Women are coming together in huge numbers to support one another. Whether it’s speaking out about sexual misconduct, gender inequality or simply lifting each other up when life gets tough, many women are working together to change the status quo. Here in the Lower Mainland, women are supporting each other through programs and initiatives that help them succeed professionally. Their goal is to create safe environments for women to network with other women, strengthen leadership skills and ultimately provide a community of support. Here are three organizations doing their part.
Female Funders
Female Funders is an online education platform that’s working to inspire more women to become angel investors, individuals who provide capital for a startup business, often in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Industry statistics show fewer than 20 per cent of all angel investors today are women.
“We’re trying to increase the diversity of thought in early-stage investing, because it not only supports women investors, but we’re hoping that as a result, it will support female founders as well,” says Lauren Robinson, executive director at Female Funders.
While Female Funders is largely about educating women, it also aims to create a network of connections for female investors, says Naomi Giberson, Female Funders’ new ventures associate. The online program allows women to sign up at different stages, whether they’re ready to invest or are still unsure and just want to sit down with an angel investor.
Giberson and Robinson believe Vancouver has a close-knit community of women who are interested and have the means to invest. Female Funders strives to create a safe space for these women.
“Angel investing is stereotypically just pale, male and stale, and women don’t always feel safe in that environment, to express their ideas or ask the questions that they want to ask,” says Giberson. “And to give them that space, where it’s all women supporting women, they might be more likely to step outside their boundaries.”
Minerva BC
Minerva BC is a non-profit founded in 1999 that provides leadership programs for girls and women. Its goal is to increase the contribution and influence of women in the workplace. Minerva BC also works to address systemic barriers that can work against women’s equality and advancement.
Tina Strehlke, Minerva’s interim CEO, says that its programs allow women to step into their leadership and give them the self-knowledge that they need to progress in their careers. She says women who go through their programs have gone on to make huge changes both for themselves and for other employees at their organizations.
“We have a lot of women who are stepping forward to say, ‘This is important. It needs to be in our organizations. We need to talk about it,’ and they’re doing that,” she says.
Strehlke doesn’t feel that companies or organizations are choosing to be discriminatory but rather that our society has a history of being biased and unbalanced.
“If you’re not creating organizations and opportunities for women to grow, progress or advance in their careers, then they’re going to opt out,” Strehlke says. “This issue hasn’t gone away. People seem to think that women’s issues were all solved in the ’70s and that it’s not that bad. But when you actually look at who’s got a seat at the table it’s still pretty inequitable.”
Dress for success
Dress for Success Vancouver isn’t just about providing clothing for women looking for work. The organization also strives to empower women by offering career counselling and programs that develop professional skills. Whether it’s workshops about how to ask for a raise, how to be confident in public speaking or how to create a LinkedIn profile, their goal is to get women into the workforce and to help them succeed once they’re there.
Of course, a new outfit can also help to build self-esteem. Natasha Irvine, marketing and events manager at Dress for Success Vancouver, has seen it happen time and again. In some cases, women come in with a job interview that afternoon and have nothing to wear. “They leave and they’re just transformed in that new outfit. Absolutely transformed. It’s incredible,” she says.
Dress for Success assists more than 2,000 women each year, with the help of donations and volunteers, both from companies and from individuals. Irvine says donors have numerous reasons for contributing. They say, “My mom was a single mom and that’s why I support you guys, or I had to live in a shelter for a time and I see the work you’re doing and I see how I could have benefited from that,” Irvine says.
While the professional attire is an essential part of Dress for Success, Irvine says its career centre and the skills workshops are also vital to supporting women taking their first or next career step.
“Women helping women is hot right now; it needs to be. The conversation needs to be expanded and the awareness needs to continue. There’s room for everybody at the top,” says Irvine. “We really do have to work together to support one another, because it still is a very male-dominated world.”
