Women entrepreneurs & the long road to equality

This Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, we’re celebrating the incredible contributions women entrepreneurs are making to societies and economies around the world. But while we cheer their successes, we must also recognise the work still ahead of us in achieving true gender equality in the business world. Our CEO, Dhivya O’Connor, is calling for stakeholders to join us on the long road to achieving women’s equality.

It’s no secret that the world has fallen behind in nearly every aspect of women’s equality. The rights of women and girls around the world have been at a standstill for several years and in many cases, they have been rolled back. Women’s entrepreneurship fuels progress for all areas of women’s rights and human rights in general, but women still lack the support they need to achieve their full potential as business owners. 

The Foundation has provided this support to over 250,000 women entrepreneurs through our training and mentoring programmes and by advocating for policies that support them to thrive. But governments, the private sector, and multilateral organisations must do their part as well. This means increasing the number of women leaders and decision-makers, investing in women’s businesses, ending gender-based discrimination, and so much more.  

We must invest in women’s success

Supporting women’s entrepreneurship means investing in their businesses, but accessing finance is the top challenge that women entrepreneurs face. It’s currently estimated that women-owned small and medium sized enterprises face a credit gap of $1.4 – $1.7 trillion globally. This is often due to stereotypes about women not being capable business owners, and therefore not being good investments.  

Glory Omoregie, who participated in our Road to Finance programme in Nigeria told us: “One of the major challenges is the lack of funding. Big money goes to the men because there is a belief here that women shouldn’t run large businesses. When a woman asks for a loan, they get strange looks.” 

This discrimination is completely legal in most countries. In fact, over 100 economies lack legal provisions that expressly prohibit gender-based discrimination in access to credit. What’s more, most financial institutions require collateral to secure a loan, but systemic barriers often prevent women from owning property. This limits their opportunities even further.  

However, some organisations are increasing their accountability and putting measures in place to address the lack of funding for women’s businesses. The World Bank’s annual meetings, which took place last month, highlighted their commitment to providing 80 million more women and women-led businesses with capital, to boost entrepreneurship. We hope to see other institutions following suit.  

Change starts at the top

We cannot tackle the gender stereotypes and discrimination that women entrepreneurs face without more women in positions of power. When women are visible as leaders, it sends a clear message that we are strong, capable, and deserving of equal respect. It challenges deeply rooted beliefs about what women can and cannot do and opens the door for more women to access opportunities.  

For women entrepreneurs, this makes a massive difference. When women are seen as capable and respectable leaders, they are more likely to receive funding from financial institutions. They are also less likely to encounter gender-based discrimination, harassment, or violence while conducting business online—an issue that nearly half of the women we surveyed last year said has negatively impacted their business success. 

But we don’t have enough women leaders in the world. In fact, as of June, only 28 women serve as heads of state globally. How does any of this make sense when women are half the world’s population? 

This lack of representation could be seen at the 79th United Nations General Assembly, where less than 10 of the high-level week speakers were women and gender equality was only mentioned 9 times. That’s across twenty hours of speeches; twenty hours of mostly male leaders speaking about the sustainable development goals, the vast majority of which are directly impacted by gender equality, and yet, it barely came up. 

When women’s inclusion in government is lacking, this trickles down to every level of society. It creates a world with less women as business leaders, less women meeting their economic objectives, less families supported, less children educated. We simply cannot accept this.  

Join us in supporting women’s entrepreneurship

The road to achieving women’s economic equality is a long one—it’s currently estimated to take over a century and a half! We refuse to wait.

We call on governments, the private sector, and multilateral organisations to join us in addressing these and other barriers that women face in business ownership and to help create a more prosperous and gender equal future.