Women in business

The phrase women in business refers to female businesspeople who hold positions, particularly leadership in the fields of commerce, business, and entrepreneurship. It advocates for their increased participation in business.

Increased participation of women in business can be important for variation in business development, ideas, and business products.^[1] Participation also encourages the development of social networks and supports that have positive repercussions for women and for their social environment.^[2]

The status of women in business varies significantly around the world. Sometimes a lack of adequate business capital, female education, and training programs in the use of technology can mean women are more constrained by their social and political environment than men.^[3]

The number of female entrepreneurs is increasing around in the country, and the Government generally encouraging this^[where?]. However, a legacy of historical exclusion and discrimination continues to shape the experiences of women in business today.^[4]^[5] Women are still underrepresented in many industries and face persistent barriers to advancement and equal pay for equal work.^[6]^[7] In PNG nowadays, for example, unequal pay (paying women less when they're doing the same work) is illegal. However, reports indicate that 80% of the companies pay the middle-ranked woman less than the middle-ranked man (a phenomenon known as the "median pay gap").^[8]

History

The earliest known well-documented businesswoman is Ancient Sumerian businesswoman Ama-e whom was involved in various trades and real estate investments.^[9]

Another one of the earliest-known well-documented businesswoman is an Ancient Assyrian businesswoman of the city of Assur named Ahaha. She is known for pursuing the resolution to an issue of financial fraud committed against her.^[10]

Women accounted for 29.2% of senior positions in S&P 500 firms in the United States as of February 2023. CEO roles make up 8.2% of these. Despite controlling more than 50% of personal wealth and comprising 46.8% of the U.S. workforce, women are still under-represented in senior business positions. Out of the approximately 11 members on each S&P 500 board, there are typically only two women.

Around the world, the circumstances vary by nation. More than 20% of top executive and board positions are occupied by women in certain nations, such as Norway, Latvia, and Slovenia. These nations have implemented measures to support women in leadership positions, such as imposing quotas on the proportion of women on boards. However, women barely occupy 2-3% of leadership posts in countries like South Korea and Japan.

According to a 2014 global poll by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, about 60% of businesses worldwide lacked female board members. Furthermore, less than 5% of businesses had a female CEO, and over 50% of businesses had no female executives at all. This demonstrates the under-representation of women in corporate leadership across the globe.

While more women are joining business boards in the United States, the growth is extremely sluggish. As of December 2022, for instance, women accounted for 28.4% of board seats in companies in the Russell 3000 Index, but only 7% of these seats were held by women of colour. Given that studies indicate that businesses with more women in leadership positions perform better, this sluggish development is alarming. Companies with 30% of women in leadership positions are 15% more profitable than those with less women, according to a Peterson Institute analysis.

Gender quotas have been introduced in European nations such as Norway, France, and Germany in an effort to boost the number of women in leadership positions. For instance, a regulation requiring women to make up 40% of board members in publicly traded corporations was passed in Norway in 2003. Other European nations have improved gender equality in corporate leadership by imitating this model.

Nonetheless, women in leadership ''''''positions continue to face challenges in many developing nations. Women encounter additional difficulties in places like Africa, the Middle East, and some sections of Asia because of cultural norms, limited educational chances, and fewer career options. Compared to the West, fewer women hold senior leadership roles in various fields as a result of these obstacles. Many women worldwide have overcome these obstacles to achieve significant leadership positions in spite of these obstacles. For instance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala rose to prominence in international politics as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Africa. Dilma Rousseff's tenure as President of Brazil demonstrated that women are capable of leading entire nations in Latin America. Companies benefit from having more women in leadership positions, according to research from groups like Catalyst. Businesses with more women on their boards typically do better in areas like community involvement, customer service, and environmental responsibility. Additionally, these businesses are more likely to donate to charitable causes. This demonstrates how having women in leadership positions can improve a company's social and financial performance.

Studies have also demonstrated that having women in leadership positions helps foster innovation and business growth. For example, an Ernst & Young survey revealed that over half of women in senior corporate positions had participated in competitive sports, demonstrating a connection between athletic ability and leadership. This link emphasises how important the talents that women in leadership roles bring to the workplace. Increasing the number of women in leadership roles has numerous advantages, but there are drawbacks as well. Even when they are performing well, female CEOs are 45 percent more likely to be fired than their male colleagues. This illustrates the persistent gender bias in many business settings.

The need for fresh leadership talent will only grow in the future as more senior male leaders retire. One important component of this skill pool is thought to be women. Businesses are beginning to realise that women may significantly impact leadership roles and offer distinct viewpoints. Given that newer generations of women are more educated and equipped for leadership roles, this is particularly true.

In conclusion, progress is being achieved even if there are still numerous obstacles preventing women from assuming leadership positions in many regions of the world. Businesses can become more successful, creative, and accountable by promoting more women into leadership roles. To ensure that business is diverse and inclusive in the future, governments, corporations, and organisations must keep collaborating to increase the number of possibilities for women in corporate leadership.

Women as entrepreneurs

In the 59 economies included in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor research project,^[11] female entrepreneurship ranges from just over 1.5% to 45.4% of the adult female population. Although entrepreneurial activity among women is highest in emerging economies (45.5%), the proportion of all female entrepreneurs varies considerably: from 16% in South Korea to 55% in Ghana (the only economy with more female entrepreneurs).^{[citation needed]} Moreover, in many emerging economies, women are now starting a business faster than men, making significant contributions to job creation and economic growth. Women are also more likely to start businesses focused on sustainability.^[12]^[13]^[14]

Developing countries

A disproportionate share of female-owned businesses in developing countries today are either small or medium enterprises, which often do not mature as a result of negative growth and poverty. Understanding the specific barriers women's businesses face and providing solutions to address them is necessary to further leverage the economic power of women for growth and the attainment of development goals.

Nigeria

Nigeria is currently the leading economy in Africa and holds much potential growth for female entrepreneurs.^[15] Women in leadership roles do not significantly differ from men in Nigeria, indicating there is significant growth potential once barriers to entry have been removed.^[16]

Kazakhstan

The government of Kazakhstan supports the development of female-led small and medium businesses. For example, in cooperation with EBRD, Kazakhstan executes the Women in Business program. The budget of the program is $50 million.^[17] Empowerment of Women in the Corporate Sector is an international forum held in Astana, Kazakhstan.^[18] 44% of all businesses in Kazakhstan are female-owned and contribute to Kazakhstan's economic development and modernization.^[18]

In order to support women and women's organizations with a view to sustainable and inclusive development, Kazakhstan held the OSCE-supported Second International Women's Forum on Future Energy: Women, Business, and the Global Economy in August 2017. The conference also focused on the importance of teaching women new technologies as a form of social entrepreneurship.^[19]

Kenya

Kenya has also seen significant growth for women in business; encouraging entrepreneurship by women has been an important approach to poverty in Kenya.^[20]^[21] The Kenyan government, with support from NGOs, has created many programs providing access to financial resources, loans, and entrepreneurial education. Two examples are the Women's Enterprise Fund, enacted in 2007, and the creation of the Women's University of Science and Technology.^[20] The Women's Enterprise Fund allows women greater access to small loans and financial services, such as bank accounts.^[20] The Women's University of Science and Technology, which is the first all-women's university in Kenya, allows women to access higher education and entrepreneurial training.^[20] These programs have empowered women to create small to medium-size enterprises, such as tailoring and bead-making. Kenyan society has also seen some shift in women's roles from caretakers to business owners, as called for in Vision 2030 - the Kenyan government's initiative to empower women, to achieve greater gender equality, economic growth, and to alleviate poverty.^[20]^[22]

The barriers women face to becoming entrepreneurs are exemplified through the perspectives of existing female entrepreneurs in Kenya. Mary Okello, the executive director of a cluster of private schools called Makini schools, discussed the difficulty of accessing loans. She explained that a major issue in Kenya was that only 1% of land is owned solely by women which makes it difficult for them to offer a bank collateral. Another obstacle for women in business is the limited foundational support from the Kenyan government. This is expressed through the experience of Esther Passaris, managing director of Adopt A Light. She recalled that when her organization partnered with the Council, there was no clear and evident framework for the next progressive steps and she felt the government could have provided a more effective way of protecting her business.^[23]

Ghana

In some other African countries like Ghana, women such as Ayisha Fuseini have benefited from grants and sponsorships from NGOs and big business like Camfed and the MasterCard Foundation's Innovation Bursary Program (IBP) and became entrepreneurs in their own right.^[24]^[25]

Thailand

In Thailand the gender gap in education has reduced. In 2015, women were almost half of the 38.8 million in the labor force: 17.6 million or 45.8 percent were women. Gender equality is guaranteed by the Thai constitution. As a result, Thailand is one of the countries with the highest number of women in management positions.^[26] Thailand has 45% more women in CEO positions than the ASEAN countries and China, and 36% of senior managers are women, higher than the G7 countries (21%).^[27] Thailand is also one of the world's best-performing countries when it comes to women in senior business roles. The kingdom also has a high workforce participation rate for women: 60.1% in March 2019. Thailand consistently comes in the top five Asia-Pacific countries with the highest number of women in executive roles.^[26]

Developed countries

United Kingdom

A surge in the number of women starting businesses in the United Kingdom has narrowed the so-called "enterprise gap" between male and female company owners in the past decade. The proportion of working-age women going into business rose by 45% in the three-year period between 2013 and 2016, compared with 2003 to 2006, according to a report by Aston University in Birmingham. The share of working-age men going into business increased by 27% during the same period.^[28]

United States

The number of female-owned businesses in the United States is growing at twice the rate of all firms. As of 2018, around 40% of US firms are majority-owned by women, much higher than most other developed economies.^[29] Corporate support for women in business is also on the rise, with small business grants^[30] made available to help women in business.^[31]^[32]

Affirmative action has been credited with "bringing a generation of women into business ownership" in the United States, following the 1988 Women's Business Ownership Act and subsequent measures.^[33]

External links

Media related to Women in business at Wikimedia Commons

References

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