08 Mar 2022
How the times have changed. In 2022, over half of Trinity students are female (60%). Gender balance has been achieved in the upper echelons of Trinity governance too; in 2021, the university elected its first female provost since its foundation in 1592. Women are now also equally represented within Trinity’s decision-making bodies - across its board, council, and Executive Officer Group. Last year also saw the university ranked 6th in the world for gender equality. The contrast between the modern moment and recent past is stark – in 1984 just 5% of chaired professors and 4% of fellows at Trinity were women. But there is still work to do: women make up more than 50% of our population, yet are underrepresented across the spectrum of economic activity. Less than 20% of CEOs are women, falling to 9% for large companies. Less than 10% of venture capital funding goes to female founders, and less than 3% of venture capitalists are female. Locally at Tangent, Trinity’s Ideas Workspace, we are making a concerted effort to advance gender parity within the traditionally male-dominated domain of entrepreneurship. To demonstrate our forward focus, Tangent’s programming is designed to dismantle mechanisms that allow gender inequality to persist, including Women Who Wow, our female entrepreneur mentorship scheme for Trinity students interested in starting their own business or social venture. Spearheaded by Tangent's Student and Start-up Innovation Manager Alison Treacy, the initiative came about as a direct response to research which showed that almost half of all female founders in start-ups cite a lack of available mentors as a barrier to their advancement. The programme aims to maximise women’s participation in our accelerators by developing a network of role models who can interact with and inspire future female founders. Women Who Wow participants are mentored by established, experienced professionals, building connections to help them gain confidence, achieve their goals, and navigate challenges. A mentor can prove crucial at any stage in a female entrepreneur’s career, but it is particularly important in the early stages. Since the programme’s genesis in 2016, a virtuous circle emerged with mentees frequently returning to Tangent to offer mentoring. Elsewhere, our education programmes serve to mitigate against systemic gender inequality too, in this instance, the barriers women experience when returning to work following a career break. Women shoulder a disproportionate share of caring and homemaking responsibilities, according to ESRI research. For working women, this dynamic can result in them moving to part-time work or taking a career break. As a result, there is a clear connection between caring responsibilities and gender equality in the labour market. Tangent’s most popular course, our Postgraduate Certificate in Creative Thinking, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, led by Tangent Education Programme Manager Gillian Roddie, is tailored towards ‘returners’, those hoping to upskill before taking a courageous first step back to the world of work. It should come as no surprise, then, that the majority of students enrolled in this programme are female at a whopping 70%. While many women consider a return to work, the prospect can be daunting; worries around being left behind or skills becoming outdated set in, negatively impacting one’s confidence, and making the idea of returning to work intimidating. The Cert in Creative Thinking, Innovation and Entrepreneurship aims to help returners overcome these challenges, enabling them to build professional confidence, rediscover talents, and realise their ambition. Part-time and delivered online, while flexible course work and no exams also help our students get the most out of study without feeling overwhelmed. Tangent was also honoured to host the Government’s launch of the new €90m Irish Innovation Seed Fund recently, a gamechanger for the Irish start-up community which will see funding for female-led enterprises at a crucial seed stage prioritised in a bid to address a traditional funding deficit. To build on this positive trend, Tangent will begin profiling a female member of its entrepreneurship ecosystem in our monthly newsletter, drawing upon our wealth of talented employees, mentors, and industry partners. What’s more, we pledge to ensure gender balance on every panel discussion Tangent hosts as part of its education and entrepreneurship programming. An alumni engagement project is also planned, which will allow us to more comprehensively track and assess the outcomes of our gender diversity efforts in the learning experiences offered at Tangent. If you are interested in furthering gender diversity within entrepreneurship and have an idea you’d like to discuss, please get in touch via [email protected].
Hazel Davis
