It may surprise you to learn that, while about 80% of the world’s agricultural output is generated by women, women own only about 2% of the world’s land. It is understood that in many poorer countries women do not have the right to own property. In others, those rights have been extended to women, but cultural norms, lack of knowledge, or the inability to work their way through the byzantine rules and processes, prevent women from owning real estate and, consequently, the fruits of their labors.
Endeavor Global, the terrific organization that promotes high-impact entrepreneurs globally, has supported around 520 people in the 13 years of its existence. Of those entrepreneurs only about 10% of them have been women and only half of that number were women starting businesses without the support of husbands, brothers, fathers, or other male partners. It takes a different person to go it alone.
Consider the non-rural/non-farming world. In advanced countries like the U.S., how many women do you know who are major property owners? Why are there no female Sam Zells or Donald Trumps? Owning real estate (especially for investment purposes) requires a high level of risk-tolerance. It necessitates a strong degree of self-determination. Either by culture or circumstance, these are traits that are harder to come by in women, but far from absent.
The same seems to apply to female entrepreneurs and CEOs. It is a stubborn truth that the percentage of women who make it to the top of the corporate ladder, running Fortune 500 companies, for example, remains far too small. Only about 12% of the top CEOs are female in any given year. Those who do make it to that level typically have risk-tolerance and self-determination in spades and when they flame out, they flame out big. (For those of you old enough to remember, Jill Barad is a great example.).
Of course brash male CEOs can have bumpy rides too (Mark Hurd?), but they tend to be more easily forgiven. Being brash is an admired trait for a guy, but tends to be a tougher attribute for a woman. Many top female CEOs lead without significant controversy, Indra Nooyi or Andrea Jung, for example. For others, their visibility provides them opportunities to reinvent themselves in new ways, such as Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, embarking on political journeys of late.
From an entrepreneurial perspective, women are starting businesses at a record pace, still about twice as many female-owned start-ups as male-owned. But there is a very large disconnect between the buying power of women (the new “sheconomics”) and the scope of the businesses they tend to start. According to Sharon Hadary, an expert on women entrepreneurs, who was quoted in the Wall Street Journal recently, “average revenues of majority women-owned businesses are still only 27% of the average majority men-owned businesses.” Some argue that this is because women are discriminated against, have less ability to obtain capital, do not have as much business knowledge as men, or the cultural acceptance of women working is just not there. The most often cited reason is that women choose to balance work and family and struggle to have both in equal measure. Another possibility, the most relevant one in my opinion, is that women tend not to think big enough. I think it is a tendency to be less of a risk-taker and less self-determined to achieve wealth (versus short term income) that is the reason women less often fulfill their potential.
Women who reach billionaire status are very few, only 14 on Forbes’ most recent list, but the number of self-made female billionaires is even less. Many of the women on the list started (or inherited) businesses with their husbands or other family members. Women who do it alone are really inspiring. Both Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey have, on their own, achieved tremendous wealth and fame by creating a personal brand. They are among the most prominent examples of cross platform self-promotion. J.K. Rowling was the first of any author, male or female, to achieve billionaire status. Her “rags to riches” story (going from a single parent on welfare to a billionaire) is well known. But why are there so few female billionaires? Where are the other Martha Stewarts, Oprah Winfreys, and J.K. Rowlings of the world? The answer? China.
Take a look at the Forbes’ ranking of female billionaires and you may be surprised to see that more than half of them are Chinese and quite a few are real estate developers. This is astonishing on many levels – because the ability to “own” real estate in China is still nascent, the number of women real estate owners/developers is still statistically insignificant globally, and women are still so rarely entrepreneurs on a large scale. It also reflects a potential major philosophical shift in China from a collectivist mentality to one that promotes individualism. And it is apparently possible for women to capitalize on that shift and succeed in a very big way.
Thomas Friedman wrote a terrific column recently in the New York Times where he talked about these two new forces – the rise of China as a superpower and the rise of the influence of the “individual” (his example was Wikileaks). He notes that these forces have positives and negatives and says “a stable world will require that we get the best from both and limit the worst.” Well put.
Perhaps there is a sense in China that they are all on the cusp of a time of great opportunity. Or maybe there is just a newfound cultural moxie that Chinese women possess. Whatever it is, it seems that women in China think big. Hopefully these trailblazing women will inspire the next generation of global female entrepreneurs to think bigger and there will come a day when the media will not find it unusual to see self-made women billionaires.
Comments