A long time ago now, in my work as an entrepreneur and community developer, I became acutely aware of the many systemic issues that kept women from achieving their life and business goals. So in 1995, I founded PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise Canada – a not-for-profit social enterprise – to address systemic barriers and provide support for women entrepreneurs.
Succeeding as an entrepreneur has never been easy, but for women in Canada the obstacles used to be almost insurmountable.
We turned 30 recently. It is a proud achievement, and a time for celebration, but it also underscores the harsh reality: not enough has changed. Women entrepreneurs still face too many barriers.
We’ve seen several federal governments come and go, but the systemic issues that prevent women entrepreneurs from reaching their full potential seem stubbornly persistent.
We can’t give up – and I don’t just mean our organization or women entrepreneurs. I mean Canada.
Women entrepreneurs offer so much promise – untapped potential – that would benefit us all.
Women entrepreneurs are a potent economic force. While majority-women-owned businesses account for less than 20 per cent of all private-sector businesses in Canada, they contribute more than $150 billion a year to the country’s economy.
They could unlock billions more if not for systemic financial and social barriers – including persistent stereotypes and biases about women’s role in society – that put them at a disadvantage in securing credit or qualifying for loans from financial institutions.
PARO – Latin for “I am ready” – began as a way to close gaps in support by offering an alternative funding model based on micro financing and a peer lending network that built a women’s community loan fund.
Recognizing that entrepreneurs need more than money to succeed, PARO also offers business training, mentoring, coaching and networking services – assistance that is particularly vital for economically disadvantaged women and those living in rural and remote communities.
What began as a small initiative for women entrepreneurs in northwestern Ontario has grown to become the largest women’s peer lending network in North America, supporting thousands of women entrepreneurs across Canada.
PARO’s paradigm is built on a simple, but crucial premise: Ask women what they need. Listen to what they say and then act on it.
Now our governments must respond.
Not only must our governments better support women entrepreneurs and the organizations that champion them, but it must also ensure they have a meaningful voice in economic policy and planning decisions.
As the federal government seeks to revitalize the economy, it should emulate this model – recognizing that women are vital to Canada’s economic prosperity.
As Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne acknowledged in announcing new Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) funding in the budget, Canada cannot become an economic powerhouse unless women and gender diverse Canadians are full and equal participants.
Will any of this new funding go to help support women entrepreneurs specifically? It should.
Women entrepreneurs are mostly small business owners – the backbone of the Canadian economy. When they succeed, Canada succeeds.
The government must continue investing in women’s enterprise organizations to support their critical work.
Women must also be front and centre in all economic policy decisions. This means using a gender lens to understand policy impacts and including women in economic planning discussions. It also means weighing in on important policy issues that directly affect women entrepreneurs such as affordable childcare and housing, reliable transportation and dependable internet access.
With decades of hands-on experience and ongoing dialogue with women entrepreneurs – including PARO’s current cross-country roundtable discussions which will be highlighted in a national groundbreaking report next year – women’s enterprise organizations have a unique vantage point in understanding what women need to thrive economically.
The government should better leverage their expertise.
As we see women in other countries – including the United States – lose hard-fought rights, it has never been more important to ensure that women in Canada – including women entrepreneurs – have a strong voice in shaping economic policy.
If women are sidelined economically, it is that much easier for their other rights to slip away. Canadian women have come too far to let that happen.
Women entrepreneurs and the organizations that support them are a crucial asset for Canada’s economy. It is time the government treated them that way.
Photo courtesy of Collision Conf, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
