Investors, You Need to Stop Asking Female Founders When They’re Going to Get Pregnant

Recently, I have been interviewing several female founders of design and/or technology companies across Europe about their careers and experiences. They have spoken to me about a myriad of issues and obstacles they have encountered along their journeys. Some of these are due to the fact they are women, and some are not. However, there’s one very specific situation that I keep hearing about: when female founders are securing investment for their ventures, they are sometimes presented with an investor who a) questions them about their future family plans, framed as a concern for their company trajectory or b) flat out refuses to invest in that company because of the fact that, since the founder is a woman, she may one day become pregnant. These are not assumptions; pregnancy as disqualification has been readily, verbally admitted by the investors in question.

It is worth noting that all the women I have spoken to on this subject have mentioned that this has been a terrific way to weed out investors they don’t want to work with. They have also gone on to find wonderful investors who support them and are not, in essence, terribly ignorant. However, the fact that I am only starting research on this subject, and this particular situation has been mentioned multiple times, is a sure symptom of a larger problem in relation to the biases we hold about women in society. For the success stories I’ve heard where women have overcome this speed bump, I can imagine the same number of alternative scenarios that didn’t end so well.

So, let’s debunk some myths about women in the working world and dispense some knowledge on these misguided individuals with money to invest.

Myth #1: All women want children and will have them.

As shocking as it may sound, women are actually individuals with individual needs, wishes, and desires. Some women want children and some women don’t. It is literally as simple as that. Additionally, if a woman says that she doesn’t want children, it does not mean she just doesn’t want children “yet” and will change her mind down the road (though she is completely within her rights to do so, as well).

It’s not hard to see that the notion that “woman=baby fever” is a hangover from our less enlightened days when women were expected solely to stay home and take care of the children. It is important to mention that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a homemaker, if that is a woman’s choice. It is simply that now we have reached a time where women can choose several different life paths: some have work, some have children, and some have both. Unfortunately, certain people still carry the unconscious (or sometimes, conscious) bias that a “woman’s place” is in the home, and no where else, and thus children are inevitable. This could not be further from the truth.

With all of that said, it’s actually no one’s business in a woman’s professional life until said baby arrives because…

Myth #2: If a woman does choose to have children, her job performance will be negatively affected.

If the performance of a woman with children in the workplace is negatively influenced by those children, in most cases, that is a symptom of a company that doesn’t properly account for such changes, not an indicator of a less dedicated or capable employee.

This is the beauty of a female founder having a baby: it’s her company and she sets the rules. There is no good reason to believe that she can’t run and company and raise a child at the same time. I have met enough of these women to know: they are superhuman and they can do anything they set their minds to.

Additionally, it’s no secret that diversity in general is crucial for meaningful innovation and the ability to reach a wide customer base. How diverse can you then expect your portfolio to be if you only invest in male-led companies? (Answer: not very).

Myth #3: Having children does not impact the lives of men (the fathers).

Annoyingly, this is not a question that comes up when men seek investment in their ventures. However, I am optimistic that today is a new age of parenting where men are taking increasingly prominent roles in raising their children. With this trend, the ways in which starting a family can affect women, will begin to affect their partners to the same extent more and more. Thus, if concern over procreation is justified, then it should not be limited to one gender.

So, just stop it.

I can’t believe I’m writing this article in 2016. All of this seems like common sense to me, but apparently it hasn’t quite sunk in to the whole of society yet, so allow me to be crystal clear: if you’re an investor, judge potential based on merit, not motherhood.