Women Entrepreneurs in France

February 10, 2010
Vivek Wadhwa’s article in last week’s BusinessWeek and comments made by Brad Feld on the subject were in the back of my mind when France unveiled yesterday its checklist in addressing the topic of French national identity.

As some of you may be aware, France’s UMP party (which currently holds power) has recently initiated a debate about defining France’s national identity. I will avoid wading into the motivations and arguments on the various sides of the debate, but the national identity checklist started me thinking about the role of female entrepreneurs in France. Below is the checklist as reported in Le Figaro yesterday. Point #5 in particular triggered my thinking:

  1. Creation of a special commission dedicated to the topic of national identity.
  2. Production of a “young citizen’s handbook” for children to carry with them (no it’s not a joke).
  3. Creation of a mandatory day of civic awareness and/or service.
  4. Placement of symbols of the Republic in schools (flags, declaration of the rights of man, annual singing of the Marseillaise).
  5. Education of foreigners on France’s values, notably language and history, and in particular, “Gender equality will be presented as a fundamental value.”
  6. Drafting of a charter of French rights and obligations to which all naturalized citizens must adhere.
As we’re reminded in item 5, equality between men and women is a core value of France. Of course, a quick count of women CEO’s in the top 100 largest French companies, or the 100 most recent VC-funded French startups (you choose), suggests this claim merits substantial debate.

The fact is that this low figure (well under 5% by my estimation) may have far-reaching consequences. “Women are under-represented in all aspects of information technology, and IT entrepreneurship is no exception,” says Lucinda M. Sanders, CEO of the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT). Women are “almost absent in high-level technology positions,” such as chief technology officer and vice-president of research and development, Sanders says. Women hold less than 5% of all IT patents and contribute less than 1.2% of open-source software, she says.

Brad Feld submits that this is more than just a gender equality issue, and I think that in the case of France his assertion also holds true. This is about innovation, competitiveness, and company creation in France too.

As Wadhwa points out, just imagine if a woman were on Apple’s executive team, would the iPad have been given a different name ?

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posted in venture capital by mark

  • M Sorenson

    Very funny – Ipad! :)

    France is always pretty low down in the rankings of womens’ power and position within society. Sarko’s gender equality pt above is a pipe dream at this point.

    I think it’s changing here, but I still get the sense that the french elite (in business and politics which is largely male) still look at women and minorities as being inherently less qualified. This, however, has to change. Women now comprise higher percentages of enrollees in higher education (university level) than men. So, very soon the ‘qualified’ women are going to outnumber the qualified men. What will be the excuse at that point to continue the gender gap? I think there will always be some disparity due to the child care situation (where the majority of the time it seems to be the women doing the heavy lifting). But the difference shouldn’t be as starck as it is today.

    I am involved with some women’s organisations here and I am encouraged that I’m seeing more and more women starting companies, particularly in technology.

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