Women Entrepreneurs Changing the World

I was told by a famous woman some years ago, ‘you know what is wrong with the world?’, I said tentively ‘no’. She said ‘men’. She had written a book on missiles and the men who wanted to regard them as creation. Their baby. At the time I moved uncomfortably as I didn’t feel this was true and I recall thinking about political correctness. I then recall interviewing an Irish female academic who was director of Peace Studies, she said that the issues was ‘the socialisation of men’. That was a place where I agreed as I wish to work with men, I am not opposed and very interested in their views, but as equals not as authority over me or erroneous judgements, I am not interested. I would challenge women in the same way, actually. I see myself as universal. I see the stereotype of being a woman as having disadvantages given perceptions, it is the perceptions I’d like to see change and transform into strengths that save the planet. I see those beliefs in both men and women. We are indeed equal and abundant with talents and gifts. It is the liberation of these gifts that are transformative. The same argument could be applied to disabled, skin colour, creed, personality, aesthetics and whatever perceived barrier prevents people from experiencing their talent for the benefit of themselves and others. However, gender is the big one given 51% female, 49% male. It requires a realisation of equality and equal participation in decision making and problem solving.

I see men and women as both unique, both talented, both with different skills. However, I do see fathers raising their son’s differently from females. I remember my own mother having ideas about the role of males and the role of females. She had lower regard for women and would listen to males in authority I noticed. I never agreed with the roles personally and spent a lifetime realising we don’t need roles, just learn to be ourselves and live as fully human persons. That meant uncovering every dark place in the consciousness and facing fears fully without fear. When I did that I found fear drop away and love replaced it as I became aware of my own projection onto others. Which in truth, are unowned aspects of ourselves, where we are in denial. As Jung would say, the Shadow. With men and women there are many areas that are unowned, where weaknesses may be projected onto women and men ‘as useless’ being projected. Neither true. We have our moments, but it is time to move forward, away from politics and towards true understanding and appreciation of differences.

The issue I see today is the imbalance of power between women and men. We see it in the structures of society, the encouragement of engineers as men, the encouragement of caring as women’s work. Moreover, I see that men are trained to detach from emotions and feelings, we created the word ‘professional’ to justify that or ‘stiff upper lip’. Salient beliefs are that emotions are a sign of weakness which is a subconscious denial of the feminine within them or their humanness to put it another way. Men don’t want to reveal their feelings or they will be ostracised by other men. Moreover, they feel vulnerable and don’t like that, that is why armament was created, to protect vulnerable men. I see women also asking men to be ‘a man’ and subtle encouragement to ‘not show emotions’, as they may be fearful, so they are also encouraging a behaviour that is not the real man or enabling them to embrace their true humanity. Women are expected to be feminine, beautiful, laughing and looking to men with admiration, their saviours. We still have the white knight in shining armour metaphor silently in the background. The perceived idea that women are not as strong therefore they must be protected. So the myths go both ways. Women are definitely not weak and they also have to face the ‘little girl’ syndrome created here, that makes them appealingly vulnerable, inversely a man feels strong. Nice game but not real. Yet it is fine to admire men, I always have, but not to over inflate those stereotypes and confine men to them or expect them to live up to them. Same goes for women, the perfect mother and wife syndrome.

Sure, the genders are different, but my sense is together, that is when it gets exciting. Men may think of sex at this point. That is conditioning through the media and natural urges amplified as an addiction. When you move passed that you see the real union of men and women rests in love, understanding, respect and learning from differences. Instead of feeling threatened by a woman or a man, we need to embrace differences and work with out collective strengths to overcome problems. If insecurity or inferiority is blocking this, then deal with the insecurity as the real issue not the person. Ultimately we have one earth and one people. If one gender is controlling and dominating too much, then the other has to help them to see we must learn to listen, collaborate, share and problem solve not suppress what we don’t understand. Suppression is a sign of immaturity not adulthood, it is also a learned behaviour. To face this is when we take responsibility as a civilisation, that is, we have the ability to respond. The times we are in non-communication or defensiveness is not the energy that will transform the planet. We have to look within our own issues, within our genders, face them in truth and then unlock the potential and positive energy sitting there. Ignoring sensitive issues that are too emotional or require a deeper perspective is in the past, it is time to embrace ourselves warts and all, both sides of the equation.

