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The Future Is Female! Why It's Good For Business That Women Are Neurologically Different Than Men
By: Maggie Bergeron PT, Nataliya Zlotnikov HBSc, MSc

Perfect Women 

Men will apply for a job if they meet 60% of the qualifications. Women will apply for a job if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Women have been socialized to aspire to perfection and be overly cautious. Even when we’re ambitious, when we’re leaning in, this socialization has caused us to take fewer risks in our careers.⠀

We’re raising our girls to be perfect & our boys to be brave (Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code).

Aspiring to Perfection Leads to Giving Up 

In the 1980s, psychologist Carole Dwek looked at how bright 5th graders handled an assignment that was difficult for them.⠀
She found that bright girls were quick to give up. The higher the IQ, the more likely they were to give up.⠀
The bright boys on the other hand found the difficult material to be a challenge. They found it energizing. They were more likely to double their efforts.

What’s Going On?

At the 5th-grade level, girls routinely outperform boys in every subject, including math and science. So it’s not a question of ability.⠀
The difference is in how boys and girls approach a challenge.⠀
And it doesn’t just end in 5th grade.⠀

Men will apply for a job if they meet 60% of the qualifications. Women will apply for a job if they meet 100% of the qualifications.⠀
Women have been socialized to aspire to perfection and be overly cautious. Even when we’re ambitious, when we’re leaning in, this socialization has caused us to take fewer risks in our careers.⠀

So, what would happen if women were socialized to be brave, instead of being socialized to be perfect? The possibilities are infinite. 

Are you ready to explore some of these possibilities and accelerate your career?  We invite you to take a look at our Expert Series online healthcare course, The Future is Female: The Rise of Women in Leadership, with Kim Hall and Laura Desveaux.

 

Click Here to Learn More!



Here's What You Will Learn: 

  • Top business and leadership resources that will accelerate your career
  • Unique and out-of-the-box career paths that are carving the way for a new generation of physiotherapists
  • What are the effects of the gender gap in healthcare in general and is there gender disparity in the Canadian physiotherapy industry? 
  • The rise of female leaders? What does the future hold for our profession and how will this impact your career? 
  • Strategies for developing practical leadership skills that will propel your career

 

Highlights from the Future is Female: The Rise of Women in Leadership

Below is a highlight video from the course: 

It's clear that we need to continue to break down the barriers that make the journey upward toward positions of influence more challenging.

Women are neurologically different and we need that perspective for better research and better products.

The barriers are cultural, not scientific.

These barriers can be overcome and we need to stand up, lead, collaborate, continue to push forward, and speak up. To ignore these events, among many others, is to do a disservice, not just to women, but to society as a whole. Women's issues are societal issues. 

Gender Inequality Is a Real Issue

  • World of STEM: Women represent the majority of young university grads but are underrepresented in science, tech, engineering, math & computer science (STEM). Men aged 25-34 with STEM degrees have lower unemployment rates, higher wages, and a lower rate of job mismatch.

  • 2017 gender parity forecast: The World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report found that gender parity is over 200 years away.

  • 2020 gender parity forecast: Reviewing the same report for 2020, we observe a slightly improved, albeit still unacceptable, gender parity timeline of 100 years.

  • Funding: Women-led companies in the U.S. received only 2.2% of venture capital in 2017 according to PitchBook. That figure dropped marginally to 2.1% in 2020.

Women-Led Businesses Are Less Likely to Survive

Currently, women-led businesses are less likely to survive despite often being highly successful. 

Even though startups founded and cofounded by women actually perform better over time - generating 10% higher cumulative revenue over a 5-year period. 

Often, these businesses are less likely to survive due to differences in access to financial support as well as limited access "to social capital" or support networks. 

Analysis by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) indicates that if globally, men and women participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could rise by approximately 3-6% boosting the global economy by $2.5-5 trillion (Havard Business Review, 2019).

Celebrating Positive Actions and Progressive Conversations

The issues go on, but we are making progress. And that is what International Women’s Day is meant to celebrate - positive actions and progressive conversations.

Balance is not a women's issue, it's a business issue. The race is on for a gender-balanced boardroom, a gender-balanced government, gender-balanced media coverage, a gender-balance of employees, more gender-balance in wealth, and gender-balanced sports coverage.

Gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive.

Balance drives a better working world.

Let's Celebrate!

Every year, on the 8th of March, the Embodia team takes a moment to celebrate all of the incredible women we have had the opportunity to learn from and work with, including many of our most influential course instructors on Embodia.

On behalf of Embodia, we would like to wish you a Happy International Women's Day and extend our sincere gratitude to every man and woman who is actively working to close the gender gap in technology, healthcare, and all other industries.

 

More Education for Your Business 

We also invite you to take a look at some of our other business/private practice online healthcare courses such as: 

Women empowerment quotesHappy International Women's Day!

 

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Date written: 25 May 2021 
Last update: 17 March 2023

Laura Desveaux
PT, PhD
Laura is an implementation scientist focused on policy-oriented evaluations of complex health interventions to ensure that new approaches to care actually solve some of our biggest challenges within the healthcare system. Her research involves partnerships to ensure that key players in the system are involved in supporting local and system level change. Key partners include the Digital Health Secretariat of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Health Quality Ontario, the Ontario Medical Association, the Ontario Telemedicine Network and Cancer Care Ontario, as well as several technology start-ups. As part of this work, she is focused on advancing scientific methodologies to meet the needs of the rapidly evolving nature of technology. In addition to her research, Laura is passionate about leadership and innovation, and the intersection between the two. She is the founder of the Women's Leadership Network- an interdisciplinary network committed to the development and advancement of women leaders across the health sector. Her hope is that these efforts will support women in their pursuit of career advancement and system leadership.

Kim Hall
PT
Founder & Director of Physio2U, Kim graduated with honours as a physiotherapist from Queen’s University in 2005 with extensive experience in acute care, Orthopaedics and stroke recovery, Kim decided to help people who needed rehabilitation the most due to their limited mobility. She created a unique model of physiotherapy service provision including one-hour, 1:1 sessions that include hands-on-treatment, education and exercise prescription based on movement pattern retraining. The Physio2U approach appreciates and understands that the clinician-client relationship is fundamental to recovery and feeling better. She is an active member of the provincial Arthritis Continuing Education (ACE) Network, national Arthritis Health Professions Association (AHPA), Physiotherapy Association of BC and the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. In April 2016, she was appointed to the Board of Directors of the College of Physical Therapists of BC.

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