available. Skills training in starting and managing businesses, loan schemes, and technical assistance are urgently needed to reinforce the growth of women-owned businesses.
