And there are SO. MANY. GAPS.
I don’t know about you, but I am tired.
I’m tired of poor education for girls and women.
I’m tired of the lack of equity in the entrepreneurial space.
I’m tired of women having to start their own businesses with their life savings because no one will loan them the kind of money loaned to men.
I’m tired of the gender pay gap.
I’m tired of being interrupted.
I’m tired of not being looked at in the eyes when I’m the only woman in the room at a strategy meeting…even though I’M THE ONE WRITING THE COPY.
I’m tired of being asked to take the minutes. Why? Because I have a vagina?
I’m tired of hearing my highly skilled, smart, female business owner friends being asked if they’re ‘the secretary’ when they say they work in mining, or in comms, or literally anywhere.
Aren’t YOU tired?
We’re not just tired. We’re burned out.
And it’s not hard to see why.
Between the gender pay gap, the gender investment gap and the gender wealth gap, we’re basically not invested in as much as men, we’re paid less than men, and so we're not saving as much as men are. Which equals POOR FOREVER.
(None of this even touches the TGI, though – the thigh gap index, as I heard it once referred to. Which is the space between your inner thighs that men often look at. And measure your worth by. Fun.)
So, how do these gaps play out?
How are they playing out?
Like this…
Women are promoted to manager at far lower rates than men, and this makes it nearly impossible for companies to lay a foundation for sustained progress at more senior levels. Boom!
Only one in five businesses in the UK is run by a woman, according to official figures – even though women outnumber men in Britain by around 900,000. Go penises!
Just 9pc of the funding funneled into UK start-ups goes to women-run businesses, according to the Entrepreneurs Network. What a win!
Women also tend to start businesses with much less available capital than male entrepreneurs. Hazaaaaa!
God, it feels good to be female right now! I'm drenched with sweat just from the sheer joy of what the future holds as a human in possession of ovaries.
SO. WHO IS THIS BAD FOR?
EVERYONE.
You. Me. Our kids. The economy. Business. Men. Women. Politicians. The lot.
Why?
Welll...look at all of this that I found.
A study spearheaded by NatWest chief executive of commercial and private banking, Alison Rose, revealed that the advancement of female entrepreneurs could be worth £250bn to the UK economy.
According to research from Boston Consulting Group and MassChallenge, businesses founded by women deliver twice the revenue for each dollar invested, compared with those founded by men.
Women are far more likely to spearhead programmes of diversity, equality and inclusion. Compared with men at their level, women leaders are up to twice as likely to spend substantial time on DEI work that falls outside their formal job responsibilities—such as supporting employee resource groups, organizing events, and recruiting employees from underrepresented groups. They are also more likely than men to take allyship actions such as mentoring women of colour, advocating for new opportunities for them, and actively confronting discrimination.
I know. What mysticism. Can it be true?
And yet…
One in three women say that she has considered downshifting her career or leaving the workforce.
Additionally, four in ten women have considered leaving their company or switching jobs—and high employee turnover in recent months suggests that many of them are following through.
So, what do we do?
I'm reading Rachel Rogers's book We Should All Be Millionaires.
She says we have to step up and make bank. Not settle. MAKE DOSH, LADIES.
In her words...
“We’ve tried using our voices to speak truth to power. We’ve tried marching. We’ve tried writing letters to our representatives. We’ve tried creating organizations and nonprofits that advocate for the kind of change we want to see in the world. We’ve begun to raise hell and use our voices but we need to start playing a different game. We need to step up and make bank. Money creates power because it gives us autonomy.”
It’s 2021. If gender equality was going to happen, it would have happened already. Seriously. It’s time to make more money than god. It’s the only way out.
Most PHENOMENAL WOMAN. If this blog moved you in any way, and you feel the need to give something back (yes, to me), could I ask you to answer a few questions. I am doing deep research for my business. And I'd love your assistance.
Ashleigh is a conversion copywriter who helps women grow their email lists, create websites that get the YES, and write emails that kiss the screen. For real conversations, join her Facebook group here - Make a Song and Dance: Female Business Owners, RISING
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