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\nBy Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Sadly we are not talking of the amazing <\/strong>FemiHandbags<\/strong><\/span><\/a>; <\/strong>Ruff \u2019n\u2019 Tumble<\/strong><\/span><\/a>; <\/strong>House of Tara<\/strong><\/span><\/a>; <\/strong>Lilly Alfonso<\/strong><\/span><\/a>; <\/strong>SuzieBeauty<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and the many other thousands of incredible brands from Lionesses, the labels that just scream quality, trust and passion. Here we look at the labels and the generalizations that then attach themselves especially to women and attempt to drag us down.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\u201cThe Japanese Olympic Committee was discussing steps for bringing more women onto boards in sports. The male leader of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee voiced a grave concern: \u201cWhen you increase the number of female executive members, if their speaking time isn\u2019t restricted to a certain extent, they have difficulty finishing, which is annoying.<\/em>\u201d The man <\/em>[speaking] was Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister of Japan. He resigned from the Tokyo [Olympic] committee <\/em>[soon after making these] remarks.<\/em>\u201d according to an article in the Washington Post (here<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n
In fact, the article goes on to explain that data actually shows otherwise, that it is males that hold up the room, talk longer and dominate. The article points out: \u201cThe pattern is clear and consistent: It\u2019s usually men who won\u2019t shut up. Especially powerful men.<\/em>\u201d W-P<\/p>\n
The problem comes from gender stereotypes which continue to persist no matter how hard it is to turn the super-tanker of sub-conscious bias. \u201cPeople expect men to be assertive and ambitious but women to be caring and other-oriented. A man who runs his mouth and holds court is a confident expert. A woman who talks is aggressive or pushy.<\/em>\u201d W-P.<\/p>\n
In far too many meetings women certainly feel it is better to be silent and polite than to appear pushy and overconfident. Never one to ignore a spade when he is already stuck in a hole and digging deeper, the ex-PM and soon to be ex-Head of the Tokyo Olympic Committee continued: \u201cWe have about seven women at the organizing committee, but everyone understands their place.<\/em>\u201d As The Washington Post helpfully suggests: \u201cIf you think women talk too much, it could be because you expect them to talk so little.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The same is true of interruptions, women are seen in a far harsher light. According to a study done by Stanford University Linguist, Katherine Hilton (who is also a Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellow at the\u00a0Stanford Humanities Center – so serious stuff), (here<\/span><\/a>), with interruptions there is a gender bias even there. Indeed in a study she did of 5,000 people listening to a carefully scripted dialogue that included exactly the same<\/span> interruptions from both men and women she found that “Male listeners were more likely to view women who interrupted another speaker in the audio clips as ruder, less friendly, and less intelligent than men who interrupted. However, female listeners did not show a significant bias in favour of female or male speakers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
Turning back to the ex-PM (still digging): \u201cWhen one person raises a hand, others think they need to speak up as well\u2026 Women are competitive.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
But <\/em>(as the W-P points out) the data tells us the opposite. Economists find that when men and women are paid to solve problems, they do equally well. But if they\u2019re told their pay will depend on whether they solve more problems than others, women do worse \u2014 especially if they\u2019re told they\u2019re competing against men. Women are often reluctant to compete against men, and it doesn\u2019t stem from biology.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
It stems from power.<\/em><\/strong><\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n
But where does this power come from? Is this really a hangover from the days before the suffragettes who fought so hard for basic rights such as the vote? Or the very patriarchal society that many of us have pushed away? Surely things have changed?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps data can tell us and as always, the best place to see data in day-to-day action is via finance. Given that it is a very binary result – \u201cI invest\u201d or \u201cI do not invest\u201d, results are very clear and easy to see. As we know, have seen first hand and have heard from others, to raise finance from the very male dominated finance world is still incredibly difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps that is part of the power puzzle, as Oscar Wilde said:<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who control the money, control the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
The headline figures of investment, however, look good – perhaps we should be more hopeful, as was recently shown in the latest PitchBook survey of Venture Capital (\u2018VC\u2019) investment (here<\/span><\/a>): \u201cFemale-founded companies are raising venture capital at significantly higher levels than at any point in the last decade, suggesting that long-standing efforts to boost representation in entrepreneurship are paying off at an accelerating rate.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, (and yes, as readers of our articles know only too well – we always like to scratch the surface and have a look under the veneer\u2026):<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the trend is encouraging for female founders, the numbers pale in comparison to the overall VC market’s rise in fundraising activity over the years. “One of the reasons why it’s been hard for female-founded companies to attract funding is that only a small percentage of venture capital dollars are controlled by female VCs,” said Elizabeth Edwards, founder and managing partner of H Venture Partners, a female-owned venture capital firm.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Given that pictures paint a thousand words, here are two:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n