LADY BOSS MENTALITY AND EXPECTATIONS

Lady Boss Mentality and Expectations

By Monique 

Founder/CEO/Author 

"Millionaire Lady Boss Movements Group llc " 

Diva CEO Empire llc" 

Women, we’ve come a long, long way. A century ago we witnessed women fighting for the right to vote. Sixty years ago, we witnessed incredible women of color risk their lives in the fight for civil rights. And more recently, we witnessed courageous women put their careers and livelihoods on the line as part of the revolutionary Me Too movement. While there’s undeniably considerable progress left to be made, it can be useful to reflect on such accomplishments from time to time and draw inspiration from the powerful women driving change in the world.

In the world of business, we as women have finally been allowed to make the magnitude of impact we've always been capable of. Just within the last two decades, women-owned businesses have increased by over 60% and women entrepreneurs have built empires from scratch. However, it's not all good news. As we are all aware, the pay gap still represents a serious hurdle in the battle of gender equality in business. Less commonly known is that women-owned businesses on average generate less annual revenue and do not grow at the same rates as their male-owned counterpoints. These statistics are alarming (and infuriating) but are important to examine in order to understand how we can become better and more successful women bosses.

One of the most likely explanations and this is paramount for women looking to start their own business to expect, is that there is still a huge bias in the financing process. A recent study shows that women typically receive 80% less capital than men when seeking first-year financing. This represents a huge underlying problem in the world of banking, and while it deserves a massive overhaul, is a reality that women bosses must currently overcome. Equipped with this piece of knowledge, women-owned businesses can circumvent the biased financing system by seeking alternative sources of capital. Many options exist, but one of the best is the Ashoka organization, who cultivates social change by providing investments and resources to entrepreneurs and have a long history of assisting successful women.

Another reality we must face as women is that even though doors have started to open for us in business, there is still a somewhat strong push towards "traditional" women industries. Restaurants, retail, and home-care industries are all fantastic pathways but represent lower growth scale. This is not meant to discourage women from pursuing such avenues, but rather to highlight that we should not limit ourselves. Women are still drastically underrepresented in lucrative industries like finance and technology. These also happen to be some of the most powerful fields in which large scale change can be impacted. It's our duty as strong lady bosses to continue pushing into these fields and encourage the next generation of women to do the same.