Mumpreneur and Fempreneur - the new words to define (and separate) women in business from the Big Boys
I have been moaning this week about the word 'mumpreneur' being added to the dictionary. The term, meaning 'a woman who combines running a successful business with looking after her children' has been bandied about in the press over the last year, and there are Mumpreneur websites and awards. Clearly many women associate themselves positively with the term. I don't, and am offended by its use.
Firstly....since when was entrepreneur a gender specific term? What about the word needs any explanation or differentation based on who it is applied to?
Secondly, what about the men who run a business while looking after his children? I am very aware that statistically women complete more of the household chores and childcare, but I do not see how terms that separate women from men help this situation. Parents run businesses. They are all capable of being entrepreneurs. Regardless of gender.
Thirdly, the term just feels patronising, like a little pat on the head, ''bless you, being a mum and starting a little business....good little girl.'' But remember mothers.....you'll never be quite as equal as the men running businesses. But well done for giving it a go.
So yes, I hate the word 'mumpreneur'. It belittles us, demeans us and is just completely unnecessary. If you are a mum who is also an entrepreneur, well you're just an entrepreneur - well done!
Then I discovered the word 'fempreneur'.
Again, because I am female why do I need a separate word created for me? What part of entrepreneur is masculine? Or is it that little pat on the head again.....well done, but remember you're not a 'real' entrepreneur. You're a girl......never forget that.
I rarely write particularly lengthy blog posts, my writing skills aren't up to the standard I feel it requires, but this just makes me so cross. These words may only be small; but they have subtle and definite meanings for us all.
Feminism
Reader Comments (8)
Excellent post ReeRee and I completely agree with everything, especially "Clearly many women associate themselves positively with the term. I don't, and am offended by its use." Excellent. I just don't see why we as women/women with children need a special term, as if men can be the only true entrepreneurs!
Your writing is most definitely up to this issue, Roar woman roar :)
Thank you Sharon! xx
Whilst I understand your dislike of the terms I think we need to be careful we don't fall for the idea that all in business is equal and that no acknowledgement should be made to women with children who set up businesses. The world of work is not a level playing feild (this is not m oppinion but fact, women still earn less and hold very few positions of power at upper board level) Also whilst of course lots of relationships are partnerships in every sense of the word (I count mine to be one of them) its probably niave for us to think that in general men take equal share of the chidcare in the vast majority of setups. My point I suppose is women do still have it very tough and I think its right that it is marked out as being quite an acheivement to combine having children whilst setting up a business. We have the most exspensive chidcare in the world so leaving the home to work is not a choice which is even open to many.We definately need a less cosy patronisng term but lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Im a mum and a business woman and its very hard and whilst I woud love to say "yes we are just the same as men,imagine even mentioning the fact we have kids, how unfair on men and belittling to us" its just not the reality faced by thousands of working mothers. If these silly terms create grants, bursuries etc to help more women set up on their own then long let them continue. As a real life "mumpreneur" the terms mean fuck all to me. What would help would be affordable childcare and not having the working tax credit slashed at exactly the same time as a VAT rise. However I fear I hijacking your discussion so will bugger off.
Hijack away! I agree and disagree with you all the same time Betty Bee!
I agree that the playing field is not equal. I agree that women usually deal with more of the childcare/housework. I agree that the pay gap still very much increases.
I don't agree that creating feminist terms helps to create bursaries and grants.
However, the end result is that the issues we cope with have at home, should have (and often don't) no impact on the end user. The customer doesn't care if you are juggling childcare with a business, the end consumer judges your business from the end result.
Not using/creating these feminist terms does not negate the work we need to do on creating childcare options and removing the glass ceiling. In my opinion, they make the ceiling even harder to break.
If I am a mother, I am not only defined by that fact. Just as men are not. We need to challenge the assumption that when children are introduced the mother gives up her career path (or sacrifices it to become a mumpreneur).
So, its early, and I may not type sense, but I agree with the issues, but completely disagree that terms such as these are part of a solution.
Ree x
Brilliant post. I hate both terms and find them insulting. I have never considered entrepreneurial to imply any gender (although I don't speak French - do they gender their verbs?!) or parentage for that matter. Although women do not yet have equality in the workplace, I don't think these latest buzzwords are going to take us forward and close the pay gap or get us positions on executive boards!
I could not agree more.
The whole of society deep-down, I've found, pays lip service to the idea that couples are equal in career but they aren't geared up for true equality or, (gasp) when the woman is the 'breadwinner'. It's all watered down and patronising, with subtle little uses of language like these. But the nitty gritty of planning a family when you are successful in a career is that everything is set up with the expectation that the woman's job/business is smaller and secondary to the man's; maternity v paternity, financial support etc'. I'm not talking about putting a child second; I'm talking about barriers to both parents sharing childcare and work equally, and the way all financial bodies assume the woman earns much less/is less career-minded/driven for their business.
Perdita-coud not agree more
Hi absolutely love the article and had never heard of fempreneur till i saw your pic! i was toying with the idea of using this term to describe myself but after reading this ive completely changed my mind. yes its exactly that - a pat on the head and gets me a little annoyed when i think about it in that way. im trying to push the power of women especially mums to take back control of their lives so I hope that we can change the hidden meanings of this term so that it is positive and makes women feel proud to be a 'mumpreneur' even though at the moment it does feel like a spoof term. In a good sense it distinguishes us from the male equivalent as being a mum is hard enough and combined with business we are lik superheroes but there's no need to find a new word 'mum and entrepreneur' isnt that much to say all at once is it ;) take care i'll be following the blog love it. Sky