Author: Nawbo – Real Leaders

As women business owners, when we think about the topic of leadership the theme of this month’s issue of NAWBO ONE a lot of things come to mind.

We are leaders in our businesses, households and communities. We have friends, customers and vendor partners in prominent leadership positions in corporate America. And, of course, with election season in full swing, we think about our political leaders both male and female and the issues we care about most that we hope they’ll embrace and support.

As the voice of women business owners and with advocacy at the heart of our organization and its founding, NAWBO is particularly focused right now on our political leadership. We are advocating for more women to run for political office, and for more of those who make it into seats to get behind women-owned and small businesses issues.

To this end, we have released a 2016 public policy agenda to help women business owners who are part of our community and the elected officials we interact with to understand what we care about most issues that are critical to our personal and business health. The issues we have chosen to pursue benefit the majority of our NAWBO members while also increasing our visibility and credibility with elected officials, agency personnel, peer organizations and members of the media.

They include:

Access to Capital
Education and Workforce
Government Contracting
International Trade
Regulatory Reform
Taxes

Additionally, we have chosen to expand our agenda from last year to include other issues that impact women entrepreneurs, such as breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, pension reform and retirement planning. By broadening our focus, we increase our ability to build coalitions and credibility with leaders of both political parties.

A few weeks back, I was thrilled to participate in a town hall-style event in New Hampshire one day before one of the presidential debates. Hosted by the Job Creators Network (JCN) together with the Independent Women’s Forum and moderated by CNN Political Commentator Margaret Hoover, this event brought together local and national business leaders to discuss what women really want this election season is it issues like reproductive rights and the gender pay gap that typically get top billing in the media, or economic issues that impact job creation and opportunity, like a poll recently found?

The women I was proud to speak alongside, including Sabrina Schaeffer, Executive Director at the Independent Women’s Forum, and Teresa R. Rosenberger, President of Divine Strategies, a local business consultancy, focused on the economic hurdles women face to succeeding in business, highlighting the challenges of overregulation, overtaxation and a lack of access to capital. Click here to view a video of this discussion.

As always, I’d love to hear from you! What leadership qualities do you look for in your elected officials, in your own employees, in your customers, etc.? And what issues do you care about most this election season? Together, as leaders and advocates, we can make a difference.

Written by: Crystal Arredondo, NAWBO National Board Chair

Original Story: Nawbo

Equality means different things for different people and generations.

For the women who founded NAWBO more than 40 years ago, it was about being able to take out a line of credit to start or grow their business without their husband, brother or father cosigning. For women business owners today, it’s about equality in pay, in the boardroom, in elected offices, in government procurement opportunities and more. And for women in other parts of the world, especially in developing nations, equality often takes on a completely different meaning—like the ability to work or receive an education.

Here are a few recent statistics from Makers (the largest video collection of women’s stories online) that tell the story:

In 2015, only half of the world’s working-age women were in the labor force, compared to 77 percent of working-age men.
Women with full-time jobs still earn only about 77 percent of their male counterparts’ earnings.
African-American women earn 64 cents and Latina women earn 56 cents for every dollar earned by a Caucasian man.
62 million girls are denied an education all over the world.
Every year, an estimated 15 million girls under 18 are married worldwide, with little or no say in the matter.
4 out of 5 victims of human trafficking are girls.
Around the world, only 22 percent of all national parliamentarians are female. That’s double the number in 1995, but still a marker of slow change.
Women currently hold 24, or 4.8 percent, of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies.

As women and women business owners, one of our greatest weapons in our fight for true equality is our voice which is even more powerful when combined together as a movement of thousands of smart, passionate NAWBO members from across the United States. Together, we can speak out on the issues that are most important to all of us, in our communities, in our states and in our nation’s capital. Learn more about this powerful NAWBO voice and how you can be part of it here.

This issue of NAWBO ONE features an equality theme. In it, you’ll revisit this summer’s NAWBO Advocacy Day where our members from across the country gathered in Washington, D.C. to meet with and learn from key political decision makers and have their voices heard. You’ll also read about how equality within our own businesses benefits us and makes us stronger.

Written by: Teresa Meares

Original Story: GreenBiz

Leadership in the Spotlight

Equality: What Does it Mean?