Last week, I shared a couple of stories with you and I thank you all for the amazing feedback. I wanted to know if I did the right thing, and I wanted to know what you would have done if you had been in the same situations as I was. Thanks for all the responses and yes, my client and his staff are both well and tested negative. If you’ve missed it, you can go HERE to read or watch it.

Today's blog is about something that I don't talk about very often, even though I do live this reality on an ongoing basis: disparity between men and women. I was just made aware of an interview given by Taylor Swift, and she mentioned that the reality for a woman entrepreneur versus that of a man entrepreneur is very different. Watch the following video or keep reading for more...

I do work with both men and women. I don't have the type of business model where I proclaim to strictly help women entrepreneurs, because the work that I do helps both. This is not something that I talk about very often, but Taylor Swift brought up the topic in a very interesting way. In the interview, she mentioned how different it is perceived for a woman entrepreneur to do something versus when a man entrepreneur does the same thing.

If a woman makes an intelligent business decision, she is calculated and sneaky. While if a man makes the same business decision, he's strategic and professional. If a woman speaks from her heart and shares her emotions, she's oversharing. If a man shows his emotions, he's brave. Interesting. When it comes to men and women, it's not even. Of course, this isn't new. I'm not bringing up a new topic here. I just thought that I was compelled to actually talk about it.

I became aware of a lot of statistics, thanks to WEDO Canada, and I was quite shocked. Small and medium enterprises with under 20 employees have been hit the hardest during the pandemic. Of course, we already knew that, but women are more likely to own newer and smaller businesses, thus making them the most affected.

During the pandemic, the percentage of women-owned businesses that laid off staff is 40%. This percentage is about equal to the one of men-owned businesses, overall, that laid off staff. However, the percentage of women-owned business that have laid off 80% or more of their employees is substantially greater. Interestingly enough, 62% of women-owned businesses had to lay off 80% or more of their staff during the pandemic, while only 45% of men-owned business had to lay off 80% or more of their staff.

Another very interesting statistic is connected to money. Women perform 66% of the world's work, but they earn a mere 10% of the world's income. Think about that. Women also account for 85% of consumer purchases and they control over 20 trillion dollars in worldwide spending. This is huge.

Another stat: Women are less likely to seek and receive financing than men. 33% versus 38%. And firms that are owned by men are more likely to receive venture capital or angel funding and other forms of leverage such as trade credit, capital leasing, or whatever. It seems that women have to work harder and do their own work, while men receive a lot more aid.

When it comes to job applications, women wait until they check all the boxes on the job requirement description before they apply while men fill in an application if they have a bare 40% of the items that are required. And more likely, they will get the job. Interesting.

Studies shows that by advancing gender equality and women's participation in the economy, Canada could add up to 150 billion in GDP.

WEDO, the Women's Entrepreneurship Day Organization, has made me aware of all of these stats. WEDO is the largest nongovernmental volunteer organization. Their mission is to alleviate poverty by empowering, celebrating and supporting women in business worldwide. WEDO works globally to empower women and girls. They want them to become more active participants in the economy by igniting a network of women's leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs, by initiating startups, by driving economic expansion and by advancing communities around the world. WEDO is celebrated at the United Station and it's in over 144 countries and 65 universities and colleges internationally.

When women are elevated financially, communities and countries prosper. It builds a global blueprint to alleviate and eradicate poverty. Since the first WEDO, they have grown their organization to become a powerful network of women in business and they've reached over 5 billion people. I had no clue! I did not know about WEDO before. I just learned about them at the beginning of the month. WEDO Canada foundation has a Women Entrepreneurial Scholarship Program that was created to increase awareness around the cause. They can make a significant difference in the lives and in the success of future Canadians. While WEDO is a worldwide organization, WEDO Canada specifically caters to young women, Canadian leaders and entrepreneurs.

I was very impressed to hear all the great work that WEDO is doing in the world and here in Canada. Way to go, WEDO, and thank you for all these stats. I thought it was very interesting.

I'm not sure what the exact solution is to all these inequalities and perceptions that Taylor Swift was mentioning, but I do believe that WEDO is part of this solution. So thank you for being there. And hopefully, this allowed a little bit more awareness on to the topic.

You can watch the Taylor Swift Interview here.

Have a great week, everyone!

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Check out some of my previous blog posts...