The existence of employment would change dramatically as a result of the fourth industrial revolution. Although automation is likely to displace employees, it will also generate new jobs. Emerging jobs are expected to be overwhelmingly clustered in the nonroutine and cognitive categories, and they will necessitate abilities that are difficult to automate.
Interacting with a dynamic team forces people to plan more and anticipate different points of view. Individuals expect variations of thought and viewpoint while women are around, and they believe they will have to work more to achieve a consensus. That kind of intensity is beneficial to all of us.
Men and women have varying perspectives on things and put different perspectives to the table. This makes for better problem solving and can increase business unit efficiency. Consider the purchasing power you’ll gain by getting together a diverse group of men and women from different cultures and ethnicities. Even better, if the organization builds a reputation for having a more diverse workforce, you’ll have a strong recruitment tool on your side.
The days of women being excluded from seeking professional careers are long gone. Even if there is still a lack of proportional representation, it is clear that things are getting better. They are making a lucrative career in various fields like a freelance content writer, medicine, architecture, e-commerce and much more. In a new survey of tech professionals conducted by Anderson Frank, it was discovered that, despite the fact that only a third of respondents were female, the percentage of female participants increased by 6% over the previous year.
Modern technology is one of the fastest-growing sectors in the United States, and technological progress will be important in nearly every field of the economy. According to Accenture statistics, there are more computer science positions than graduates available to fill them, and the number of women in the computing sector in the United States will drop in the next ten years unless we take urgent action. The underrepresentation of women in technology is not a new problem, and although change has been made, it is progressing at a glacial rate, and if not resolved, this issue will become a significant economic obstacle for the United States.
Being a woman in IT isn’t always convenient, and being the only woman in the boardroom will place you under a lot of stress. Accountability motivates us to take responsibility, and we need a national policy to ensure that employers are upholding the rules. Role models are crucial in life, and it is impossible for a female to imagine that you could make it that far before you see people who looked and sounded like yourself in positions of leadership. When you appoint women to senior positions, you illustrate to others that they, too, have a chance to excel.
We must make gender equity a corporate imperative in order to help an organization reach its full potential. Personal decisions are never taken arbitrarily. Both men’s and women’s choices and prospects are shaped by economic, institutional, organizational, and policy barriers. I advise all executives to recognize company divisions that are currently underrepresented in diversity and create a holistic recruiting plan that does not compromise merit by establishing inclusive targets and making all managers responsible for diversity and inclusion.
Rise of Female Entrepreneurs
Women’s entrepreneurship has reached a turning point in the mainstream. The question is whether it is a fleeting media fad that will quickly disappear from view, or whether it is a real, transformative economic force that is reshaping the planet. We believe it is fair to say the latter. Women-owned companies in the formal sector account for nearly 37% of all firms worldwide, making this a market worthy of the concern of both businesses and policymakers.
Woman entrepreneurs, as a group, seem to be different from their male peers. Their lower job rates and development aspirations have traditionally raised concerns over how to “correct” them. However, different should not imply deficient – or underperforming. For example, a new Dow Jones review of venture-backed firms in the United States revealed that those that were successful had double the number of women on the founding team. At the other end of the continuum, a review of a sample from 350 microfinance institutions in 70 countries revealed that lending to more women was correlated with lower write-offs and portfolio-at-risk.
Women entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed as a result of their trusted position in society. When business traits are controlled for, evidence shows that women-owned companies outperform their male counterparts. Such transformations have arisen in the field of women entrepreneurship. It was initially pursued by educated upper-class men who borrowed their own capital to develop their fortunes.
Then came educated women, although only a handful has made a major impact over the years. However, many uneducated women are enthusiastically raising family incomes by micro-enterprises and reinvesting their profits in their families and neighbourhoods, which has gone unnoticed. These women also encourage other women in their communities to fulfil their goals through grassroots entrepreneurship.
Crucial Factors That Play A Major Role In The Rise Of Women Entrepreneurship
1. Growth of Online Lenders
Lack of capital was one of the most difficult obstacles for women to overcome while starting a company. When it came to lending business capital to women, traditional lenders were strict– they needed equity, a guarantor, and a slew of other requirements. With the advent of digital lending channels, it is now much easier for women to secure a business loan. Today, a woman with an entrepreneurial project does not need to seek financial assistance from her relatives or traditional banks. She can quickly acquire funding from a digital lender and launch her venture with little hesitation.
2. Online Selling
This is another significant factor that has contributed to the country’s meteoric growth of female entrepreneurs. Items can now be delivered from the convenience of one’s own home. A woman entrepreneur can conveniently take goods around the country and even internationally through online shopping. All they have to do is set up an e-commerce website or join an online marketplace, and they will have a portal to advertise and demonstrate their goods. This digital network has made it simple for women to start a company from home and develop as it expands.
