Glossary of key terms

Refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men – such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and can be changed. The concept of gender includes five important elements: relational, hierarchical, historical, contextual and institutional. While most people are born either male or female, they are taught appropriate norms and behaviours – including how they should interact with others of the same or opposite sex within households, communities and work places. When individuals or groups do not “fit” established gender norms they often face stigma, discriminatory practices or social exclusion – all of which adversely affect health.

 

Source: WHO

 

For example:

 

In some contexts, women are expected to dress, act, and speak a certain way. They are often expected to be, or stereotyped as,  nurturing and accommodating. In some societies, women are expected to look after the children, take care of the elderly, and perform hours of additional unpaid labour (e.g. cleaning, cooking, etc.).

 

On the other hand, men are also expected to ‘be’ a certain way. In a lot of societies, they are expected to be strong, confident, and aggressive. They are the ‘breadwinners’.

 

When individuals decide to act, speak and/or dress differently to what society expects of them, they can encounter difficulties.

 

Why is this important in the social entrepreneurship space? The social constructs and cultural beliefs associated with being a man or a woman can influence decision making. For example, an investor may decide to invest in a venture led by a man rather than a woman simply because he or she perceives him as more capable based on the characteristics associated with being a man in society (e.g. confidence).

Prejudice, preference, predisposition or inclination towards or against one thing, person or group relative to others, often based on prevailing stereotypes.

 

These biases are often unconscious, they are learned, deeply ingrained and automatic. And they can influence behaviour. In the case of gender biases,  they can influence judgment and lead to the unfair treatment of certain gender groups.

 

Source: Criterion Institute – Key Concepts in Gender

 

For example: 

 

A common example of gender bias in the entrepreneurship space is investors perceiving women as less capable entrepreneurs because of their role as mothers, carers, and homemakers within society. This can influence their decision of to whom funding is allocated and thereby lead to a more favourable funding environment for entrepreneurs who are men.

 

Although women and other gender minorities experience the majority of gender bias, men can also be affected by it.

 

For example, a man who decides he wants to be the primary caretaker of his children and have a flexible work arrangement may not be perceived as equally competent and ambitious as his male colleagues because he is choosing to perform a role that society perceives as feminine. Organisational policies may also not favour him taking time off (e.g. shorter or no paid paternity leave).

The practice of ensuring equal treatment of all people, no matter their gender. It refers to the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, or opportunities. Equality between genders is seen as both a human rights issue and as a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable, people-centred development. Equality does not equate with sameness.

 

Source: Criterion Institute – Key Concepts in Gender

 

For example:

 

All genders getting paid the same for performing the same work within your organisation, as well as getting access to the same career advancement opportunities. For entrepreneurs, it can be having equal opportunity to raise funding and build their ventures, regardless of their gender.

Fairness of treatment for all genders, according to their respective needs. It can include initiatives that are different for different genders, but that allow for opportunities and benefits to be distributed fairly according to each gender’s needs. In doing so, gender equity initiatives look to challenge a system where opportunities and rights are still not evenly and fairly distributed between all genders today.

 

As the picture below shows, providing equal benefits and opportunities does not always result in equal outcomes if people are not starting from the same starting point. Equity takes into account each person’s needs and distributes benefits and opportunities accordingly, leading to a more fair outcome (all can watch the game). Gender equity is a means to reach gender equality.

 

 

Source: Interaction Institute for Social Change.

Artist: Angus Maguire

 

For example: 

 

Although you may decide to exercise gender equality by treating all your staff and entrepreneurs the same, regardless of gender, this may still not lead to optimal outcomes given they may not all be starting from the same place and need the same help to get to the same outcome.

 

You may decide to provide equal access to an advanced finance workshop for all entrepreneurs to help them raise funding. However, it may be that women in your program have not had the same access to financial literacy training at school so you may need to offer beginner and intermediate courses as well.

 

Also, women entrepreneurs face other gender-related challenges (e.g. investor bias) when they’re pitching for funding. You may need strategies to help them overcome these to help them raise the same funding as their male counterparts.

The deliberate ‘application’ of a lens – e.g. seeing something through the eyes of a woman and then seeing the same thing through the eyes of a man.

 

By applying the lens, it reveals how your activities may be experienced by different gendered groups. Applying a gender lens may reveal that your activities advantage certain gender groups, whilst disadvantaging others.

 

For example:

 

Are you considering different genders when advertising for entrepreneurs?

 

When recruiting entrepreneurs, are you using language, visuals, or channels that appeal to one gender more than another?

 

Applying a gender lens is being deliberate about asking these types of questions, then doing research to uncover what is causing these gender-related problems, and then developing strategies to address these to ensure that your program is accessible and inclusive of all genders. In the case above, it could be that your marketing collateral is not appealing to women entrepreneurs.

 

You could do research and find out that the language that you are using doesn’t resonate with, or even deters women, and could, therefore, work towards replacing words within your existing collateral with gender-neutral terms or develop additional collateral specifically for women.

