One of my employees chooses a word at the beginning of each year to guide her personal and professional development efforts. Last year the word she selected was “Rise.” She told me it inspired her to elevate not only her skills, but the quality of her relationships, her attitude toward life and her self-confidence. As a female entrepreneur and the CEO of a growing global software company, our conversation led me to reflect on how successful women in technology rise above our challenges.
Raising Awareness
Research highlights the plethora of internal and external hurdles female technology entrepreneurs face, including limited access to funding, lack of advisors and mentors, sexism and harassment, social expectations, balancing personal and professional responsibility, downplaying our worth and of course, fear of failure. With such a gender gap to overcome, it’s no surprise that in 2017 only 17% of startups had a female founder, a number which has failed to increase in the last five years.
Read more at The Linux Foundation
