Removing Barriers for Women Entrepreneurs Online

For International Women’s Day 2024, I wrote a new article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Women worldwide, especially in low-income countries, face many barriers to entrepreneurship, including limited access to capital, harassment, and violence. It’s easy to assume that online services and opportunities lessen these barriers—that women can freely network, sell, borrow, and skill up to make their ventures a success without the biases they face in the physical world.

Yet research shows that digital platforms in and of themselves don’t create equal playing fields. Taking on a digital marketing gig, for example, requires upfront capital for a laptop, reliable Internet access, professional software, and access to data—capital that is harder for them to get. The World Bank estimates that the total micro, small, or medium enterprise finance gap for women is $1.7 trillion.

At MESH, we made gender a top priority in 2023, with great success.

For SSIR I share six research and design tips for social networks, community builders, and educational organizations that want to support gender-inclusive entrepreneurship.