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In the fight against climate change , entrepreneurship and innovation – known as “greentech” – are essential. Women are more affected by climate change than men, yet green technology is currently a male-dominated field. In Canada, only 1 in 10 founders of green technology companies are women and only 19% of green technology startups have at least one female founder. When it comes to creating climate solutions, the female perspective is sorely lacking. Women entrepreneurs vs climate change According to the World Economic Forum , investing in women entrepreneurs would generate greater benefits for society as a whole, as women invest more of their income in their families compared to men. And since companies founded by women tend to employ 2.5 times more women than those founded by men, empowering female entrepreneurs would also mean that more women would be able to access job opportunities.
Entrepreneurial women vs climate change Female entrepreneurs are more likely than their male counterparts to innovate to meet social needs, and women also outperform men in key competencies such as leadership, problem solving and innovation. Venture capital funding in the climate technology space is currently growing five times faster than venture capital funding overall, indicating the Telegram Users Number List high level of demand for this area of innovation. If women could access leadership positions in this field, it would contribute to creating wealth and reducing the gender wealth gap. Challenges for women entrepreneurs Access to capital is a key challenge facing female entrepreneurs, with evidence showing they are discriminated against by banks.
In 2017, only 2% of venture capital funding in the United States went to startups founded exclusively by women. A study by Harvard, MIT and the Wharton School demonstrated this gender bias: when the same idea was pitched by a male and a female voice, two-thirds of investors chose the male voice. This bias could be a product of the fact that 88% of decision makers at venture capital firms are men. Wanted women entrepreneurs vs climate change Women also face other disadvantages. In Asia and the Pacific, studies have shown that women do almost four times more unpaid care work than men, meaning they have less time and energy to retrain, work longer hours and network. Green technology is also geared towards information and communication technologies (STEM) and even the STEM sectors are dominated by men – only 5% of leadership roles in the UK technology sector are held by women. The problem begins at the educational level, as only 3% of women in the United Kingdom say that their first choice is a technological career.
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