Throughout this series, we’ve explored the broad and wide-ranging systemic challenges that are causing and upholding the funding gap for women-led startups.

Those challenges exist within the startup and tech sector, and outside of it. They’re tied up in the broader societal challenges facing women; entangled in the patriarchy. 

So tackling the gender funding gap means also tackling the systems that perpetuate it. And that means closing the gap in economic participation more broadly.

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Investing in solutions

Lisa Fedorenko is co-founder of EquityClear, and an investor herself. She’s an advocate not only for investing in women and other under-represented folk, but for investing in the people and products that offer solutions to structural inequities — things like unequal distribution of caring responsibilities and the gender pay gap, but also all manner of other areas in which women’s needs have been overlooked.

“There are structural barriers that inhibit women from participating fully, or with the same ease, in many aspects of society,” Lisa says.

Women weren’t included in clinical trials in the US until 1993, she says, and they’re still underrepresented, globally.

As explained in this extract from Caroline Criado Perez’s book, Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, tools ranging from the average brick to the iPhone touchscreen have been designed with male hands in mind.

More troubling, women’s bodies are not typically represented in crash tests for car safety, perhaps explaining why women involved in crashes have a higher chance of sustaining serious injury and a lower chance of survival.

“There’s a product design element, where most of society’s products are based on an able-bodied male norm, and women have to make adjustments,” Lisa says.

“But women are pretty happy to pay for things that fit them well, and there is a huge economic gap from not doing that. How do we create a system that favours women in that sense?”

The same logic applies to people with disabilities, people of colour, and all other marginalised people, Lisa notes.

“It’s just that this one affects 51% of the population. It’s kind of ridiculous.”

There’s both moral and economic benefit in investing in the solutions to some of these challenges, regardless of the demographic they fall into, she adds.

A product that reduces the symptoms of PMS, for example, could allow affected women to increase their quality of life (and their productivity) for at least a week every month. That’s a win for women, and for the workforce as a whole. 

“We backed a company doing just this, Samphire Neuroscience. Unsurprisingly they’ve found an eager and capitive market immediately,” Lisa says.

“We should be investing in founders working on these structural inequalities. If it’s a guy doing it, I would gladly back them, too,” she adds.

“It’s a huge opportunity, and it will have a huge impact.”

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Equity in practice

Amanda Robbins founded Equity Economics, an economic and social policy firm focused on achieving greater equity in policy formulation and outcomes, over a decade ago. She brings to the role a background in senior positions in government and public policy, domestically and internationally.

“I founded Equity with the goal of changing the way public policy is formulated in Australia, making it a much more inclusive conversation that brings vulnerable groups into the conversations,” Amanda explains.

“They’re often those most impacted by public policy, but often excluded from the conversation.”

She’s also, very consciously, creating an equitable and inclusive workplace — and seeing the benefits.

Amanda’s team is majority women, and she has always tried to foster a culture of mutual support and commitment to each other’s success.

“We didn’t necessarily set out to be a woman-led firm,” Amanda says.

Rather, she set out to gather talented people who were looking for a new way of working that allowed them to juggle other responsibilities — whether caring for kids or elderly parents, studying, or pursuing other interests.

One of Amanda’s colleagues recently published a book, adjusting her work schedule around her writing schedule. Others have needed to take extended leave to support children or parents at different stages of their lives, and the team prioritises making this possible for each other.

At the very heart of Amanda’s business are the values of flexibility and being family-first, whatever that family structure may be, and whatever the situation. That could be women navigating their first break from work to have children; people with parents who live overseas; those with children starting or shifting schools; or any number of other changes that emerge in everyone's lives. 

These values are are what makes the company strong, she says. And she firmly believes it’s the future of work.

That doesn’t mean it always comes easy.

“It’s a continuous process of learning,” Amanda says.

“As we navigate growth, we’re having daily discussions around how to keep this level of flexibility going without placing unsustainable burdens on the rest of the team. Every time someone has to step out for other responsibilities — which we are committed to supporting — work does need to be picked up.

“It requires a culture in a workplace that enables everyone to step in and out; where we are committed to backing each other when that happens. It has to be something the whole team is deeply committed to.”

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The benefit of backing women

While the logistics can get tricky, and the company continues to test whether the model is truly scalable, Amanda says the long-term benefits of flexible work are clear.

She has exceptional talent on her team, producing exceptional work. For many of those people, a rigid nine-to-five would be hugely impractical, if not impossible.

“I wouldn’t suggest we’ve got all the answers. But I do know this is a business model that has ensured some of Australia’s leading policy analysts have been able to remain in the workforce,” Amanda explains.

“The reason it works for us is because we’re in a particular sector — we’re a professional services consulting firm, so we can increase or decrease the work we take on to our team’s capacity.

“Not every industry can do that, but I suspect more can than are currently doing it.”

Amanda challenges other business owners to think about where they can add flexibility into their policies, whether through flexible hours, job-sharing, a four-day work week or family leave policies.

“We know there’s value to all these things,” she says.

“We have a small sample, but we have confirmation that a culture that places flexibility and collaboration at its centre is the only way women can even attempt to juggle it all. 

“It’s a central enabler to women’s economic participation.”