Gender biases have controlled many societal aspects throughout history, one of them being decision-making in the area of entrepreneurial lending. Sarah Thebaud and Amanda Sharkey write in their paper “Unequal Hard Times” on the intricate role of gender in the context of venture capital formation after the financial crisis of 2008 (Episode 363, 2024). Although women as investors are perceived to be risk averse, so they are believed to be less “dangerous” investors, Thebaud & Sharkey found that female entrepreneurs were thought to be higher bank “risk” because of their lack of prior lending history. The contradictory phenomenon, in this sense, emphasizes how gender stereotypes and entrepreneurial innovation are intertwined.
The innovation process in entrepreneurship is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that involves many crucial steps like learning, funding, designing, and production. For each of these steps, gender stereotypes contribute to a significant degree in shaping opportunities and outcomes for entrepreneurs. For example, women have more struggles when it comes to obtaining resources to develop abilities and learn. Gendered biases in investment decisions of venture capital are also another form of barriers to innovation among underrepresented groups (Schauer et al., 2023). Caroline Criado Perez’s study on gender design points out that many everyday items and the environment are usually designed with a male concept in mind. Thus, the women’s needs and experiences are often ignored in the process (Episode 363, 2024).
Female entrepreneurs often experience gender stereotypes in funding and training accessibility as their first hurdle. History has blocked the ways for the resources for women to be available and the ability to promote their skills and be educated in business. The attitudes thus retained the stereotypes of women as not being competent enough or bad at succeeding in entrepreneurship (Schauer et al., 2023). This difference can be explained by venture capital funding, where the unbalanced ecosystem of male-heavy investment networks usually underestimates female-led startups despite the fact that the data shows that diversity enhances financial results. Like Thebaud and Sharkey’s study, which is consistent with the trend that has been shown, women entrepreneurs encounter discriminatory lending decisions that deny them important financial resources.
Additionally, gender stereotypes have an impact on both design and production ends. The findings of Caroline Criado Perez’s in-depth study presented by the 99% Invisible podcast, “Invisible Women,” reveal how gender bias runs high in city planning, product design, and technology (Episode 363, 2024). Mobile phone sizes are made for the hand size of a man, and the office temperature is set up according to the man’s metabolism. Everyday products and environments are designed based on the tastes and needs of men so women get a second chance. It generates a style that is gender-specific, which in turn perpetuates stereotypes and aggravates the gender imbalance concerning innovations and entrepreneurship. This view is reinforced by the stand-alone research on women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), which also shows how gender stereotypes intervene in innovativeness. The previous studies have pinned down that all women face systemic impediments in STEM education and careers, and this is also the reason for the poor representation of women innovators. This shows the intersectionality of gender and business trends, which influence the innovation ecosystems.
References
Episode 363 (2024). The Invisible Women. Retrieved from https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/invisible-women/
Schauer, A. M., Nunn, M., Schaufel, H., & Fu, K. (2023, August). Thinking Beyond the Default User: The Impact of Gender and Stereotypes on Designers’ Interpretation of Users and Their Needs. In International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (Vol. 87349, p. V006T06A025). American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
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