I read an amazing article recently. It spoke about the benefits of why you want to encourage your child on the entrepreneurial path. And it highlighted ideas that make my heart sing – ie. kids learning leadership skills and hearing the word “no” in sales.
But there was something important missing.
There was a hip infographic that highlighted the 8 skills that your child would develop. Every single image was of a father and son.
Hmmmmmmm…so girls can’t be entrepreneurs?
Now I don’t think it was intentional on the author’s part. This was a really well researched article. On a topic that HARDLY even gets attention.
Everyone writes for adults to start businesses.
But we miss the most obvious group: kids. Kids haven’t forgotten to curious and ask us “why.” Kids are willing to make mistakes and keep it moving.
But I was disappointed that the infographic did not include one single female. Not a Mom. Not a daughter.
This is a common theme that I’ve discovered since I started this blog. Women aren’t represented in areas of entrepreneurship that are high level like:
- Access to funding for “girly” types of businesses
- Info on the next unicorn business that a girl or female started
- Or opportunities for women and minority owned businesses – ie. MWBE
I’m clear. I am a woman. And there are things that I do differently than men.
But I don’t need every article, blog post, and infographic targeting women and entrepreneurship to be focused lifestyle businesses. You know the “I don’t have enough time to juggle my kids and the clients.” Often, lifestyle businesses like these earn very little.
Women can do it. And we’ll add our feminine touch to the conversation of success.
Please be clear: I am not bashing men and their masculine traits. We need ALL skills in the business arena.
But we also need the feminine:
- Building deep and long term relationships
- Listening to others – ie. employees, vendors, and others
- Cause related interests
From a women’s perspective.
Hey, I just learned that a woman’s heart is literally a different size from a mans. So why wouldn’t other areas differ from men?
So stop writing articles as if we don’t exist. We do. And we want to be taken seriously about our entrepreneurial potential.
