At IRIS, the Social Innovation Incubator, we closely follow many female entrepreneurs who start social impact projects, sometimes linked to personal causes, and in many cases with the involvement of their families in the project. We have witnessed their immense motivation, capacity, knowledge, resilience, insight and talent. Initially, I didn't even understand the specific programmes for women in entrepreneurship, as reality showed me the immense capacity of women to leverage their initiatives.
We recently collaborated on a study at Nova SBE by researcher Teresa Franco on Cooperation for a Gender-Equal Social Economy (congratulations, Teresa!), which made me think in a more structured way about the subject, and about the needs of women in their professional careers, specifically in the area of social entrepreneurship, but not only.
From a very empirical point of view (with no scientific data or studies done on the subject), I believe that there is a moment when everything gets complicated in the rhythm and evolution of women's careers - when motherhood comes along and all the inherent challenges. Becoming a mum is a remarkable "moment", filled with all the love and romanticism that we find on Instagram in images of newborn babies, but it's also the moment when immense structural changes arise, which unfortunately aren't talked about as much.
Usually the thought we find in women who are pregnant (or seriously thinking about it) is: "how can I guarantee that life will stay the same". And it has to be said bluntly: it won't. We need to prepare women to properly "mourn" their life before motherhood and to prepare, in a very realistic way, for what is to come. They will be different people and life will be very different. This immense (and incomparable) gain of motherhood comes with very significant costs that need to be addressed.
The changes are immense: hormonal, physical, psychological, cognitive, financial, routines, time, personal care, baby blues, sleep, mental load, personal expectations, an exponential increase in the list of tasks, and many, many others. Many are shared (long live modern couples!) but many, many are not. Starting with the physical, hormonal, psychological and cognitive ones, which are taken on (with more or less support, with more or less difficulty) by women. And so life goes on. And women interrupt their careers for much longer, take sick leave with risky pregnancies, take time to recover and regain their abilities, and their professional lives and projects fall behind. Meanwhile, men advance, progress and earn more. And when the couple has to choose (between who should invest more in their career), the intuitive and obvious answer comes up - the one who earns more, because it's the best decision. And on the men go. And the women continue to lag behind, with the best car in the family, which comes with car seats and the inherent commitment of hours a day transporting the children, and much less time for courses, networking, corporate events, overtime, and involvement in side projects, because they have a five o'clock appointment.
Today, we find a large presence of women in universities, and excellent access to the labour market. They have exceptional results, ability, motivation and ambition. They are sufficiently informed to choose partners who share responsibilities and daily tasks, and there tends to be equality. Until motherhood separates them.
It's very complex to find successful entrepreneurs who are mums, or very successful entrepreneurs who are highly committed to their role as parents. When they reach a stage of development with a high level of demand, the differences start to become evident. I'm currently studying for a degree in business and management (an area where the academic presence of women is very significant in bachelor's and master's degrees) and more than 90 per cent of the teaching staff, who are on average over 40 years old, are men. Where are the women? Where have we lost them?
To quote Sheryl Sandberg, the most important decision women make for their career is choosing their partner. When I first read this at the age of 27, I didn't understand it as well as I do now.
Growing up, I had a radically different experience from my friends. My mum worked shifts in a hospital, including nights and weekends. And my parents worked as an agile team. My dad did everything - clothes, meals, school runs, activities, ballet performances, doctor's appointments, Sunday outings, and early morning rides home from the disco. There was no "that's up to your mum", but rather "I'm very proud that your mum never had to miss work to look after you". Despite his two jobs, my father always managed to be flexible enough to be there all the time (thanks a lot, Dad). I remember the fact that this was atypical and the look of astonishment on my friends' faces, which today I also understand perfectly. I have the good fortune (yes, it really is good fortune) and immense privilege of my children's father prioritising my professional life and ensuring our family life and our children's logistics, making up for my absences, and I often hear the phrase "go and let me take care of it" (thank you, Paulo).
And when Teresa Franco (a researcher at Nova SBE) asked us the question: what do women need? The answer that came to me was instantaneous: they need men to be able to step forward. We should have organisations and companies asking men more questions: how can you always be here on time and drop your children off at school? How can you never miss work to accompany your children to appointments? How do you have young children who never get sick? How can you be at work until 7pm when your children finish school at 5pm? How are you going to take on half of your parental responsibilities now that your relationship is over? And, the age-old question that is continually answered by women: how do you reconcile your professional life with your personal life?
