We live in a world where entrepreneurs are busy solving problems that are bothering them and to great benefit for all. But statistics show most entrepreneurs are men, with only 22 percent of Australian startups being founded by women. It’s not a great statistic and there are many reasons why.
What this means is that the problems that mostly bother women, often known as “invisible problems” have less chance of being solved.
Let’s face it, there are many problems that are quite unique to women. This means female entrepreneurs are in a position where they can feel the pain or frustration that other women are experiencing and use that pain to help others stress less. Due to that shared experience, women entrepreneurs are able to create businesses that specifically cater to women’s needs.
What exactly is “invisible work?” For a mother, it might be school drop offs and pick-ups, driving kids to multiple extra-curricular sporting events or music lessons, as well as helping them with homework or driving lessons and pretty much everything else you can think of when it comes to running a family.
For me, my pain was around having to spend too much time and feeling incredibly stressed about family scheduling and managing school communications. I was working long hours in a corporate job and found that I was spending at least half an hour a morning sorting out my three children’s lives; mapping out which child had to be where and when and what I needed to do. I found I was starting the day stressed even before I’d arrived at my office.
I founded myWhānau Family Calendar Assistant as the perfect way to help you manage your life. It becomes your own, affordable, family assistant service that fully automates your family calendar. Not only does myWhānau diarise all your tasks into one easy-to-manage place, it also automatically adds all the vital information from multiple sources.
I believe reducing the burden of unpaid chores faced by most mothers, (and thereby reducing the gender pay gap) is all about making the outsourcing of chores easier, quicker and more affordable. And I know I’m helping parents feel more involved and more present with their families
When a problem is mostly experienced by women (especially those unique “invisible problems”) the best way to solve it is having a business with founders who have deep insight into the problem. But women continue to struggle to get funding for their startups and, with many women being the primary carer of their children, there are additional stresses added to the mix.
Australia – and the world – needs more women-led startups.
Unless we have more female founders, those unique problems that are mostly endured by women will continue to cause us angst and stress – and, as life goes on, they might never be solved.