It’s officially Women’s History Month here in the US. For this month, we’d like to put a focus on how women have greatly shaped and helped build a better society through social entrepreneurship. From career-driven women to caring & nurturing mothers to the single alpha females out there, we’d like to go deeper into how each has accomplished or been working on their personal goals and aspirations.
Just a quick backstory on how we get to commemorate this great observance, the celebration of Women’s History had its beginnings in 1980’s to honor and encourage the study of the vital role of women in American’s history, society, and culture particularly the overlooked contributions of the amazing women from the past. Back then, it was just Women’s History Week and it was in 1987 when it has been changed into a month-long celebration, declaring March as Women’s History Month. From then on, we have spent this specific month to further celebrate the accomplishments of all women alike, may it be with the arts or on business.
Women on Social Impact
Over the years, there has been an increase in female social entrepreneurs. With more younger women starting a social enterprise, an estimated 45% of the global social entrepreneurs are women, closing the gender gap compared to ‘mainstream’ businesses. How did this phenomenon start?
Quite often, through the experience of adversity. In the United States alone almost 50% of the total female population has experienced job discrimination due to gender. With female empowerment awareness that is being campaigned on for a while now, women now realize the need to stand up and answer to these. And largely with the help of social media and digital resources, more women now are getting inspired to also build up and pursue their own goals and their dream social enterprises.
Now that the awareness campaign has been embraced by the market and with women getting more empowered day by day. The next thing that maybe we should put a focus now on would be on giving these aspiring female entrepreneurs a common ground when it comes to opening a social enterprise. In a report by Echoing Green, State of Social Entrepreneurship 2020, females are getting less funding and would then get significantly lower funds depending on their skin color. We now need to focus on closing on that gap and not just with resources in terms of finances. This support must also include social and training support.
In addition to this, the media is less focused on women and only two out of every 10 reports are about women. This particular lack of visibility and inspirational women to look up to has left most young girls discouraged. Inclusivity in media would greatly help these girls shape their belief specifically on entrepreneurial and leadership goals.
This is why for this month, we, at People Helping People, will be celebrating all women and how each is in their own way are impacting our world today. And because this year’s focus is on sustainability, we’re going to discuss female social entrepreneurs with companies focusing on sustainability. Stay tuned on a blog each week in this series to get to know more about their stories of success and creating a social impact.
