What Do Women Have to Overcome in Order to Establish
Themselves In The Business World?
The obstacles can be put into two
main categories: gender and social. When gender obstacles are
considered, it must be said that psychological issues women face on their
journey to becoming an entrepreneur are specifically generated by them being
female individuals.
Firstly, during their individual development and
rearing girls rely on their patience and observance of other people’s feelings
and needs to position themselves and have their needs served. Studies of child
development have shown that a crawling baby girl would turn around to make eye
contact with the caretaker in order to gain approval for further exploration
ten times more than a crawling baby boy. It is not that she is needy, she is
more considerate. Oftentimes this was later in development nurtured and
amplified so that girls were turned into caretakers, caregivers, and moms or
better said those members of a family/community who worry over needs of others
and make sure those were met.
It
is difficult to recognize these as useful in the business environment where you
need to be opportunistic and even ruthless in order to get your way. In the
business there is no community, mostly it functions by finding and exploiting
financial interest. The market conditions dictated the relationships formed
between entrepreneurs and when that shift so do the relationships. Most women
do not operate like this; it is the need
for loyalty, recognition, service, and social justice and even attention
that holds together the fine threads of their female being.
The need for:
·
Loyalty,
·
Recognition,
·
Service,
·
Social justice
·
Drives women.
Slowly and steadily ladies are
waking their way across the ocean of entrepreneurial capacities.
Story of Princess Sheikha Hissah Saad
Al-Sabah
The story of a female leader that
resonates globally is most certainly the one told of Princess Sheikha Hissah Saad Al-Sabah through which it can be
viewed that bringing up is crucial for the future individual’s capacity to cope
and be successful. Her impressive biography could be observed through her own
highlights here.
Dr.
Sheikha Hissah Saad Al-Sabah was born as the second daughter of the king of
Kuwait and therefore a princess by birthright. However, being sent to school at
an early age she was told by her grandmother not to count too much on the fact
that her father was a king. In her own words, this realization made her learn
self-love and be her own best friend. Both of which are fundamental traits of
self-preservation and ability forge successful connections with others.
Important
for every young woman:
*Learn
self-love*
*Be your
best friend*
Furthermore, during 1950 to 1965
when her grandfather was the king, he wrote the law making education for female
children obligatory. Princess Sheikha Hissah Saad Al-Sabah has said that by
this law every father who did not send his daughter to school would face jail
time. Her opinion is that through education women were given the chance to challenge
men academically. Eventually this translates as the higher the education the better the positions are that women
could take. There is a lot of truth in this since if observed through
general data more than half of women in Kuwait work in public sector which
requires education. There is always the pending question of what can be done to
strengthen women in society. She
addressed this issue through the situation in Kuwait compared to other
countries.
Conclusion
New age puts new demands on the
leaders and young women should be encouraged to gain financial independence
through working in private sector. The female need for security and stability
often prevents them from starting an entrepreneurial adventure. This is
the room for improvement and that improvement has the clear objective in Dr. Sheikha
Hissah Saad Al-Sabah own words: “There is a huge problem with poverty. I come
from the country where poverty was eradicated. In 1965 equality was reached.
What I would like to see is women coming together and helping other women and
children to come out of poverty.”
Having in mind the above-mentioned
situations, female characters and the obstacles they face, it is evident that
female entrepreneurs incorporate the broader vision of society through their
engagement. They are capable of setting a successful business and later
dedicate their time for the greater mission to help other women do the same and,
in that way, achieve social status improvement for many. The formula seems to be that a woman should gain education and learn to
put forward her ideas from very young age.