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Female entrepreneurship: breaking down barriers around work-life balance, digitisation, and financing

It's no longer just about breaking glass ceilings and occupying leadership positions in large corporations - female entrepreneurship is also necessary for making progress in society.

“Without racial, cultural and gender diversity, there is no innovation or progress.”

—BBVA Bank

August 20, 2021

The gist:The standard obstacles: lack of role modelsstereotypesdifficulties accessing funding, are still the main talking points cited when discussing the hurdles that stop more women from launching businesses. In addition, this article puts a finer end on what happens 'on the ground':

  • women entrepreneurs launch businesses out of necessity, more than men, without the education or entourage of support they need
  • as employees, women are assembled in, for example, the service sector, and therefore lack exposure to other markets and the pipelines to enter them successfully
  • there is a historical (to date) digital skills divide, while digital entrepreneurship is becoming the primary driver of value creation in the economy
  • women lack the assets that can serve as guarantees for financing

What will help to make "entrepreneurial opportunities more egalitarian?"  

  • baking work-life balance into work life, which addresses explicitly women's lived experiences as breadwinners and heads of households
  • innovating and normalizing new business/digital models that require less entry capital
  • creating female-centric financial products that specifically address women's position in society

The Stats:

"It's not that women are risk averse, we measure it better; we are more inclined to save money and have our feet more firmly planted on the ground.” And, “during the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, BBVA found that it was not women who were failing to pay their debts.

—BBVA's Director of Legal Strategy and Development, Karla Valenzuela

Get more backgrounds by connecting with the full article here.