See it, Be it

The Women’s Entrepreneurial Knowledge Hub is Breaking Stereotypes to Break Barriers

Too often, people who try to conjure an image of an entrepreneur in their mind’s eye end up picturing the same thing: a white man, usually in the tech sector. Think Elon Musk or Steve Jobs. 

Of course, in reality, entrepreneurship isn’t limited to men, or the tech sector, or people working in Silicon Valley, yet they are seen as the default, the norm. And on the other side of this assumption live the stereotypes that women, and especially women of colour, are the exception in the ecosystem. 

The Toronto Metropolitan University-led Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH) wants to help challenge those assumptions. The national network, which was created with the support of federal funding in 2018 as part of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES), has launched a major effort to catalogue successful women entrepreneurs across the country in its See It, Be It campaign. Its database already has 1,000 entries, showcasing award-winning women who are smashing through barriers, growing their businesses and making major impacts. 

“Those stereotypes about who entrepreneurs are, and what entrepreneurs do, are baked in at the societal, organization and individual level,” says Wendy Cukier, founder of the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University and WEKH Academic Director. “This causes far-reaching ripple effects for women starting and growing their businesses but also the aspirations of young people, because if you can’t see it, you can’t be it.”

For Cukier, challenging those stereotypes is an extremely powerful tool and is an important part of creating a more equal playing field. And one major way of challenging them is countering the stereotypes with images of entrepreneurs who are not men, and who are not working in tech. 

The campaign has demonstrated just how diverse women entrepreneurs in Canada are. 

“We needed to really show there are entrepreneurs from across Canada, and they come in all shapes and sizes and colours, from a variety of backgrounds, and are in a range of sectors,” says Cukier. “And they are successful.”

As part of its effort, WEKH completed a report compiling research that looked at the impact stereotypes and biases have on women in the entrepreneurial space. The report, titled “See It. Be It. Women Entrepreneurs Beyond the Stereotypes” highlights the impact the prevailing culture has on both supporting—or, as is often the case for women—impeding entrepreneurship, since culture, values and the stereotypes they create shape every level of the innovation ecosystem, from the societal to the organizational and down to the individual. 

They impact how entrepreneurs are represented in almost every aspect of society, how policies are framed, how infrastructure is developed, and how systems operate. They impact strategies and programs, and shape beliefs, choices and behaviours. 

In the media, there are clear discrepancies: most depictions of entrepreneurship completely disregard women. For example, an analysis of content in The Globe and Mail newspaper from April 2017 to March 2019 revealed that 40 per cent of articles about entrepreneurship—60 of 149—exclusively quotes men as entrepreneurs or experts. Just 24 articles exclusively referenced women, the vast majority of which—19—focused on the subject of women entrepreneurship, mostly about the barriers they face in the sector.

The results of these perceptions and representations are continued barriers that prevent women from accessing the same opportunities as their male counterparts because they’re assumed to lack the assertiveness, independence, confidence and aggressiveness that men are assumed to have by default. Instead, as the report notes, research shows that women are considered to be “communal” and assumed to “embody stereotypically feminine behaviours such as empathy, kindness, sensitivity, and concern for others.”

But the data shows that women are choosing entrepreneurship. In Canada, 13 per cent of women are entrepreneurs, and 37.4 per cent of self employed people are women, with 78.4 per cent of those having no paid help. Just under 16 per cent of small and medium enterprises are owned by women. The vast majority of women-owned businesses—92.7 per cent—have fewer than 20 employees. All of this is accomplished in an ecosystem that is imbalanced and presents significant hurdles for women seeking to start and grow their own ventures. But creating more equity in the system could have major impacts, and not just for women entrepreneurs. As the report notes, closing the gap in entrepreneurship could add $81 billion to Canada’s GDP. 

“If we want a strong, innovative, growing, sustainable economy,” says Cukier, “investing in women is a really good way to get there.”