The role of female-focused awards: celebrating women or narrowing opportunity?
Personal barriers
The issue
While there are mixed views on the effectiveness of awards for women in business, they can offer significant benefits for female entrepreneurs. 23% of survey respondents thought that awards to recognise women in business would help female-led businesses to grow. Awards can increase the visibility of female leaders, creating strong role models for aspiring entrepreneurs.
thought that awards to recognise women in business would help female-led businesses to grow.
What our panel said
Our leadership panel noted the potential downside to awards.
“Running women-only networking and awards creates a narrative that, as women, we've been prejudiced against, we've not been chosen. We need to stick together. I don’t personally think that us-and-them is the way to pursue true equality."
– Lea Cheesbrough
identified lack of role models as a barrier, which could be addressed through awards.
Awards can arguably play a crucial role in increasing the visibility of female entrepreneurs and their businesses. By recognising their achievements, awards provide a publicity platform and third-party expert validation, shining a spotlight on successful female leaders. This, in turn, creates strong role models for aspiring female founders, inspiring and empowering the next generation of women in business. Awards can also help to address the lack of role models, which was identified as a barrier by 21% of respondents in our survey.
The impact of awards goes beyond the individual recipients. By celebrating female leaders, we can challenge stereotypes and break down gender barriers, inspiring young women to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions. Awards can also contribute to a cultural shift, normalising the idea of women in leadership positions and encouraging organisations to recognise and promote female talent. This can lead to a positive cycle, where increased visibility leads to more opportunities for female entrepreneurs and a stronger pipeline of female leaders. It is not about creating an ‘us and them’ barrier with men but positively discriminating to give women a more equal voice.
By acknowledging the existence of these barriers and working together to implement meaningful solutions, we can make a significant step towards empowering female-led mid-market businesses in the UK. This requires a collective effort from the business community, parents, educators, and government, with a focus on creating equitable opportunities for female entrepreneurs to thrive and drive positive change in the business landscape.