Why Aren’t There More Rich Women Entrepreneurs?
Apr 24 2008
That’s the headline of a Wall Street Journal blog post that came out yesterday: Why Aren’t There More Rich Women Entrepreneurs? It starts with:
Recent studies show that there are more wealthy women than ever before. While a growing number are making it by climbing the corporate ladder, most of today’s wealthy women are still making their money through inheritance or divorce. A scarce few are making their fortunes by launching big companies – the most common source of big riches for today’s men.
and concludes with:
There are two explanations for the female shortfall, according to the USA Today story. First, starting a business usually requires capital, and men have easier access to the clubby world of bankers, venture capitalists and private-equity. Second, the article says, women are more devoted to their family and have less time than men to start businesses.
The blog post is interesting but the comments just blow me away because it’s like I was reading comments from people back from the dark ages. Most of the comments were well thought out but several posted by people not choosing to put their name down were really shallow. I mean do people really think like this:
There is this little thing called a brain. Most women are severely lacking in this department, and as such have been relegated to house duties for most of history. Now that women are clamoring for equality, we see that they really aren’t equal at all.
Talk about issues! Other thoughts from the commenters:
Seems to me that women are better at following rules than men, hence they do better in structured institutions (schools, large companies, institutions) whereas men are more intrinsically rule breakers and therefore on average do less well, but sometimes succeed spectacularly. – Bill
While I agree that risk aversion plays a part, one also has to look at Analysis Paralysis. As ‘not trying to offend’ points out, men often “execute and follow through based purely on logic”. Women (and I am one, early 30s, well-employed, trying to start my own company at the same time) tend to need full answers before they act. – More than just risk aversion
Despite advances for working women, I think it is certainly the case that they are not supported by husbands. I am about to be married and my fiancee is asking me to quit my job to raise a family – despite making twice as much as him. – so true
To be an entrepeneur one has to be completely comfortable with business risk. In my experience, women as a group
are far less willing to risk everything they have for a business idea. This may be a gender specific biological trait related to the female’s reproductive functions. – Orrin SchwabMany of the paths to entrepreneurial success are only open to people who have college degrees in science or engineering. Most women don’t have them and it certainly limits their opportunities. – Kevin
I think women also tend to have their eye on the “big picture,” and define success much more broadly than in dollars and cents. This can lead to decisions like cutting back on work hours or taking less challenging jobs in order to have more time to spend on family or other personal pursuits. At the end of the day, this may lead to less money – but greater happiness. – e c
Sometimes I can’t believe we are still having discussions and comments like this. Why can’t we just get along and let women choose to do what they want to do without analyzing every thing about it? If a woman wants to stay at home with the kids full time and be CEO of the house, great! If she wants to work from home, great! If she wants to work outside of the home, great! If she wants to work part time, great! If she wants to work full time, great! If she doesn’t want kids, great! If she wants to try to be Bill Gates, fine. If she wants to be the CEO of PepsiCo, awesome! If she wants to be head of the PTA, cool!
We are all (hopefully) doing the best we can. Us women were given the gift of being able to incubate and give birth to the future generation of humans, honestly that in and of itself is success! Sadly that ability is often sort of brushed aside as not being as valuable as being a billionaire entrepreneur/CEO. Honestly, I can think of several former billionaire CEOs who would have traded their fate to be a woman/mom. 🙂
Author: Aruni | Filed under: diversity, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, mother, random stuff, working mother | Tags: entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurs, unsupportive husbands, where are the women entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs | 16 Comments »
Amen to that. There aren’t more rich women entrepreneurs or CEOs or board members because women choose not to pursue those paths. So what? That doesn’t mean they aren’t capable. They just don’t want to do those things. People looking to statistics to measure the state of “equality” between the sexes in the workplace are barking up the wrong tree.
Did the women who aren’t rich entrepreneurs or corporate execs have a choice in their career path? Yes? – then what’s the issue?
I know many women who are CPAs, attorneys, investment bankers, CFOs – who have all left the workplace to enjoy life and forego their salary.
If women wanted to rule the corporate world, they would – and I find it demeaning to our sex for anyone to imply that there is a reason other than individual choice behind the current state of affairs.
Thanks for the post. I hadn’t seen that WSJ blog post.
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I think that the fact that women have more choice is great. Men are starting to get more choice also as the ratio of stay-home dads continue to grow, so it will be interesting to see where this trend goes.
I managed to get in the top 2% of earning women at one point and honestly, it was a good living but it wasn’t THAT much. And it is difficult to have it all.
We still do have a long way to go.But it’s nice we have a choice. I for one am one of the ones who went home to be a mom.
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It blows me away that there are people out there who still think women are not equal in the brains department!
Women today are using their brains to make informed life choices that work for them: whether to be a CEO, a full-time mom, or both, or anything in between.
@Hooeyspewer – I think people just don’t feel comfortable admitting that if given the choice women might choose something other than what others think they should.
@Wendi Kelly – Congrats on having been in the top 2% and having the guts to make the decision which might have been unpopular to people you knew at the time. I think the fact there are more stay at home dads will definitely have an impact…one that we probably can’t even imagine yet.
@Nina – you are so right! It is scary to think people out there will lurk anonymously and post statements that reflect their thinking that women are less intelligent than men.
I am the founder of the site that interviews a Millionaire Mom each week. I never have trouble getting guests. Ultra successful female entrepreneurs are plentiful in our society whether it is acknowledged or not! They are so inspiring because not only are they successful in business they are successful as women and mothers. Women are adept and skilled business people.
I agree that some of the comments are pretty neanderthal.
And yet, what’s the problem with posing the question? WHY don’t more women choose the entrepreneurial path?
