Women and Innovative Growth

https://hbr.org/2013/08/how-women-drive-innovation-and


Women’s day just recently passed on March 8th and I started thinking about the role women entrepreneurs play in the innovative growth within our society. An article I found discusses that although women have the leadership skills and capabilities to drive an enterprise to succeed within the market, these companies often ignore the innovative potential women hold, which is a result of the hegemonic and heteronormative society in which we live. While women indeed represent many sectors within the public sphere today, there is still a bias towards men as the dominant sex within the tech industry, which limits the opportunities women have to succeed. To combat this bias, the article suggests that companies develop a “speak-up” culture, whereby all voices matter, all employee’s opinions are valid, and everyone within the workforce is equal.

The article concludes that businesses need to invest in more female employers who hold high managerial and CEO positions. “Leaders who are willing to change direction based on women’s input are more than twice as likely to tap into winning ideas.” 

I took this quote from the article because of how powerful it is. If women can bring an enterprise to the top, why are there still negative connotations attached to women within tech industries and as entrepreneurs? What can we do to combat this issue?




Comments

  1. Kaelan De Bellefeuille21 March 2018 at 16:46

    I believe there are still negative connotations surrounding women within these industries due to the fact that its been a "boys club" for a long time, but hopefully this attitude will end very soon. By creating spaces within these sectors where everyones voice matters equally, then there will be the opportunity to equalize these workplaces. Canada has been striving to make moves to create a more inclusive space for women to thrive within these positions. In the Liberal governments 2018 budget, there is $1.4 billion in financing being given to specifically female entrepreneurs in order to facilitate a more equal innovation sector. This sort of policy is helping to combat the issue of the lack of female entrepreneurs within the innovation ecosystem.

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