What would a man do?
That was the question a friend asked me years ago when I posed a work dilemma to her.
As uncomfortable a question that may be, does she have a point?
I hadn’t engaged with LinkedIn for many years and then my business mentor told me to get on LinkedIn and sort my bio out.
As I started to write my bio I felt like a fraud. I was reminded of the question my friend asked me – what would a man do?
I have built successful not-for-profits organisations and I'm now building our sustainable homeware brand ecojiko so why does the statement ‘I am an entrepreneur’ make me cringe a little? We try to soften the word with a portmanteau such as mumpreneur and fementrepreneur, but do these make us sound less serious about our mission? Language is powerful. Are these new words meaningful or do they create more problems for women?
I’m still not entirely comfortable with the phrase ‘I am an entrepreneur’ but it will sit in my bio until it stops making me flinch. Maybe it will inspire one more woman to include it into their bio. Maybe my daughters read it one day and they think they can do the same. As women once reclaimed the word actor to be inclusive should we do the same with the word ‘entrepreneur’?
- A staggering 80% of 11-18 year olds are unable to name a single female entrepreneur
- We don’t have enough women starting businesses in the UK – we are 30% behind USA, Canada and The Netherlands
- If women started businesses at the same rate as men 250 billion will be added to the UK economy
- Research shows that female founders receive only a fraction of the total venture capital dollars invested each year, despite launching companies that far outperform those founded by men
Supporting women in their business ventures is gaining attention as a way to address the imbalance and create a level playing field.
Ecojiko has recently joined a community of women called Buy Women Built, who shine a light on amazing brands built by women and we are over the moon to be showcased on their website soon. Their campaigning, mentoring, learning, upskilling and overall support is building a movement that as a female founder I am proud to be part of.
Let's hope that in the coming years there is no longer a need for movements such as Buy Women Built, but until then we will be wearing their badge with pride and will add their kitemark to all our packaging.
For more on this see and to read our story:
