Breaking Gender Expectations Through Innovation
In Turkey, our society has certain expectations and sets of ideas about gender roles for women. Women are pushed to stay at home, cook for their husbands, look after their children and live up to the expectations of society. When it comes to work, education and innovation most women remain out of the labor market not because they want to but because they have to. Gender discrimination experienced by women in the private as well as the public sphere significantly limits their visible participation in the economic life outside their homes. Specifically, in entrepreneurship, the male-dominated social structure constitutes a serious barrier to women. A sample survey of nearly 10,000 Turkish micro and small enterprises (MSEs), 6 percent of them led by women, shows that women’s businesses tend to be very small next to the huge businesses led by men.
Living in a country and world that tells us to live up to the expectations of society can make many women and young girls feel unempowered. As young girls with a bright future ahead whenever we feel unempowered we become a refuge for innovation. We desire to create, educate ourselves and inspire many other girls with the goals we’re trying to achieve. For the last two years, we have been leading the entrepreneurship club, StartUp@Hisar, with love and ambition, taking each step with the power of being a girl in a male-dominated area.
With mentoring 4 groups last year, we gave 11 students the opportunity to turn their ideas into reality. The curriculum we followed consisted of 6 modules that touched upon developing a business idea, getting to know customers and the market, developing the product, the branding and the financial structıre. With a developed business plan and sufficient business knowledge, our groups are attending various competitions in order for their ventures to become commercial realities. Our club not only offered the knowledge to evolve their ideas but provided the needed skills to be a mentor or leader themselves. We have examined successful and failed business models, read articles and watched videos on innovation that granted our members an entrepreneur mindset. To keep on giving young entrepreneurs opportunities to reach their maximum potential, we are confident in our future plans to expand StartUp@Hisar.
Ela Kopmaz & Duru Polat
