How can we communicate about entrepreneurship at universities? This is how a gender perspective is incorporated

Santander X Explorer is a programme aimed at promoting entrepreneurship among university students. But are we telling the story of what entrepreneurship really is? Are we communicating things that resonate?

When we talk about the challenges of attracting entrepreneurial talent, we see two very clear trends:

• Entrepreneurial spirit has decreased in universities.
• The gender gap is evident.

In light of this, it’s clear that rethinking the messages we send to students is highly recommended and should be done, moreover, by integrating a gender perspective. Thus, we decided to analyse this issue in the Explorer Hub, the community where Coordinatxrs, Experts, and PRO Connectxrs share ideas and good practices to guide and motivate those embarking on the entrepreneurial journey.

The session was led by Eva López Barrio, Director of Innovatia 8.3 at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela. This project was born in 2011 with the aim of supporting and giving visibility to women science-based entrepreneurs in academic environments: it is proposed as a framework in which all universities and research centres can participate, with the idea of transforming the landscape of scientific-technological entrepreneurship. And it does so taking into account the gender perspective, incorporating it into the processes of knowledge transfer. 

Starting from the four functions these educational centres have (teaching, research, knowledge dissemination, and result transfer), Eva wanted to focus particularly on the latter, understanding this transfer as a transplant: taking something from one place and putting it, with its roots, into another, so it can grow there.

The Tree of Inequality The problem stems, precisely, from those roots. If we consider the transfer of results as a bonsai, we can take care of it and trim the branches that “shoot out,” which do not fit with the discourse we want to create. Stereotypes, androcentric culture, perpetuation of roles… Do we have it under control simply by pruning?  No: we must look at the base that feeds the branches. 

“The root of the tree nourishes how businesses are created,” commented Eva. But before we get to the projects, we need to stop and consider how we communicate a message that encourages people to put their ideas into practice. We need to focus on several dichotomies:

1. Women graduate in higher percentages than men, but at later stages (theses, faculty, chairs, rectorate), the ratios reverse. “Let’s admit it, this is not due to maternity, especially in an ageing society like the one we live in,” pointed out Eva.
2. Although there is a greater proportion of women in classrooms, university entrepreneurship has historically been male-dominated (these numbers are changing, but very slowly).
3. Traditionally, women tend to pursue university degrees linked to the humanities, care, and social fields. Men go into engineering or scientific disciplines.

Tools for Communicating Entrepreneurship with a Gender Perspective “Here we have a clear indicator of what we will find when these students set out to become entrepreneurs,” added the coordinator of Innovatia 8.3 (indeed, on International Women’s Day, March 8). We must consider these differences when expressing things because “it’s not that women are not interested in technology, it’s that if we don’t manage to spark their interest, if entrepreneurship is rare in universities, if most of these entrepreneurs are men… we’re not telling the story well,” said Eva. “Perhaps the model we’re promoting doesn’t resonate with the university community. It’s an environment where it’s very difficult for unicorns to emerge,” she added. However, we continue to speak of them as if they were the norm.

So, what’s the solution? How can we communicate correctly that the path to entrepreneurship is feasible, safe, and equal? By applying the gender perspective to university entrepreneurship programmes, which is nothing more (and nothing less) than considering and paying attention to disparities (in conditions, needs, participation rates, access to resources, decision-making…) between women and men in any activity or field. These are some of the tools proposed by Innovatia 8.3, a programme also supported by the Institute of Women:

• Eliminate biases. They exist in the knowledge generation phase, the transfer phase, and the creation phase. We cannot tell the story this way.
• Apply a 360º perspective. Broadening the perspective will lead us to discover that there are many models of entrepreneurship; we will stop only talking about the successful entrepreneur who starts their business in a garage (a predominantly male environment, by the way). Moreover, these other archetypes lead to more economically viable projects.
• Correct the androcentric focus of our expressions.
• Create female role models.
• Replace generic masculine terms with collective terms.
• Balance female and male figures in images, icons, and logos.

There are many more strategies (guides for entrepreneurial equality, specialised training), and they all lead to the same point: if we implement the gender perspective in universities, we will arrive at the business model we want. We will abandon discourses that lead to toxic corporations and embrace slow startups (as Patricia Araque, Executive Director of Santander X Explorer, mentioned in this TalkX), where collaboration in the growth plan, not just competition, will feel natural.

Could this materialise into a new type of economy and, why not, society? The application of the gender perspective leads to projects like Madrinanet, a network of mentors and mentees for female entrepreneurs, or Misiones Comerciales en Femenino. “Feminist economics doesn’t want a piece of the pie, it wants to change the recipe for one that’s healthier for everyone,” Eva pointed out. And anyone has a role in this model, as we can choose more responsible consumption or, returning to academia, a way of doing science that’s more peaceful. “We’re losing out on life; we need to touch the ground,” says Eva. Communicating entrepreneurship with equality is the way.