3. Growing Popularity of Social Media
Marketing was once one of the most difficult challenges for all businesses, not just women. Because of the success of social networks such as Instagram, Facebook, among others, it is now possible to quickly spread the message about one’s goods. The organization will go far with a social media page and the right content. In reality, social media networks are one of the most powerful resources in the arsenal of women entrepreneurs.
Women have long been underrepresented in entrepreneurship, but the number of female entrepreneurs in the United States has grown by more than 30% since 2007. According to Smallbiztrends.com, 57% of woman business owners predicted their sales to rise in 2018. This means that women-owned companies are almost as likely as male-owned businesses to expand at a comparable pace.
These women-owned companies have expanded at a 1.5 times faster pace than other small businesses over the last 15 years and are expected to provide more than 5 million jobs by 2018. If that is that women grow frustrated with the corporate ladder more easily or because they actually can’t ignore the temptation to follow their interests, female business owners have traditionally started their entrepreneurial ventures earlier in life than their male counterparts.
Over the last two decades, the number of women in the industry has slowly increased. Every day, hundreds of women-owned enterprises open their doors, bringing with them new opportunities, a boost to local economies, and a strengthening of the communities in which they operate. Many people would like to see this upward change continuing. There are potential reforms to constricting taxes and laws that could be impeding the development of female-owned small enterprises, which may pave the way for more opportunities for female entrepreneurs.
Another advantage of the increase of female entrepreneurship is those female company owners are more likely to donate a higher share of their earnings to organisations and trusts that support social good. This ensures that there will be more charities and organisations in need of assistance in order to continue charitable and conservation activities that help all. Women who enter the field of business profit from a break from societal expectations and the status quo. They will take care of their financial independence and acquire a greater sense of control over her life.
Women in the industry may face more mistreatment and challenges, but this may be due to the increased degree of social responsibility found in female-owned companies. There is a movement toward valuing their social influence above the economic benefit they provide. In terms of achieving equity in the number of women and men in entrepreneurship, there is always a long way to go. However, recent months have shown that merely providing more women with the opportunities and assistance to get started is all that is required for them to grow.
Women in Tech – Isis Anchalee Wenger
One of the women that have inspired millions across the world is Isis Anchalee Wenger who cracked the internet like wildfire with her #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign, back in 2015. Since then, Anchalee has been regarded as one of the ideal women breaking the stereotypes. Started her career as a full-stack developer at OneLogin, a software startup, a college dropout, a hip-hop dancer, and a fitness instructor.
Anchalee has set out to dispel the misconception that we have a traditional image of what a female engineer looks like or behaves like. Her employer requested her to star in a recent marketing advertisement with two other male workers. The ad included a snapshot of Isis, a statement on why she enjoyed working at OneLogin, as well as her name and title.
Friends and acquaintances alike began circulating and posting the ad on social media. What is the reason for this? For several, the sexy techie didn’t appear to match the stereotype of what an engineer could look like.
#ILookLikeAnEngineer, which was created to promote discussion of gender equality and diversity in the workplace. It was founded because Isis received a lot of hateful feedback after her face was featured in an ad campaign for OneLogin.
If a woman wishes to be an architect, a technician, or a construction worker, she should do it without letting the fact that those occupations are considered to be a man’s occupation in society deter her. Men who are interested in beauty or clothes are in the same boat. Never feel as if you don’t have the right to pursue your passion. Imagine being told that regardless of their race, they are unable to accomplish or reach those goals.
Anchalee says that she will continue speaking up and “embodying the principle that anyone can be femme as fuck and still kick ass at what they do”. She’s really good at what she does, and the feedback has been mostly optimistic, which is a good sign. She didn’t transform the world, but she did make it a happier place by encouraging people to pursue their dreams and look beyond the box.
“If their intention is to attract more women then it would have been better to choose a picture with a warm friendly smile rather than a sexy smirk,”
– says a Facebook user on the ad.
“The negative opinions about this ad that strangers feel so compelled to share illustrate solid examples of the sexism that plagues tech,” Isis wrote on medium. “I’m sure that every other woman and non-male identifying person in this field has a long list of mild to extreme personal offences that they’ve just had to tolerate.”
She also made the strong argument that her male colleagues, who were also used in campaign advertising, will never be challenged or scrutinized in the same way.
The outbreak of negative impact on the advertisement made her decide that this is an opportunity to take a step towards change. With all of this in mind, and with her story gaining attention, Anchalee wanted to invite other female engineers who don’t really “fit the cookie-cutter mould of what people think engineers should look like” to share their own portraits with the hashtag #iLookLikeAnEngineer.
To sum up
High-gender-diversity firms outperform their rivals in terms of returns, and they have outperformed less diverse businesses on average over the last five years. Companies that not only recruit but also attract more women automatically achieve a comparative edge, which benefits all stakeholders.
It is also important to note that UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority last month, announced its move to making female representation compulsory in the country by ensuring that all listed firms will have at least one woman on board. India did the same back in 2015, and we hope that other countries and regions in the world too will start following the same route soon.
