We have all read the statistics on the unequal representation of women in the professional domain. Only 5 percent of the CEOs of the S&P 500 companies are women, and they comprise only 14.2 percent of the top 5 leadership positions in these companies despite forming more than 40 percent of the workforce. While the picture in India is similar at leadership levels with 3 in every 100 CEOs of large companies likely to be a woman, the reality is much starker at the junior and mid-career levels. Overall, 23.7 percent of women in India work and contribute 17 percent to the country’s GDP (vs. 37 percent globally) leaving us at the 139th rank out of 145 countries on the WEF’s Global Gender Report.
This clearly presents a sobering macro-picture and shows how much work still needs to be done to address the social and cultural biases that deter women from staying on in the workforce, and how organizational and economic policies need to provide effective support.
And while the tech and startup ecosystem has disrupted many traditional industries and old school practices, they too are affected by the trends of industry as a whole. Women-led ventures are less likely to get funded and also get a lower quantum of financing than startups founded by men. Pitchbook data shows that women-led companies made up 4.94 percent of all VC deals and a paltry 2.19 percent of the funding during the year 2016. The challenges are familiar — a lack of senior women in the VC community, challenges of breaking through old-boy networks, concerns about commitment to the business, being evaluated on performance vs. potential (male-led start-ups are more likely to be assessed on what they can ‘be’ not what they have already achieved).
Women ‘ask’ less frequently than men, and when they do, they ask for less — women-led ventures usually target external financing in line with what they think the business really needs to get to its next trajectory of growth instead of being more aggressive. This is similar to what we see in the corporate world too. Although this leads to a lot of positive outcomes — a focus on building a healthy business, better returns for all investors, but it is unlikely to get too much credit from VCs especially in the early years of a venture.
A lot of the issues highlighted above are deep-rooted which need to be addressed head on, and although the ongoing conversations around many of these themes are a cause for optimism, I would ask my fellow women entrepreneurs and professionals, as well as younger women starting their careers, not to wait for a perfect ecosystem, but to make it work for you. This will need some creative thinking and a lot of multi-tasking but it’s worth it and will set a strong positive example for others. I thought I would highlight a few personal learnings from my journey as an entrepreneur that might be useful for a few others below.
Think big and bold: Craft your vision and ambition for your business or career with the assumption that there are no constraints. While the actual journey will build incrementally, it is extremely important to articulate the goal-post for yourself, your team, potential investors, and the external world.
Pick issues you understand well and on which you have a point of view: While we live in an age ruled by smartphones, interesting tools and apps, all of these are channels to deliver a solution to a problem. Focusing on issues that you know well will help in ensuring that the product/tech you create is indeed useful, and iterating it how many ever times needed to ensure consumers stick. Knowledge and networks are also key to sell which is a key job for any CEO.
Ask for what you need: Think through at every juncture the top 3-5 things that will determine success for your business, and what you need to over-deliver on those. This could be external financing, introductions, a strategic partnership. Get your ‘ask’ and ‘messages’ sharp and reach out for help. People feel happy and involved when they are able to help you, so don’t hesitate to request for help – but make sure you are clear on what you need.
Create a positive reinforcing peer group you can learn from: Mentors and role models are ofcourse key as they provide inspiration and guidance. I also feel one needs a peer group of fellow entrepreneurs you can share your ups and downs with, and more importantly learn from. Building and scaling a business is a long and lonely process, and we all need access to positive reinforcement from time to time as also sounding boards for strategic decisions such as funding/hiring, or the smaller seemingly insignificant issues that end up taking hours out of your day.
Pay it back: I cannot emphasize this enough. Research by Bain & Co found that while at the start of their careers, 50 percent of women professionals aspire to top management, however within 2-5 years, this falls to 16 percent. The biggest reasons for this are a lack or role models that show you can break stereotypes, and the lack of meaningful support and recognition from managers. Both these are easily actionable for each one of us in our micro-contexts and will have a multiplier effect through signaling and showing the way.
In our race to disrupt many traditional ways of doing everyday activities, let us not forget to disrupt the way we, as women, have been operating in and being perceived by society. Or, with apologies to both Sheryl Sandberg and David Gilmour, “Lean in, you crazy diamond!”