combined they generate $1.5 trillion in sales. The statistics regarding women owning successful firms and transforming the definition of women entrepreneurship is in no form one sided or discriminatory. The women being represented are from all races, religious backgrounds, colors and creeds. Women of all background are identifying the needs of the world or their home base and essentially filling those needs. A significant factor that may play a role in this disparity can be contributed to the fact that women from low income countries often seek an additional means of income to support themselves and their families. Latin American women are among the most entrepreneurial on the globe, according to IADB(Inter-American Development Bank). Moreover, …show more content…
These African American women entrepreneurs employ nearly 200,000 people and create more than $14 billion in revenues (2004) and generate $51.4 billion(2016). Buttner, E. H., & Moore, D. P. (1997).Furthermore, African American women are both the fastest-growing segment of the women-owned-business population and the largest share of female business owners among women of color, at 13 percent. African American women are starting businesses at a rate six times the national average, and their 2.7 million firms are currently generating $226.8 billion in annual revenue and employing almost 1.4 million people.("How Women of Color Are Driving Entrepreneurship - Center for American Progress," …show more content…
Prior to venturing into entrepreneurship in the areas of construction, engineering, computer science, and fashion, all of these women held top 19 level positions for major companies. In the area of science, technology, and engineering, (Gite & Baskerville, 1996) spotlighted Margie Lewis, President and CEO of Parallax, Inc. Lewis developed an interest in space and nuclear power at an early age. After working as a safety advisor at a nuclear power plant and an inspector with the Nuclear Regulatory Agency in Washington, she decided to launch her own engineering and environmental management company. Lewis began operating her business in her home with $10,000 of her savings in 1993. Within 3 years, her enterprise grossed $13 million. (Bailey, C. L.
If one were to take a look at the American business world today, much as if one were to look at it a hundred or more years ago, one fact would be easily noticeable. The majority of positions of power and authority in most American businesses are white males. In fact, white males outnumber all other races n these positions far more than they outnumber the actual populations of these other people in our country. Specifically, black men are sorely represented in executive positions in corporations and businesses across the board. So why is that? Is there some fundamental character of black people that keeps them from success? Is society still oppressive to blacks nearly forty years after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s? Actually, the answer lies somewhere in between. Joane Nagel states, “Ethnic Identity, then, is the result of a dialectical process involving internal and external opinions and processes, as well as the individual’s self-identification …” (240). So if blacks have an anti-business ethnicity, then the responsibility for that must be shared between blacks themselves and their oppressors. Similarly, upon examining Micahel Omi and Howard Winant’s definition of hegemony, which they assert has been the dominant mode of rule in the United States, wee see that “hegemony [is] always constituted by a combination of coercion and consent” (152). So any societal oppression that the white males in power are able to levy against blacks must be accepted by blacks in order to be effective. In other words, both blacks and their white oppressors must share the responsibility for the decided failure of black men (and women) to take their places as leaders in business.
Barsh, Joanna and Yee, Lareina. Unlocking the Full Potential of Women in the US Economy. McKinsey & Company. Accessed April 4, 2014.
Similarly important was the role black women on an individual level played in offering a model for white women to follow. Because black men had a harder time finding employment, black women had a history of working ou...
Upadhyaya, Preeti, and Lauren Hepler. "Why hiring women may make your business more money."Silicon Valley Business Journal [San Jose] 11 September 2013, n. pag. Web. 13 April 2014.
work place and allow women to be viewed as leaders or entrepreneurs of the business
In a comparative light there seems to be significant problems, or obstacles, for African-American entrepreneurs. These problems are categorized by environmental factors, opportunity factors, and issues related to capital. The purpose of this paper is to provide sociological, and economical insight to the plight of African-American entrepreneurs. There is an effort to trace the development of African-American entrepreneurship throughout American history, in the post-reconstruction era to the present, in relationship to social conditions of discrimination. Uniquely, African-American entrepreneurs are involved in the affirmation of a paradox of American ideology. African-American entrepreneurs, in pursuit of the American dream, have been taught to stress individual success where what is needed is communal solidarity to foster access to the things that they have been categorically denied.