Is it something genetic? Or a tendency created by our societal gender roles? Maybe, for whatever reason, women aren’t being taught as much as men are to consider it as an option.
I’m not saying more women “should” be entrepreneurs. But until we know WHY more women aren’t choosing entrepreneurship, we have no way of knowing if there’s a persistent gender-bias issue culturally that we need to address or not.
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@Joyce Bone – that’s great! I guess maybe they just aren’t as public about it as men.
@Scott Allen – It is indeed a good question to pose. I think women do often chose an entrepreneurial path but that path is more of a bootstrapped approach of things like restaurants, small retail stores/sites, consulting, etc. so they don’t get highlighted as much a the Bill Gates of the world. I think our society generally equates entrepreneurship with the very few people who have actually made it to the level of billionaire.
So I think they are choosing the path but as some of the commenters said, they don’t have the support infrastructure or often access to the capital/network to make it cover of Time and WSJ article newsworthy.
WOW!!!! Really???
That one comment especially about the “lack of brains” was clearly written by an educated person. Dear me, that is a sad wake up to how some people still think. For some reason I am always stunned when people say flat-out sexist or racist things. I really thought that the social codes of the day were such that even if you were so ignorant to think such things that at least you knew better not to go speaking them. UGH!!!
Well here is a lady to keep your eyes on as far as being an entrepreneur. Corine Couwenberg the women behind the new website: http://www.nonprofitshoppingmall.com
Fabulous MUST — USE site and obviously a strong women with a brain.
Check the site out, I now use it with almost every purchase I make and I get to give to a charity I really care about, I think it is absolutely brilliant! Enjoy
I agree with all of you, we have the gift of bringing then next generation of humans into the world and that in itself is a huge responsibility. But those of us that do choose to pursue our entrepreneurial spirit are doing so (while married and with children) because we choose to not because we have to. The power of the internet has given women another way of being work at home moms and still have the opportunity to pursue whatever our dream may be. Now’s the time to act women and mom entrepreneurs!
@Sandy – what a great idea for the Non Profit Shopping Mall. I’m in the process of integrating a non-profit participation with our company as well. It just makes sense!
@Tuni & G – Now is the time to act and you rae so right that the Internet has helped many of us explore business opportunities that were not available to our mothers.
Aruni,
You are absolutely right! Women are starting small businesses all over and growing with a new attitude and confidence. It’s the 21st century, and now more than ever, women have their chance to succeed in self-made business. I just started using Microsoft’s Office Live Small Business to expand to the internet’s mass market. It allows you to create your own customized website with an easily understandable format, so you can get up and running in no time at all. You even get your own .com domain name for free! I highly recommend any women starting or looking to expand her business check out OLSB.
There is plenty of information about it on their website: http://smallbusiness.officelive.com
OLSB has really been a beneficial tool in my expansion to the world wide web, so I thought I’d let everyone know! Now, I work with Microsoft, so if you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them for you! My e-mail address is k-rosenberg@live.com. I think the future is bright for female entrepreneurs, so keep going for it! Take care Aruni, thanks for the great read!
Best,
Kimberly
@Kimberly – thanks for the information! It’s often hard to wade through all of what big companies like Microsoft have to offer. Even with a connection, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd.
Hi everyone,
I posted earlier but thought I’d post again. I run a membership based website for entrepreneurial moms. It is designed to supply these moms with tools, resources and a community in which to share and grow their business in. I didn’t mention it by name last time because I wasn’t sure if it was proper or not but will this time for those looking for support. Its http://www.MillionaireMom.com. If you go to my personal website http://www.JoyceBone.com and fill out the contact info I will be happy to email you a link for a free month’s trial. I launched this in February and am looking for feedback and forum postings to make it a place entrepreneurial moms are happy to call their community. Thanks!
Aruni,
You’re absolutely welcome! Microsoft has been doing a lot of work geared towards helping women entrepreneurs on several levels.
1.) Office Live Small Business: As brought up earlier gives women the tools they need to bring their business online. Did you end up getting your FREE domain name yet?
2.) Vision to Venture Women’s Entrepreneurial Tour: from Miami to San Diego, it really proved to be a great success! I went and Susan Solovic (of SBTV.com) was fabulous—I felt like I really learned a lot (and they gave away a complete Office Small Business 2007 suite—pretty awesome)!
3.) Women’s Resource Center: An online community where anyone can get involved, ask questions, network and interact directly with key contacts at Microsoft, like Karen Dayan who was also a speaker at the tour. Check it out here:
http://myofficelivecommunity.com/campaigns/default.aspx?campaignID=104
And I forgot to mention, New York Times’ David Pogue did a video review of Office Live Small Business. It’s wonderfully informative, and pretty funny too! You can see that here:
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=20331d4f7dfd0d541404c93fb9bcf988c806cb31.
Like I said, with Office Live Small Business, the Vision to Venture tour, and the new online community, Microsoft is pulling all the stops in giving women what they need to get ahead in the business world. We both know the struggles of operating and maintaining your own business (regardless of gender), but on the flip side it affords so many tremendous opportunities!
I’d love for more people to hear about all the work we’ve done over here at Microsoft; we’re really trying to build a supportive and interconnected community of women who are fired up about taking their business to the next level. If you know anyone that would find the above helpful, let them know! I’ll always be around, so don’t hesitate to send anyone my way.
Best,
Kimberly
“In my experience, women as a group
are far less willing to risk everything they have for a business idea. This may be a gender specific biological trait related to the female’s reproductive functions.” You’ve got to be effin kidding me! Thanks for including all those asinine comments. Entertaining and infuriating all at the same time!
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