The four barriers to women in business

There is a shockingly low number of female entrepreneurs entering their fields in today’s society. While many agencies have attempted to rectify the situation, it has not changed much. Many people believe that these statistics are a product of lack of support from the government or lack of good female role models, but they are wrong. The real problem is the general mindset of women in the position to create these new businesses.

Self-Doubt

One part of the mindset that is so deadly to female-run entrepreneurial businesses is the self-doubt in terms of failure. From an early age, we are taught that failure is wrong and that if we fail, we are worth inherently less. As these women don’t want to fail, they refuse to try at all.

The Stigmas of Success

While there are female entrepreneurs, women are shown from an early age many negative ideas about success and what it does to a person. Successful women are shown to have troubled family lives, or an inability to be as traditionally feminine as others. As these things are also goals for many women, they tend to prize them over their own potential personal success.

Taking Risks

As shown in many studies, women tend to take fewer risks than men. As is immediately obvious, starting one’s own business is a massive risk. While you reap all the rewards, any losses come out of your own pocket. Not surprisingly, about half of new business fail within five years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2017. Not surprisingly, this makes starting a new business a very big risk.

Self Affirmation

From an early age, women are taught that talking about themselves is selfish or narcissistic. Because they do not take notice of their own positive traits, they can be completely unaware of their existence. As they do not think highly of themselves, women may believe that they are not good enough to create their own business or form their own thought there has been some change in the number of female entrepreneurs, they are still overshadowed massively by men. While attempting to correct environmental factors through representation and government grants, we have forgotten to fix the very thing that holds women back.