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Am I a bigot? How one political conversation made me think so

January 26, 2021
Photo by Jannes Van den wouwer on Unsplash
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It started on Christmas Day, at the dinner table. The conversation drifted into dangerous waters - Brexit. A pleasant chat swiftly deteriorated into the inevitable row, and for a few short minutes, the season of goodwill was out the window with the scraps for the birds. Decorum was quickly restored and the incident glossed over. But it still persists three weeks on.

The spat, blessedly brief as it was, revealed a dichotomy that goes to the heart of who we are. Close family with whom we share values, history and love, utterly divided by political perception and both incapable of seeing the viewpoint of the other. The present-day U.K. or the U.S. in miniature.

Cards on the table, I am a middle-aged, middle class white university-educated Labor-supporting remainer. Only the fact I am a Northerner possibly saves me from cliché. My mother and aunt, both born during the war, are good shire Tories and Leavers. Their holy grail is sovereignty, mine economics. They think they have 'got their country back', I believe I have lost mine.

It's easy to dismiss them as xenophobic little Englanders, looking back to a country that never existed and to my shame, I have.

Does this make me the bigot?

I have grown up with the EU, have seen us go in my lifetime from the 'sick man of Europe' to a prosperous, vibrant, and open country. I have accepted the shift of power to Brussels, and freedom of movement as part and parcel of membership of something bigger than the U.K. that in my perception brought significant benefit economically. What I haven't done is given any consideration to those who can't see a benefit.

For those who see their earning capacity as being reduced by the free movement of labour. For those who see money flowing out which could be spent at home. Or, for those who see the loss of control of our laws, borders as a diminution of a proud sovereign state. These are genuine concerns, does my failure to give regard to, or let's be honest, even notice them, make me the bigot here?

READ: In a post-Brexit world, who will win and lose from each new trade agreement

In a post-Brexit world, who will win and lose from each new trade agreement?conversations.indy100.com


UK traders or financial service providers may benefit, but how do we redistribute profits from the winners to individuals and communities who lose their jobs and local industries?

So, am I a bigot? The dictionary definition is: 'A person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic towards a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.'

This is uncomfortable reading for me.

I have refused to accept the validity of the Brexit vote, dismissing it as a two-finger salute to the political elite, fueled by opportunists and charlatans. I have regarded Leavers as old, uneducated, and xenophobic. Furthermore, I have experienced a tingle of schadenfreude, with the difficulties being exhibited in exporting since December 31, 2020. So yes, I'd say that meets the definition.

I may regard myself as on the side of the angels, but that is simply not the case.

This has been cathartic to write and has forced me to consider the Leavers' arguments. It may appear self-flagellating, but that's not how I perceive it. What it has done is lanced some poison in my mind caused by the great Brexit schism. That poison can still be seen in our politics and media, and yet more so in the U.S., where it has become deadly and appears likely to remain the driver of politics, potentially until 2024.

Do I believe leaving the EU was the right thing? No. Would I like to see us back in? Absolutely. However, the decision to leave was democracy in action, we are now out and have to make it work. Will we go back in? Yes, I believe so, but not until the concerns of the leavers are understood and addressed and there is the will from a significant majority of the populace for that to happen.

This assumes that the EU has a willingness to readmit a country that was only ever a semi-detached member. There is also the question of what the UK looks like in 10 years. We may no longer include Scotland or Northern Ireland, but that's a different discussion...

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Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases
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Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.