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The past several months have seen the publication of
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"I wanted to have a platform where I can speak of my voice, and if I didn't own my own platform I couldn't do that." ~ Yang Lan, co-founder of Sun Media. Referred to as the "Oprah of China," Lan has recently been named by Forbes as one of the world's most powerful women entrepreneurs. |
a number of new reports focused on documenting the economic contributions of women entrepreneurs, the return on investment gained by increasing gender equality, busting myths surrounding female ambition, and pointing out some of the (sad, but true) constraints women business owners still face - including the economic costs of those barriers and biases. The 2016 State of Women-Owned Businesses report led the charge earlier this year, and was summarized in our previous issue. Below we highlight nine new reports published since our last e-newsletter, all well worth reviewing. |
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The Battle of the Consultancies
New Womenabling Measurements from McKinsey & EY
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Following up on their September 2015 report, The Power of Parity - wherein it was estimated that, if countries matched the level of  gender equality of their best-in-region neighbor, global GDP could be boosted to the tune of $12 trillion USD - the McKinsey Global Institute recently released Delivering the Power of Parity. This new companion piece estimates that achieving these levels of best-in-region gender equality would take an investment of between $1.5 and $2 trillion USD, but would yield a return between six and eight times that investment. Sounds like a great ROI to us! Close on the heels of this report, rival consultancy EY published Does disruption drive job creation?, (their 2016 global job creation survey) in which - among other things - they find that female-led firms are outpacing their male-led counterparts in hiring, and were more likely than men to say they added more jobs last year than expected. Let's keep this consultancy rivalry going; it's producing excellent womenabling insights! |
April saw the publication of three reports in the UK focused on women's entrepreneurship, largely focused on describing the untapped potential of women in enterprise. Here's a quick summary:  - FSB published Women in Enterprise: The Untapped Potential. Based on a series of focus groups and a survey conducted among over 1,900 women business owners, the report lays out an excellent set of recommendations for addressing gaps;
- On the occasion of the end of their 3-year "Inspiring Enterprise" campaign, in April the Royal Bank of Scotland published Inspiring Enterprise Success, a review of what their efforts yielded. In the report, RBS notes that they invested nearly £2 million and assisted over 28,000 women in business, exceeding their target by 42%; and
- Finally, the consultancy Deloitte, working in concert with the UK government's Women's Business Council, published an assessment of the impact of women entrepreneurs on the British economy, Women entrepreneurs: Developing collaborative ecosystems for success, finding (as others have) that women are not as apt to start businesses as are men, and estimating that eliminating that gap could add £100 billion to the UK economy.
Of course, given the recent outcome of the "Brexit" referendum in the UK, time will tell if any of the recommendations contained in these reports will be taken up by government. Maybe the chances are oddly enhanced by that vote, given the fact that women are often handed the reins of greater power (in the public, private and third sectors) in times of crisis... |
Two recent reports have examined and busted two prevalent myths: first that women entrepreneurs are not as ambitious as men and, second, that their entrepreneurial drive is diminished with motherhood. A Force to Reckon With: Women, Entrepreneurship and Risk, spearheaded by Clare Beckton (Carleton University) and Janice McDonald (one of Canada's leading women entrepreneurs) and published by the Bank of Montreal and the Beacon Agency, finds that women are indeed ambitious and risk tolerant, yet their managerial and decision-making styles are often misinterpreted by many (particularly bankers) as showing hesitancy and therefore risk aversion, resulting in lower levels of support and investment.  And a recent Kauffman Foundation report, Labor after Labor, states that "the significant economic value women have contributed to the United States is in spite of the lack of supportive policies." Further, the report's authors note that the traits associated with entrepreneurship (including ambition and risk tolerance) are not associated with women, and even less so with motherhood, causing the entrepreneurial hill to be even steeper for moms to climb. How to fix this cognitive dissonance? It'll take more than policies and programs - personal perceptions must also broaden. |
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The Cost of Unequal Access
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The cost of these barriers is not inconsequential, as two recent reports note. First, the Center for Global Policy Solutions took a look at recent U.S. economic data by race and ethnicity, comparing the share of employer firms by group with share of that group's population in the labor force. All groups of women underperform in employing versus being employed, with the gap narrowest among Asian American women (93% - with 100% being equal) and widest among African American women (13%). All told, if minority populations (male and female) employed at the same rate as they are employed, there'd be 1.1 million more employer businesses, providing 9 million more jobs and adding $300 billion to the economy in payroll. The AAUW's new report, Barriers and Bias, counts the many roadblocks that women face as they attain (or try to) leadership positions. The report highlights the gender gap in elective office and in private sector leadership, noting  that "organizational, cultural, economic, and policy barriers shape both men's and women's choices and opportunities." (That's putting it mildly!) What to do? While the road ahead still contains roadblocks, shining a light on such disparities - as these two reports do - is an important step toward paving the way for more equal access. |
As always, links to these new reports can be found above - but did you know that you can always find a quick-and-ready reference to the most womenabling research and statistics on these two pages on our web site:
Onward and upward, fellow womenablers!
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