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Marjorie Taylor Greene's temporary Twitter account lock was a great start, but more needs to be done

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 5: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on February 5, 2021 in Washington, DC. The House voted 230 to 199 on Friday evening to remove Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) from committee assignments over her remarks about QAnon and other conspiracy theories.
Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Marjorie Taylor Greene often expresses questionable opinions within government. From religion to QAnon conspiracies, she doesn't hold back from giving her two cents, even if it is offensive to large groups of people.

As a result, her personal Twitter account was temporarily locked on Friday morning Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Ca.) among other Democrats moved to expel her from Congress, although the move might be unlikely to succeed because 72 Democratic lawmakers have signed on, but no Republicans.

In the past, when it came to QAnon claims, 11 House Republicans voted to remove her from the committee.

Ms. Greene said she was temporarily barred from tweeting, retweeting, or liking posts from her personal account. Later on in the day, a spokesperson for Twitter told The Hill the following: "In this case, our automated systems took enforcement action on the account referenced in error. This action has been reversed, and access to the account has been reinstated."

Her temporary lock seems to make sense for the rhetoric she spews, so reinstating her account seems a little fast.

In late February, Ms. Greene is under fire for yet another offensive incident. Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL-3) hung a transgender pride flag due to Ms. Greene's opposition to the LGBTQ rights bill. Ms. Greene, who is right across the hall from Ms. Newman, ended up placing a sign outside her office mocking Ms. Newman.

Ms. Newman, who has a transgender daughter, posted a video of herself putting up the flag after saying that Ms. Greene tried to block the Equality Act (titled H.R.5) because she believes that something to help discrimination against Trans Americans is "disgusting, immoral, and evil."

"Thought we'd put up our Transgender flag so she can look at it every time she opens her door, Ms. Newman tweeted.

Way to go, Ms. Newman!

The Equality Act, which is co-sponsored by Rep. David N. Cicilline ( D-RI-I), is set to prohibit discrimination on sex, sexuality, gender identity, sexual orientation, and much more.

In response to Ms. Newman's tweet, Ms. Greene put a sign outside of her office that said, "There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE. "Trust The Science.""

READ: From trying to impeach Biden to harassing people, Marjorie Taylor Greene is back at it again

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Ms. Greene attempted to block the Equality Act, which has now been passed in the House.

After Ms. Newman hung the flag and tweeted her post, Ms. Greene posted a video of Ms. Newman speaking on the House floor in support of the legislation earlier in the week. Ms. Newman's caption read as the following: "I'm voting to pass the Equality Act for my daughter — the strongest, bravest person I know."

Ms. Greene said this in response: "As mothers, we all love and support our children. But your biological son does NOT belong in my daughters' bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams."

I can't believe this needs to be said, but this is not an appropriate thing to say to someone.

To add insult to injury, Ms. Greene posted a video of herself putting up the sign, which was similar to Ms. Newman's tweet down to specific emoji choices.

"Our neighbor @RepMarieNewman, wants to pass the so-called "Equality" Act to destroy women's rights and religious freedoms, said Ms.Greene. "Thought we'd put up ours so she can look at it every time she opens her door."

Fellow lawmakers from both sides banded together in support of Newman, going as far as to apologize for Ms.Greene's unacceptable behavior when it should be her doing it.

"This is sad, and I'm sorry this happened. Rep. Newman's daughter is transgender, and this video and tweet represents the hate and fame driven politics of self-promotion at all evil costs. This garbage must end, in order to #RestoreOurGOP," said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL-14).

Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio -Cortez (D-NY-14) weighed in on the issue.

You could just vote "no" instead of trying to get out of work early, said Ms. