|
Women In Business
Business is the occupation, work, or trade in which a person
is engaged. To become a viable business venture, an idea must be transformed
into something upon which a business can be built. The idea must undergo
a developmental change through the use of broad and active cognitive processes
that ultimately turn it into a business concept.
In recent years, the world has seen new trends in business,
as more women have now entered the business world. A record number of
women have started their own businesses, as well as entering male dominated
careers. We are now in a position to ask some fascinating questions: Do
women
entrepreneurs differ from men? If so, how? Which new or
different values do women bring to corporate culture? The role of women
at the workforce. Do the goals of women entrepreneurs differ from men's?
Do women have different problems? Which skills do women bring to entrepreneurship?
Which limitations?
The phenomenon of women business owners has its roots in the women's movement.
When women moved out of their kitchens, they moved into corporations.
They have been fighting there way up and joined careers, which are so
called 'male careers'. Areas like Engineering and sciences. Despite these
advances, however, many women experienced the "glass ceiling,"
a barrier that stopped them from climbing to the tops of corporate ladders.
Despite the increasing number of working women and more than a quarter
century of equal opportunity legislation, women in the early 2000s, as
in 1900, concentrated in a few types of jobs and generally earned less
than men. In The USA, Women were further segregated within certain occupations
and industries: 99 percent of secretaries, 98 percent of family childcare
providers, 97 percent of receptionists, 96 percent of private household
workers, 93 percent of registered nurses, 90 percent of bank tellers,
and 64 percent of retail sales clerks were women. Statistics show that
employees in clothing and textile industries, telephone communication,
health services, and local education were predominantly women. Women continue
to be paid less for their labor than men. In 2001 women's median annual
full-time earnings were 28 percent less than men's earnings. Women in
professional jobs earned 70 cents and saleswomen earned 60 cents for every
dollar earned by their male counterparts. The result is that an increasing
number of smart and savvy women are getting tired of proving themselves
without commensurate rewards, making less money than their male counterparts,
and trying to change the cultures in which they work.
So a number of women decided to leave corporations, starting companies
and creating cultures in which they can succeed - and many of them are
becoming quite successful. .
All of these advances are fine, but facts are: as business owners, women
face tough problems: Nobody makes sales for them. They have to market
or manufacture their products or services. They must decide who to hire
and who to fire. Nobody hands them money. And nobody holds their hands.
Then the real concern for a woman is whether or not to become an entrepreneur.
This decision is perhaps best reflected in the advice of one-woman business
owner. On the other hand women who are still working in the corporations
often face gender-based discrimination. While this discrimination may
not be as overt as in other parts of the world, or may take different
forms, it does exist everywhere around the world. Women often cannot achieve
their highest potential in career or education and the media continually
depicts women as sex objects and nothing more. Women's salaries are still,
dollar-for-dollar, or shilling-for-shilling less than the corresponding
salaries for their male counterparts. Women who do work to earn a living
still have primary responsibility for taking care of the home and family
with little domestic support from their husbands. Women in positions of
influence are few and far between.
WOMEN IN BUSINESS
1. Employed Women
The role of women in the workforce varies according to the structure,
needs, customs, and attitudes of the societies in which they live. In
prehistoric times, women and men participated almost equally in hunting
and gathering activities to obtain food. With the development of agricultural
communities, women's work revolved more around the home. They prepared
food, made clothing, and cared for children, while also helping to plow
fields, harvest crops, and tend animals. As cities developed, some women
sold or traded goods in the marketplace.
Some major changes are now occurring in industrial nations, including
the steadily increasing proportion of women in the labor force; decreasing
family responsibilities (due to both smaller family size and technological
innovation in the home); higher levels of education for women; and more
middle- and upper-income women working for pay. For most Countries, women
make more 50% of the population…
2. Women Entrepreneurs
Many women business owners view business ownership with different concerns
and interests than their male counterparts. Although some women business
owners are interested in a large, profitable organization, many prefer
their new business to be small, friendly and easy to manage. Because growth
usually equals structure, many women business owners choose to remain
small to avoid dealing with an organization that would require layers
of management and a culture that might lack support or is rigid, unfriendly,
or limiting.
Women start their businesses for a variety of reasons.
Independence, flexibility, freedom from corporate limitations, and the
freedom to take risks are usually major motivational factors for the woman
who decides to start her own business. In addition, many women seek personal
satisfaction, a certain balance, broader horizons, the respect in the
industry, the excitement of growth and the opportunity to learn new things.
Women start their organizations to create a secure future
and to have choices about their lifestyles. Many have a community mission,
which they plan to support or fund. Many want to provide good jobs and
a secure future for a dedicated staff. Finding a better way to deliver
services or making a difference in the lives of many people is often at
the top of the list.
1. Small businesses create jobs, and this is incredibly
important for any economy. They embody values of hard work, risk-taking,
and independence. When it comes to entrepreneurship and job creation,
it is an increasingly woman's world. And as the President of the USA put
it," It's really important for people to understand, as we're fighting
a recession, if small businesses create two-thirds of the new jobs, it
makes sense that any economic recovery strategy focus on small business".
Women-owned businesses employ approximately 27 million, own 38% of all
businesses in the United States -- that is 9.1 million businesses *
2. Small business ownership is a great equalizer in. The only connections
you need are happy customers, a good business plan. The only credentials
you need are good products. The only values you need are to be willing
to take risk and to work hard.
3. Small businesses provide a great chance to succeed, a chance to realize
ones dreams.
4. For women, a small business brings the satisfaction of success without
having to go through the frustrations of corporate life. There are a lot
of women entrepreneurs who tried out corporate life and found out, and
agree with what this entrepreneur said. Nancy Miller put it this way:
You succeed or fail based on your own abilities, not on politics or anybody
else. She's got a pretty good point there. She talks about the freedom
that comes with owning your own business. What the other -- and the reason
I love the entrepreneurial spirit, because it provides people a chance
to be creative, to build, to contribute, and to own.
5.Being your own boss, as Sherrin Holder of Virginia describes it, brings
a sense of pride and accomplishment, a sense of ownership, and a growing
hope for success. She captures the feeling of every entrepreneur. You
can advance yourself, and you can do well by doing so. As you succeed,
you help others to succeed, first and foremost by providing somebody with
a job.
Challenges and Constraints
As we continue to address women's issues in the business, there is the
need to understand the environment in which women entrepreneurs operate,
including the challenges they face. Amongst many other challenges. These
include:
1. The regulatory environment,
2. Education opportunities and education systems,
3. Cultural factors, societal views and societal perceptions,
4. Management training and job opportunities, and
5. Family responsibilities.
6. Poor Access to Finances
7. Business Transition to Growth
The regulatory environment includes government legislation, which can
have a constraining effect on women's enterprises. In many developing
countries legislation existed that limited women's contractual rights
and their economic participation. Women were also excluded from the ownership
of property, which limits their access to collateral for loan finance.
In addition to these constraining factors, a high or complex administrative
burden in establishing and sustaining a business has a greater negative
impact on women-owned businesses and sometimes pushes women into the informal
sector.
Secondly, education opportunities and education systems constrain women-owned
enterprises, as women tend to be the ones who have limited access to education
opportunities. Education systems heavily influenced by our societal values
and principles also play a major role in this constraint. Women's career
choices from an early age are still directed towards the softer sciences
and not those in business, science and technology. These career choices
later affect women's confidence in entering the business world and in
starting an enterprise in what is perceived to be a male domain. Gender
blindness in the mathematics and science curriculum at secondary school
and tertiary level has consistently discouraged women from entering these
fields. The result is a shortage of skilled women in the technology-intensive
industries that are key to the success of an economy.
Third, cultural and societal values and perceptions continue to oppress
women. Cultural attitudes also discourage women from taking risks in business
and accessing information as well as preventing them from getting equal
access to procurement opportunities. Certain negative cultural aspects
in patriarchal societies make women more vulnerable to being victims of
crime and gender-based violence. The social environment also discourages
women from pursuing career paths in the fields of science, engineering
and technology sectors. This happens in the technology-intensive industries,
applied technology and in other knowledge industries.
Fourth, the limited access of women to management training and relevant
job opportunities has a negative impact on women entrepreneurs. Often
women in the workplace are concentrated in the least skilled or lowest
paid jobs; this limits their access to management technical training and
denies them the on-the-job management experience that would enable them
to successfully manage an enterprise. Such knowledge is difficult to teach,
for example in government-supported training programmes, as it is often
acquired through experience in the workplace.
Fifth, women's family responsibilities can often result in additional
financial burdens as well as increased household responsibilities. For
example, a lack of affordable childcare facilities for young children
creates an additional burden for the mother who would like to start her
own business.
Sixth, lack of access to finance for women entrepreneurs is unfortunately
a problem that is shared between developed and developing economies. Lack
of finance is one of the primary factors impeding women from reaching
their full economic potential. Many women fall in between the criteria
for eligibility of many micro lending programs and the credit scoring
systems used by conventional financial institutions. And, the smaller
sums of money that women often look for are not attractive to traditional
lenders.
Seventh, being less equipped with managerial skills and other skills to
run business, women entrepreneur may also face the obstacles to growth
i.e. business transition. . It takes one set of skills to start a business,
but another set to grow the business. In order to grow, you have to take
risks, try new things, "bet on the come," and know that some
things you try will not be successful. Leaders who want their companies
to grow must understand the relationship between innovation and growth...
They also need to understand what changes will be required in their roles
and responsibilities at different stages of company growth. During start-up
they are the Do-er and Decision-maker. During Initial Growth they have
to be the Delegator and Direction-Setter. In Rapid Growth they need to
play the role of Coach, Team Builder, Planner and Communicator. In Continuous
Growth they must move out of operations and become the Strategic Innovator,
Change Catalyst, Organization Rebuilder, and Chief of Culture. Facing
this problem, together with the fact that women have little access to
finance, women end up engaging in small businesses.
These constraining factors result in a number of difficulties
for women entrepreneurs, such as getting adequate finance, gaining adequate
skills to start and manage a business, the risks of crime and violence,
lack of access to information and often poor use and understanding of
technology. It is therefore necessary to respond to these different constraints
through appropriate support
MEASURES/SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT SHOULD BE DONE
1. START WOMEN NETWORKS.
Networks, organizations that facilitate and monitor the socio-economic
advancement of women entrepreneurs and workers, and their positive impact
on the country's economy. The main objective is the empowerment of women
so that they can obtain economic independence, take control of their lives
and fully participate in the society in which they live.
Example of the women Networks that are successful
" South African Women Entrepreneurs' Network (SAWEN) which provides
a strategy for fast-tracking support to women in addressing the challenges
of establishing, strengthening and sustaining their enterprises.
"
2. Policy interventions designed to alleviate the constraints in the small
business sector
3. To entrench the principle of equality where all citizens are equal
irrespective of sex
4. Identify the problems that our environment creates for women and ways
to improve this situation. Women need financial services including small
loans and funds for training and technical assistance. Current criteria
for gaining access to credit and capital do not help many women start
and own business and see them (businesses) to full growth.
5. It is clear that even with the removal of the regulatory impediments
facing women, there is still need specific programmes and support initiatives
to assist women in business to become equal players in our economies.
Examples
" Technology for Women in Business programmes (TWIB) is being supported.
TWIB is aimed at encouraging women to access and use technology in order
to increase the strength of their business. Another intervention by TWIB
is to encourage young girls to enter the fields of science and technology.
" SEBA is an organization supporting women to start and run their
businesses in Tanzania
6. It seems logical that the wage gap between men and
women would narrow as women flock into traditionally male jobs. Future
progress in reducing the gender pay gap will reflect the offsetting influences
of two contradictory trends: the growing ranks of female college graduates
and the increased labor force participation of poorly educated women at
the bottom of the income scale. And, of course, the pace at which women
at all educational levels continues to move into traditionally male-dominated
occupations. Women need to be encouraged to join science and other fields
that are dominated by men to narrow and eventually get rid of the gap
between the two groups.
Unfortunately, most of the Women Networks do not survive to reach their
stated goals as a result of corrupted leaders, mismanagement of funds,
and lack of information to women about the existence of such organizations
among other reasons.
WHY WOMEN PREFER CERTAIN BUSINESSES THAN OTHERS?
Most women engage in small businesses and the businesses they run are
the result of one or more of the following reasons.
" Women's career choices from an early age are directed towards the
softer sciences this influences a woman while starting a business and
as a result will choose to run a business on the area of specialization.
Few women are in the engineering and technology related businesses.
" Lack of finance is one of the primary factors impeding women from
reaching their full economic potential. They end up running small businesses
because they lack enough capital to start and run large ones.
" Women's family responsibilities
" Women engage in cloths business as woman and fashion are inseparable
" In the Environment where women are excluded from the ownership
of property, women run small business for the up keep of their families.
"
Women are good in small businesses because
" Women entrepreneurs describe their businesses in family terms and
see their business relationships as a network. This "personal touch"
is often what drives employee motivation and productivity. The downside
is however that they may lack policies and procedures that are clearly
stated.
" Women have the ability to balance different tasks and priorities.
In business for herself or for someone else, the ability to be flexible
and adaptable is a distinct advantage these days when everyone is expected
to perform many duties.
" Women entrepreneurs tend to find satisfaction and success from
building relationships with customers and employees, from having control
of their own destiny, and from doing something that they consider worthwhile.
We spend the majority of our lives at work. If our work and our personal
values are not in alignment, sooner or later we feel conflict. Women entrepreneurs
have used this internal conflict as a motivation in order to create the
life that they desire.
" The way in which women business owners make decisions is usually
more whole-brained than men's (i.e. it is more evenly distributed between
right-brain and left-brain). This allows someone to use creative and analytical
processes, a characteristic that is critical for small business management,
especially in uncertain situations.
WOMEN CHAMPIONS AND INNOVATORS.
" Hind Abdul Jaber, President Business and Professional Women's Club
of Amman
" Mary Robinson-United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
1997-2002)
" Oprah Winfrey-Queen of the Talk show
" Prof.Wangari Maathai-Time's Hero of the planet,UN's award,African
Prize for leadership
" Anna Mkapa-First Lady, Tanzania.Started women awareness programs,
empowers women…
" Megawati Sukarnoputri,Indonesia's President
"
" Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka ,UNCHS (Habitat)'s Executive Director ,founder
of Tanzania women council (BAWATA), organisation advocating for women's
rights to land, inheritance and social services. Mrs. Tibaijuka is also
founding Chairperson of the Barbro Johansson Girls Education Trust which
is dedicated to promoting high standards of education amongst girls in
Tanzania and in Africa.
" Bibi Titi Mohamed-Independence Hero,Tanzania
" Hind Abdul Jaber, President Business and Professional Women's Club
of Amman
" Eco-friendly Recycling used tyres Rama Anand India,Innovator
" Mother of Invention in Egypt Liala Abdel Monem Egypt
" Esther Passaris,Adopt-A-Light
CONCLUSION
Economic changes - including trade liberalization, structural adjustment
and privatization policies - have resulted in dramatic increases in poverty
and insecurity for women. Despite numerous efforts by women and their
allies around the globe to secure empowerment, fundamental human rights
continue to be violated and women's needs are increasingly marginalized
in the global economy. In this challenging environment, feminists working
on institutional change of the formal institutions implicated in our current
global climate, and the informal institutions of cultures and norms that
underline their processes, procedures and goals, are encountering increasingly
difficult barriers to overcome. The promise of gender mainstreaming to
confront and change these formal and informal institutions to become carriers
and supporters of gender equality is not materializing. Instead, it has
become a technical exercise devoid of political will and political context.
The recognition of unequal power relations inherent in institutions has
been left aside, and gender mainstreaming has become an apolitical instrument
allowing organizations to appear committed on the surface, but patriarchal
and unchallenged beneath it.
REFERENCES
" Gender At Work, [Internet], Available from: < http://www.genderatwork.org/index.php/ic/
>[Accessed June 2nd, 2004]
" Donald L. Sexton, Research on women -owned businesses: current
status and future directions, [Internet], Available from: < http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=25997838>[Accessed
June 3rd, 2004]
" Oliver Hagan, Carol Rivchun, Donald Sexton, Women Owned Business,
[Internet], Available from http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=25997838,[Accessed
June 3rd, 2004]
" Women's rights and Economic Change, [Internet], Available from;
< http://www.awid.org/wrec/>[Accessed June 3rd, 2004]
" Facts from "The National Foundation for Women Business Owners"[Internet],
Available from: http://www.count-me-in.org/what/[Accessed June 2nd, 2004]
" Peter Munaita, African Business: Tackling the Challenges, [Internet],
Available from: < http://www.nationaudio.com/News/EastAfrican/11032002/Regional/Regional16.html>,[Accessed
June 1st, 2004]
" Women Business Owners-World's Fastest Growing Market, [Internet],
Available from; < http://www.advancingwomen.com/web/women_business_owners.html>[Accessed
June 3rd, 2004]
" Profiles of distinguished women[Internet],Available from:< http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/subject/business.html>[Accessed
June 5th,2004]
QUESTIONS
" People-how do women and men come to accept, and commit to gender
equality both in organizations and in communities?
" Communities--how are cultural practices and norms (informal institutions)
challenged and negotiated to allow for greater gender equality and increased
acceptance of gender equality by men. What capacities do communities mobilize
in order to achieve greater gender equality?
" Organizations-what organizational conditions are associated with
institutional change for gender equality (personal, cultural and legal
change) in communities? |
|
