Be the Example Rather Than the Exception
Entrepreneurial culture can be like our first “boy-girl party” all over again. The music is playing, the punch is pouring, and the girls and the boys stick to opposite sides of the room. Afraid to talk. Afraid to mingle. Afraid to understand each other beyond preconceptions and cooties.
When the brave dare to dance, it’s more exception than example. But sometimes, that first attempt at what feels like interspecies interaction can ignite a dance floor.
According to Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s TED Talk, “Women Entrepreneurs, Example not Exception”, the party isn’t quite happening yet. Women are still being congratulated as an anomaly to an often-male-associated standard, instead of actively being engaged with as members of the rising entrepreneurial class of today’s economy.
The equal opportunity in business [for all] should be a celebration and exchange of diversity. When we work towards being “gender-blind”, we risk washing this diversity out. But when we invite women entrepreneurs to the party for being women alone, are we really breaking barriers, or are we simply reinforcing them?
Exceptions don’t break barriers. They only serve as references to the status quo. Collective examples on the other hand, are symptoms and signs of an already existing culture. So stop labelling women in business as “exceptions”. Stop labeling and start talking so that we can all bring our unique set of dance moves to the same catchy tune.
Written by:
Alyssa Sy de Jesus
Join Women 2.0’s Founder Friday Vancouver “boy-girl party” November 15th, 6PM at institute B. Register here.
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