Women bring the skills, perspectives, and emotional intelligence necessary to achieve the green transition, address food shortages, and implement equitable financing. Women are 49.7% of the world’s population, but only 1.9% of venture capital investments in 2022 were placed with women-led startups. Patience Marime-Ball and Ruth Shaber, co-authors of The XX Edge: Unlocking Higher Returns and Lower Risk, join Mitch Ratcliffe to discuss the power and impact of women in business and other leadership roles. The book shares stories of corporate, startup, nonprofit, and many other organizational innovations and improvements led by women, and they make the case that those of us with two X chromosomes bring essential skills that are in short supply in the face of climate change, social disruption, and 20th-century business strategies that are too exhausted to thrive in the 21st century.
There has been progress in bringing women into leadership across society, but it is slow work. Today, 42% of U.S. businesses are owned by women and 19% of startups have at least one female founder. And women are making the educational investments to lead. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, in 2018-19 women earned 57.9% of bachelors degrees,. 63.9% of masters degrees, and 56.4% of doctoral degrees. Patience and Ruth explain several resources to keep in mind as you shop, invest, and vote to create the world your want, including As You Sow, a nonprofit shareholder activist organization, Ethos ESG, a values-based tool for filtering investment options, as well as Patience’s work at the Women of the World Endowment and Ruth’s at the Tara Health Foundation. The XX Edge is available now at Amazon. You can learn more about Patience at Ruth at thexxedge.com.