The United Nations stated some time ago it would take 400 years for male and female equality to occur across the planet. It is time to lessen that gap. I do feel the survival of the planet depends on egalitarian female participation in problem solving and governance. I am not saying take over, I am saying equal participation. They have much to contribute and in my experience, women often look for the humanitarian aspects, strategic relationships, they are more willing to talk about feelings, emotions which, if suppressed can often lead to violence and narrow thinking. The world becomes a concept rather than utilising empathy, feelings and intuition, a very important part women can offer. Think of your mother, girlfriend, sister etc. See the differences and accept them.

This article is about women as entrepreneurs. We do need to encourage women. Just visualise the whole planet, 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th worlds and 3/4 living in poverty without the opportunity for education. Many females have been seen as not worth educating and there are many barriers in cultures where males are considered important economically and socially. In some cultures the male word has precedence over the female. What he says has more weight, for example a father over a mother. She must obey. She is seen as a chatel (owned) not as an equal partner with equal rights as a human to make her own decisions, her empowerment I sense is seen as dangerous to power. Many see females as not as intelligent and kept in a position of dependence. Some women allow this and believe what is said. Yet female intelligence is different as they often have abilities in the areas of emotional intelligence, reading the subtle emotional field around them, or they are intuitive and feel something is wrong. They feel it with their children and are highly tuned in. This is not valued, why? I can only guess. One of the worst is the killing of baby girls who are not as prized as male children because they are not going to provide for the family, they are a cost. This type of inequality is not in the world’s or children’s interests. As it is untrue of the female condition. I am one and I know women have enormous potential and I have seen many leadership qualities in women. Not all women, they also can suffer the same issues of men when consumed by power, trying to dominate and undermining others, bullying, micro managing etc. I am speaking of real leadership, which is service to a higher good. There have been great male exmaples such as Nelson Mandela and Gandhi to name a few. I don’t regard violent men (or women) as good leaders, as I see violence as a failure to solve problems or the desire to project power, completely rejecting what others want, it is to take the spoils. This is not leadership, it is tyranny disguised as leadership, in my worldview. So on that note let’s explore a little on female entrepreneurs.

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1678854/the-world-needs-female-entrepreneurs-now-more-than-ever

The World Needs Female Entrepreneurs Now More Than Ever

Written by: Jean Brittingham

Women can slowly change corporate culture from the inside, or they can change the world by starting their own companies.

Over the past 100 or so years, we have been solving the problems on our planet as if they are linear, independent, and containable–in other words, as if they are largely technical challenges. And in most if not all cases, our solution is another technical intervention which often creates a new set of problems. Examples abound: The focus on making cars more energy efficient with fossil fuels slowed the introduction of true electric vehicles by decades. Or the current discussion of nuclear as the solution to fossil fuels. It’s technology trumping technology with not nearly enough attention to the unintended consequences for future generations.

I have nothing against technology. But if, as Einstein said, the problem-solving skills that get you into a mess are not the skills you need to get out of that mess, we need more people with a different perspective on the problem and a new set of skills and abilities.
“Becoming an entrepreneur doesn’t require any shifts in corporate culture.”

What’s needed now is a better grasp of (and comfort with) relationships of all kinds. And this is the kind of thinking and problem solving that is most natural to women:

Women are intuitively systems-thinkers
Women seek balance
Women care more about solutions than who gets credit
Women are the worlds’ experts on collaboration
When they are passionate about something, women never give up

While I am supportive of any and all efforts to move women into the C-Suite, the boardroom, and the President’s office, it’s hard to ignore the fact that in these traditional places, women are making slow progress, if any at all.

But something began to crystallize as I interviewed hundreds of women entrepreneurs for my book and website The SmartGirls Way. No matter what business they were creating and running, I found that there was a thoughtfulness and intention to their design and operations approach that was different. These women entrepreneurs were intuitively creating businesses that would be better for themselves, their families, their employees, their communities, their customers, and the world.

Take Amra Tareen, a successful venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and a mother of two boys. Her passion and integrity to address the media bias she saw in the world led her to found AllVoices.com, the world’s largest citizen-journalist website. And there’s the story of Michelle King Robson, whose personal health challenges led her to found EmpowHER, an online community promoting women’s health issues so that no woman would ever have to suffer the same way she did.

These aren’t entrepreneurial myths; they’re real-life examples of women-led ventures taking shape right now. The beauty of it is, unlike with getting women into corner offices of corporations, these ventures don’t require any shifts in corporate culture. In the developed world, the rule of law supports women’s rights to pursue their efforts and maintain the wealth they create.

The Dalai Lama definitely had it right when he recently said “Western Women will save the world.” And my money is on the entrepreneurs.