The incorporation of a gender analysis into the practice of investments and the systems of finance. This includes how value is assigned, how relationships are structured, and how processes work.

In the social enterprise context, an intermediary is an incubator and/or accelerator providing time-limited programs that work with “cohorts” or “classes” of enterprises to provide mentorship and training. These programs often have a special emphasis on connecting early-stage enterprises with investment.

Intermediaries have the power to disrupt negative power dynamics by applying a gender lens across their work. Intermediaries are in a very unique position as they support the enterprise while connecting them to the wider ecosystem. They can influence positive change across multiple players within the social entrepreneurship ecosystem.

How other factors like ethnicity, socio-economic status, or religion can limit or compound the experiences of advantage or oppression for different gender groups.

 

For example: 

 

A female founder does not attract as much funding as a male founder. If that female is a woman of colour, has a form of disability, or is of a particular religion – this compounds the disadvantage that this female founder faces compared to their male counterpart.

Power is the capacity to control or influence the behaviour of others. Gendered power dynamics are how people from different gendered groups interact with each other, where one gender has more power than the other. Power is often very gendered and it is common for one gender to hold significant power over other gendered groups in a particular context.

 

Power dynamics play a key role in society, with those who hold the power often being the ones who make or heavily influence decisions.

 

For example: 

 

In the entrepreneurship space, investors and funders, often who are predominantly men,  hold a lot of power. They can decide what ventures and projects receive funding.

 

However, the local entrepreneurs operating within broken systems are often better placed to know where the funding should be allocated as they have a deeper understanding of solutions to the local issues.

 

It is important to recognise this to take steps towards disrupting power dynamics that work against certain gender groups.

 

It is also important to consider the power dynamics that exist within communities and families.

 

For example, if you’re running  an initiative to empower women, you need to consider whether this may lead to unintended consequences because it could impact the power dynamics within their homes (e.g.  increasing income of a female in a home can lead to the man feeling disempowered resulting in increased domestic violence or familial tensions).

The advantage, opportunity and/or benefit that a group has over another because of their identity. This can be related to gender, wealth, race, caste, education levels, skin colour, class etc. Everyone is privileged in some way or another.

 

For example:

 

If you grew up with two parents in a loving home, you may have an advantage over someone who did not, regardless of gender. It is also important to consider how other factors such as sexual orientation, race, or disability can compound the experiences of advantage or disadvantage.

 

In the social entrepreneurship space, intermediaries can ‘privilege’ some founders if their application process is in English. This means that founders that do not speak English cannot apply even if their venture is strong.

Also sometimes referred to as a Logframe Analysis, Logical Framework or Theory of Change, a MEL Framework is a tool that is used to show the link between a project’s activities and its intended results. It usually specifies the project’s inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, indicators (see definitions for these terms below), and any assumptions or risks associated with those activities. It is used to improve the planning, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation of projects and is often requested by funders.

Inputs are the resources needed to implement a particular activity.

 

For example:

It would include things like human resources (team/personnel), funding required, or machinery and equipment.

 

These are the main tasks that need to be completed to achieve the goals of the project. For accelerators and incubators, these might include the running of bootcamps or training programs, the provision of ongoing support/mentorship, the distribution of funds, etc.

These are the direct immediate or short term results associated with an activity. For example, an Accelerator program’s outputs might be: ventures receiving training, ongoing support or funding, These are usually the easiest things to measure as they are in your control, directly related to your activities and can often be counted (e.g. number of programs run or number of ventures supported).

 Outcomes are the next level of results and should reflect the medium term results of the activities. They should directly relate to your end goals, reflecting how the goal will be achieved. 

 

For example:

The intended outcome of your program may be to increase the revenues of the ventures you support in order to achieve your end goal of scaling innovative companies.

These are the long term results of your activities or the end goal or impact you aim to have as an organisation.

 

For example:

If you are an accelerator for social enterprises, your activities may exist to ultimately see poverty reduced. Or if you are a clean energy accelerator, your activities may ultimately exist to reduce climate change.

These are variables that provide a reliable way to measure a change connected to a particular activity or intervention. They are the specific things you aim to measure in order to prove that you have achieved your activities/outputs/outcomes/goals.

 

For example:

An indicator for the end goal of seeing poverty reduced could be: the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions. Or an indicator for the intended outcome to see growth in the startups you work with might be: the number of ventures with increasing revenues, or the number of ventures creating more jobs.

 A measure of the narrative of something rather than something countable. It helps to describe the ‘how’ and ‘why.’

 

For example:

You may ask your board members how valued they feel their opinion and contributions are to the organisation and why they feel this way to understand whether there are differences between genders.

A measure of the number of something – usually a count, ratio or percentage. This kind of data is usually helpful in communicating statistics.

 

For example:

You may measure the number of women,  men and people who identify with other genders on your board to understand the breakdown of gender representation of key decision makers.