The abolition of slavery in the South forced all people—men, women, blacks, and whites alike—to reconsider how they defined their freedom in America. The plantation hierarchy, which had enforced the relative stratification of the southern population for centuries, placing white men at the top, followed by white women, then black men, and finally black women at the bottom, was put into jeopardy by the emancipation of the slaves. In particular, the demarcation between white women and freed black men was obscured. The curtailment of a clear division between the two groups led each to band together and vehemently advocate for and prioritize their freedom and rights.
The black woman, she is as diverse and as beautiful as the billions of humans she gave birth to. The first homo sapiens to appear in the fertile land of East Africa were nurtured from her bosom; the wisdom and strength that is characteristic of the black woman today is not a recent acquisition but qualities that were honed over thousand of years. Every woman on this earth has mitochondrial DNA (mitochondrial DNA is the DNA transferred from mother to child and the only genetic material that stands the test of time)from Lucy, the small black woman found in the Awash Valley in Ethiopia. Lucy is her English name but I prefer the appellation given to her by the Ethiopians, Dinkesh, which means "you are beautiful" or "you are wonderful." Her dark skin, beautiful lips and course hair is not a sign of shame or inferiority but of the dominance of her genes. The fact that any baby born by a black woman and a male of another race will more likely resemble its mother is a testament to that dominance, a testament that within the veins of a black woman lies the blue print to life. However, put aside all that I have stated and yet the black woman is still not given the respect that is due to her. A travesty has been committed that leaves the black woman dying alone and her offspring fatherless. Single black mothers are ubiquitous to every black neighborhood and casts a negative cloud on a whole people who have lost the basic atom of what makes a people a people: family.
African American women’s role originally in the Black community was to be a mother, a wife, and to make sure that the household was taken care of. African American women weren’t liable to hold positions such as doctors and lawyers, but could be an educator. Many black women were backbones of the Church in the black community, but higher positions were for men. For many women that was a problem because they wanted to hold positions like that, but the man felt that was a leadership role and leadership roles were usually for men.
Although these examples could prove a case in the corporate world some may take defense by balancing with further statistics. It is stated in Clayton Collin's article, "Why Girls May Still Need an Edge," that women in America may not be at the top of the corporate ladder, but they do hold around forty percent of all privately owned businesses in the United States. (11) So, even though women haven't quite proven themselves to the corporate world, they have most certainly conquered a portion in the entrepreneur world and in a big way. That is definitely a positive point for America's look on gender equality in the workplace.
In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was enacted to do away with much of the conspicuous discrimination that was going on in the American workplace. Despite this, discrimination in the workplace continues albeit in a more covert manner, making it very hard to diagnose and prescribe a solution. The 1964 Civil Rights Act was enacted to remove any form of discrimination against any persons because of their race, religion, sex, or national origin. In 1967, it was made illegal for employers to discriminate because of age and in 1990, Congress said employers could not discriminate because of ones disability. African Americans have suffered from workplace discrimination far more than any other demographic in the workforce; this can be attributed to negative socially constructed stereotypes that are deeply rooted in American ideology.
In the late 1700s, England revolutionized the world by creating machines. These machines caused factories to be built which then caused the need for workers. However during this time those workers were not treated well by the factory owners. Kids starting working at sometimes ages as low as 5 years old, and hours were very long. However, these factory workers weren't the only people who were treated bad, about 100 years into the future, 1885 to be exact, the Germans were holding a meeting called the Berlin Conference. This "meeting" discussed rules on basically how the Europeans were going to invade Africa, and what the rules were for doing it. Africans were killed, raped and separated from their tribes. That is why Africans were treated worse
Consequently, the policies of companies that employ women can have a positive or negative effect on their households, career advancement and earning potential, as well as the lives of those that depend on them. Mary Van der Boon (2003) in her article titled, “Women in international management: An international perspective on women’s ways of leadership”, descri...
This paper examines the myths associated with what it takes to be an entrepreneur, the profiles and the common characteristics among these successful entrepreneurs.
IONESCU, C. (2012). BUSINESS WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE NEW ECONOMY. Hyperion International Journal Of Econophysics & New Economy, 5(1), 177-186.