Dismantling systemic barriers in business
The economic benefits of diversity in business are clear. Research indicates that companies with diverse teams are 70% more likely to capture more markets and make more profits. Despite this, while 70% of companies claim to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, only 20% of employees report meaningful workplace changes.
To combat this, the DGBS program aims to leverage the power of entrepreneurship, empowering founders to create radically different businesses that put equity at the forefront from day one.
Join the community of change-makers
The DGBS program disrupts the status quo of business head-on through learning from the lived experiences of Canadian feminist entrepreneurs, engaging in norm deconstruction, and participating in collaborative visioning for the feminist economy of the future.
We're looking for 15-20 incredible women or gender-diverse founders to participate in 9 weeks of Disrupting Gender Bias in Startups programming
The best part?
With the generous support of WAGE, the program will be made available free of charge!
Eligibility
The Disrupting Gender Bias in Startups program will offer Feminist entrepreneurship education to tech leaders, equipping founders to dismantle systemic barriers faced by women and gender-diverse individuals in the workplace and beyond.
To join the DGBS program, you must meet the following requirements:
- Be a woman, woman-identifying, and/or gender diverse founder in any industry
- Can commit to attending 80% of weekly in-person meetings from 9:30am-12:30pm at the AC on October 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and November 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th
If the in-person aspect of this course is a barrier you can still register and indicate this on your form – if enough people request this accommodation, we will explore possible solutions.
Program outline
Participants will explore how entrepreneurship can be approached from a Feminist lens. Feminist values impact how we understand ourselves, how we treat employees, contractors, and partnerships, and how we engage with our external community as a business entity. Key Topics include:
- Feminism 101
- Gender and Labour
- Radical Self and Collective Care
- Policy Shortcomings
- Culture Creation
- Activism and Advocacy
Learning objectives for DGBS are as follows:
- Integrating Feminist learnings into entrepreneurial goals
- Critically assessing personal impacts of traditional workplace environments
- Deconstructing societal value systems of profit over people towards replacing with people over profit
- Understanding how traditional workplaces stagnate gender liberation
- Engaging in collaborative imaginations towards gender equitable workplace environments
Testimonials
I highly recommend this program to business leaders who are committed to creating real change in their communities through entrepreneurship, especially those daring to lead differently and ethically. Because sometimes, all it takes is one person to spark a movement. Shreyonshi Bharat Mishra
This program helped me become much more comfortable learning new language, academic language, and everyday language that is very useful in the workplace and follows healthy and inclusive feminist principles. As a result, we’ve had several successful outcomes for my business, and we became much more comfortable with inclusive practices that were being adopted. Francis Coral Mellon
Acknowledgment of funding
This project has been funded through Women and Gender Equality Canada's Women's Program.
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