Did you know there’s more than one type of “business woman”? Oh you did? Unfortunately, many business women encounter attitudes and reactions based on some fairly tired stereotypes and generalisations.
Here are some of them:
- All business women have children and juggle their business around their children
- Business women operate on intuition and ‘gut feelings’ to make decisions
- Business women are ‘soft’ when it comes to dealing with difficult clients
- Business women are no good at sales because they are too sympathetic with the potential buyer
- Business women are no good with financials or information technology
So what’s wrong with these assumptions? We all know that stereotypes come from ‘somewhere’– that is, they are generally based on a proportion of business women fitting these characteristics.
The problem is not whether there’s any truth to these generalisations for each business woman. The problem is when the people they encounter make judgements or decisions based on those assumptions, particularly when there is a negative impact.
Most business women that I know do two important things:
- They embrace the stereotype if it’s relevant to them and positive for their business (eg my gut feelings are often a much better indication of a good decision than a seemingly ‘logical’ argument!)
- They ignore and rise above any stereotypes that would otherwise be harmful for them and the perception of their business.
If you are NOT a female business owner and you are reading this, consider that the stereotypes you may have about business women may not only be unfair on them, but you are most likely missing out on their expertise and skills if you make incorrect assumptions. And to my fellow women in business: you know who you are and what your strengths are – use them!
Michelle Grice writes a weekly column for business women in The Western Weekender