Why We All Should Support Women-Led Businesses

March 7, 2024

It's International Women's Day, making it a great time to remind everyone why Women-led companies are so important to support.

And I'm not even just referring to the fact that women are still underpaid for doing the same work as men ($0.89 to the $1 in Canada, $0.82 to the $1 in the US), or that women entrepreneurs don't receive the same number of business loans as their male counterparts are, and when they do get loans they're for not as much and are at a higher rate. If this alone doesn't make you rage, check this out:

"A study by Harvard, MIT and Wharton School showed this gender bias: when the same idea was pitched by a male and a female voice, two-thirds of investors picked the male voice. This bias could be a product of the fact that 88% of decision-makers in venture capital firms are men." Link.

And yet, the facts prove that ⤵️

Women are better at business.

Sure are! Here's the proof, puddin':

1) Women are more open to innovation

Majority female-owned business are both more likely to innovate products as well as infrastructure compared to majority male-owned companies. Women bring different perspectives to the table, offering unique approaches that can lead to innovative solutions. Being open to change has helped businesses expand and prosper, leading to better products and services.

2) Female leaders create a happier workplace and create more jobs

Employee turn over in female-led businesses is much lower for both male and female employees, and they also boast higher rates of extreme satisfaction in their workplace! As they say, a happy employee is a productive employee, and that makes for great business.

Not only are the employees happier, it turns out there's more of them! Women-owned businesses support a higher significantly higher company growth rate, creating more jobs in their communities.

3) Women leaders fuel a smaller pay gap and provide better pay for all employees

Ah, here's a good clue why their employees are so dang happy! They're paid better and more equally! Who coulda guessed that well-paid staff would want to stick around longer? Women did, that's who. When you need a problem solved, ya gotta solve it yourself, ammirite?

4) Women-led businesses enjoy greater success

And the more women the better! A study by the Dow Jones VentureSource showed that companies with 3-4 female executives had higher success rates compared to companies with only 1-2, and those with 5+ female executives had the highest success rates of all, at 61%!

So uh, where's the funding at? 🤔

5) Women-led businesses have greater longevity

Women-led businesses are more likely to be focused on social needs, meaning they're motivated to work hard at solving issues that are important to them, and creating a better future. Working on passion projects gives more incentive to reinvest money into their businesses for improvement and expansion, rather than scaling fast and cashing out.

6) Female-led businesses return a greater ROI

This should be no surprise if you just finished reading point #4, and 5 above. Greater success + longevity = an excellent Return on Investment (ROI). Here's a direct quote too, since it's too delicious to mess with:

"This was not a small disparity, either – the numbers were staggeringly different. The companies with a female founder performed 63% better than companies where the founders were all male." Link.

7) Women are more careful risk takers

Believe you me, entrepreneurship takes a lot of risk. And perhaps because of the additional obstacles women have to jump through to be an entrepreneur (see opening paragraph to this blog above), when a women takes a risk, she damn well does her homework to make sure it's a good one.

The case for supporting women entrepreneurs is a no-brainer. We're overdue to recognize the value women bring to the entrepreneurial world. Supporting our local female entrepreneurs is a strategic decision in moving towards a more innovative, inclusive, and prosperous future. After all, when women succeed, we all win!

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