Dot Bombshell: Women, E-Quality, and the New Economy

1. Dot Bombshell – women, e-quality and the new economy 28 June 2001

2. New era of e-quality? • Wired Women • New economy optimism • E-business feminism • Consumer Queen, not King

3. Wired Women • Feminine skills at premium • Techno-feminism • New ways of working • Wirearchy, rather than hierarchy

4. New Economy Optimism • Generational story – young women more optimistic than older • Women making transition from old to new economy are more aware of barriers • Skills shortage and new opportunities in new economy

5. Consumer Queen, not King • US – women are already majority users of the internet • In UK, women expected to exceed numbers of male surfers in near future • Rush for the female cyber pound

6. E-Business feminism • More developed in the US • Recent wave of networking activity in UK over last 12 months – proliferation of networks • New girls network • But, how strategic?

7. Business as usual • New economy trends – entrepreneurship and board roles – do not look radically different to old not com economy • Figures suggest a drop off as women scale heights of new economy – only 3 women founders in e25 • New economy, same old elites? – male, white, middle class, Oxbridge

8. Business As Usual • Netty totty • Girl geeks • Desperately seeking capital • From incubation to acceleration • Equitable equity • Work and Life

9. Netty totty • Stereotypes about women’s jobs and men’s jobs remain strong – women market, men cut financial deals • Women as the brand icons, the dot bombshells of the new economy, but men firmly in control behind the scenes?

10. Girl Geeks • Gender stereotyping from early age re science and technology • Numbers of girls entering ICT is actually falling (and at a time of skill shortages) • Proportion of women working in ICT has actually falled relative to men, from 29% to 24% in recent years

11. Desperately seeking capital • Conservative equity investment community • Only 1% of self made business angels are women • Accelerators and incubators of new economy predominantly male led • Corporate finance and venture capital have fear of unknown – in US, women made up only 4% of venture capital finance • The kinds of businesses that get funding - ‘women’s businesses-

12. Language of new economy • New – implies something different • Feminisation of language and business processes – e.g. incubation – but men remain in charge • Hardening up of language as market conditions shift – accelerate, rather than incubate • Return to business as usual – flight from experimentation • Surface feminisation masks underlying power structures

13. Work@life? • New economy = revolution in way we worked • Start up cultures – ‘invisible’ barriers to equality for women • Potential divide between childless women and working mothers – do parents have more in common on the work-life agenda than women per se? • Entrepreneurship and self-employment delivers autonomy, but often brings longer working hours

14. Equitable equity? • Dependence on equity markets in new economy – culture of risk and reward more typical of male attitudes • Do women have resources to cope on eqiuty structure? Or are they being shortchanged • How do they fare in the equity pecking order, and in retaining their equity when investment comes in?

15. Why e-quality matters • Social exclusion – new markets means new channels of wealth creation, women must not lose out • Brain Power – knowledge economy means harvesting and leveraging all knowedge • She commerce – women’s power as consumers give them a strategic role to play as producers, leaders • Social Entrepreneurs – women are at cutting edge of new approaches to business, socially responsible, combining social with market

16. An e-quality agenda • Inclusive Incubation – mixed economy, female led in short term, whilst mainstreaming at same time • Payback Time – the GQ business cycle, successful women payback • New economy networks – e-business and mainstream • Adventure Capital – transformation of attitudes, and structured approach to financing, Genderquake fund • Saner Start Ups – new working cultures and new ways of working • Educating for E-quality - new generation

17. Knowledge is power • Information gaps • If we don’t measure it, we don’t monitor it • Move beyond networking to strategizing • Business case argument for e-quality and diversity has never been stronger • Business feminism is a strategic imperative

18. What next?

19. Our goals • To feminise the new economy • To promote women’s entrepreneurship • To promote new forms of entrepreneurship and new ways of doing business • To bring back a sense of adventure into the equity investment community and to create the conditions for women’s entrepreneurship to thrive

20. How • Advocacy • Knowledge Services • Consultancy • Building a community of change agents – Friends of Genderquake.org • Working in partnership – men and women, and far sighted organisations

21. Genderquake Business Cycle

22. And finally…. • 800 FREE copies of Dot Bombshell to women entrepreneurs in new economy thanks to sponsorship from Industrial Society • Special founding offer for Friends of Genderquake.org • Contact me: Helen@genderquake.com