Trigger Warning ⚠️ : Female founders and Venture Capital!
I just watched a TikTok video where a woman stitched a clip of a man who is basically saying that the richest women in the world get their money from divorce.
I summarised it for you and added a couple more key facts.
One thing that he didn’t acknowledge is that most women don’t get the same opportunities as men to build wealth, and many of the women who divorced these men played pivotal roles in helping build their companies.
Take MacKenzie Scott, for example—she didn’t just receive wealth from her divorce with Jeff Bezos; she was instrumental in Amazon’s early success, helping build it into the giant it is today.
Let's start with the barriers women face today are deeply rooted in history.
For example:
📜 In the U.S., women couldn’t open their own bank accounts without a male co-signer until the 1960s.
🏦 Women weren’t universally allowed to obtain business loans until the Equal Credit Opportunity Act in 1974.
🗳️ As recently as 2015, women in Saudi Arabia were granted the right to vote and run in elections for the first time.
💰 And even today, the gender pay gap persists, with women earning 82 cents for every dollar earned by men in the U.S., according to the Department of Labor.
(The list goes on)
These restrictions didn’t just delay women’s entry into entrepreneurship—they created a generational wealth gap that persists to this day.
As a founder and former VC professional, I see how these historical inequities translate into modern-day challenges.
Consider these stats:
📉 Women-led companies receive just 2% of global venture capital funding annually, despite consistently outperforming male-led companies when funded.
🚫She said that when they added her - a female co-founder - to their team, it decreased the likelihood of raising funding by 81.5%, regardless of her qualifications or experience.
👩💼 Women-led companies are more likely to hire, pay, and promote women equitably and create products that benefit a broader range of people.
These barriers don’t just hurt women—they hurt everyone.
For example:
⚕️ 97% of scientific data on the human body is based on men, leaving women underserved in healthcare and medical research.
🚗 Women are 47% more likely to be seriously injured in car crashes because crash test dummies have historically been designed to represent male bodies.
🛠️ Most consumer products, workplace tools, and technologies cater primarily to men’s needs, leaving women’s perspectives out of the equation.
Women founders drive innovation, build more equitable workplaces, and deliver amazing returns. Yet systemic barriers - still - hold them back.
🌎 What are your thoughts on this?
Video from TikToker @ gracebeverley
Comments