Clapway: gender gap

Business Chicks, an innovative women’s networking group from Australia is launching its services in the US in July, creating a platform for business-minded women, from Wall Street to self-starters, to share ideas.

Business Chicks, founded by entrepreneur Emma Isaacs, 35, is currently the largest social network for women in Down Under.

“Together, we learn, grow, challenge and kick ass,” the company says. “We’re a tribe of explorers and a band of big thinkers. And we believe that together, we can shine even more brightly than we do as individuals”.

It started with only 250 members but it’s now at almost 38,000 – women and men – spread across the globe. Business Chicks has set up offices in New York and will start a series of launching events all across the US with celebrities and entrepreneurs such as Rachel Zoe in the ‘Big Apple’ and Arianna Huffington in Los Angeles.

So what exactly is Business Chicks?

Basically, Business Chicks brings “like-minded souls together”, in order to swap ideas, share stories, and spark inspiration.

The company hosts hundreds of successful events every year, allowing its members to “rub shoulders” with all sorts of celebrities and characters, from Sir Richard Branson to Diane von Furstenberg and Bobbi Brown. To inspire its members, original daily content is posted on the Business Chick’s website, allowing entrepreneurs to learn and share the “tricks of the trade”.

Isaacs, who started her first job staffing agency aged only 18, has business running through her veins. She was a finalist in last year’s Telstra Business Women’s Awards in the Young Business Woman category.

Business Chick goes Global

Business Chicks is now about to go global with the 35-year-old next month launching her company into the productive US market, while eyeing Asia and Europe as well.

“You never 100% know if your attempts to create will be successful, or will amount to anything, but you can’t let that deter you. Success flows when you throw yourself in and have a go – mistakes and all!” Isaacs was quoted saying by Naomi Simson, Influencer and Founding Director of RedBalloon.

Over the years, Business Chicks has worked on initiatives such as the ‘Immersion and Leadership Project’ where Isaacs went to Uganda with a group of members to empower women.

Women and the Labor Market

According to the UN, women continue to participate in labour markets on an unequal basis with men. Women in most countries earn on average only 60 to 75 per cent of men’s wages. It is calculated that women could increase their income globally by up to 76 per cent if the employment participation gap and the wage gap between women and men were closed. This is calculated to have a global value of USD 17 trillion.

Business Chicks, is not just a sort of “sisterhood”; it has the capacity to inspire everyone to do something different. To succeed. And to be excited about it.

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Unity is Strength -- Women Online Network "Business Chicks" Goes Global

All around the world, millions of working mothers get dressed, eat breakfast, kiss their children on the forehead, and sprint to work every morning, sometimes against the countervailing social messages signaling their inadequacy as breadwinners.

My mum is one of those super-committed women to both their children and profession. She always had a pressure-driven job but she never felt conflicted about being a working mother-of-three. Rightly so, a new paper by the Harvard Business School unveiled.

After analyzing data on 50,000 people in 24 countries, in North and South America, Australia, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, researchers found that children benefit from exposure to the positive role model of a mother with career.

“The children of working mothers observe the decisions and behaviors of their parents, learning skills and capacities that they can draw upon as resources as they navigate gendered situations and decisions later in life,” the study argues.

This is not to discriminate against non-working mothers. In South Asia for instance I’ve seen housewives or mothers involved in the informal economy who work three times more than some managers out there.

Yet, what do do children of working mothers get out of it?

1. Adult daughters of working mothers are more likely to be employed

According to the study, daughters of working mothers are likely to be more successful in their workplace. They earn more and hold a higher percentage of supervisory roles than daughters of stay-at-home mums. Data shows that one in three daughters of working mothers are in managerial posts versus only one in four of those with non-working mothers. Furthermore, working mothers directly teach daughters useful job skills, the study reports.

2. Maternal Employment has positive effects of sons

The research also explored the correlation between maternal employment and adult outcomes at home. Sons raised by an employed mother spend 7.5 more hours on childcare and doing household chores per week, than men whose mothers stayed home full time.

3. Working mothers break down gender stereotypes

In many countries the picture titled “mum stays home while dad works all day” is still very popular. Working mothers are the living example that traditional gender roles are not the only opportunity for their sons or daughters. Having a job doesn’t mean that children are being neglected. It’s quite the opposite, the study suggests.

“Our findings reveal the power of non-traditional gender role models to gradually erode gender inequality in labor market outcomes,” researchers explained, adding that egalitarian attitudes are associated with “better employment outcomes for women and more gender-equitable division of household labor.”

Working mothers, literally…good job!

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Study- Top 3 Things You Need to Know About Working Mothers

Clapway

Monday, June 29, 2015