St. Louis has more than 100 support organizations for entrepreneurs, but a new study finds a wide gender gap in those groups’ reach.
asked 88 St. Louis entrepreneurs, 42 women and 46 men, where they turned for mentorship, funding and other help. Men were “broadly aware of the resources available†but women were not.
The authors describe “a dichotomy in which men entrepreneurs found support services, while women entrepreneurs did not find such resources despite being located in the same region.â€
Some women were aware of support groups but thought they were too male-oriented. Others described themselves as business owners but not entrepreneurs, perceiving male connotations in the label itself.
“It was a subtle thing, like this doesn’t feel like my tribe,†said Susan Clark Muntean, associate professor of management at the University of North Carolina-Asheville and co-author of the study. “Women had a sense of being disrespected or being talked down to.â€
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Jenny Bristow, founder of digital marketing firm Anvil Analytics + Insights, knows that feeling. When she moved to St. Louis in 2012, she didn’t see many other women at networking events.
She founded a group specifically for women entrepreneurs, but disbanded it three years later because she felt the mainstream organizations were making progress. “Now, when I go to events I do feel like there is much more diversity, not just in gender but in age and race as well,†Bristow said. “In the last 10 years, it’s been a big shift.â€
Even so, St. Louis still scores poorly on some measures of gender diversity. When compared 50 large metropolitan areas in a 2019 report, St. Louis ranked in the bottom five for the success of women-owned businesses, both in economic clout and job growth.
Jennifer Ehlen founded a group called Prosper Women Entrepreneurs, later known as Brazen, but shut it down in 2018 because “it was hard to find a product-market fit,†she said. “It’s hard to serve entrepreneurs who don’t have a lot of money to spend.â€
Ehlen, now a partner in investment group Portfolia, thinks the need for support is greater than ever in the era of COVID-19. “The pandemic took what was already a pretty decent fire, in terms of the obstacles women face, and poured gasoline on it,†she said.
What do women need from St. Louis’ entrepreneurship organizations? “It’s not a lack of support, it’s about engagement,†said Mary Louise Helbig, executive director of the Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneur Network, a part of Lindenwood University. “If women do not feel welcome or supported, we need to do a better job of outreach.â€
Although it operates in the traditionally male technology industry, ITEN’s three staff members are all women, and 41% of new members last year had female founders.
Clark Muntean, the management professor, has found other encouraging signs. For a separate study, she and found that St. Louis had much faster growth in women-owned startups.
Organizations such as Arch Grants and BioSTL have emphasized diversity in recent years, and Ohio State University Professor Yasuyuki Motoyama, lead author of the study on women entrepreneurs, thinks they’re starting to have an effect.
In recent conversations in St. Louis, he said, “I get a feeling that everyone now talks about diversity and inclusion as a very important issue. I’m glad to hear the agenda has really broadened.â€
Talk, though, isn’t enough. Clark Muntean points out that, nationally, less than 10% of venture capital goes to women founders. Ultimately, regions that boost that number will be the ones that succeed in closing the gender gap.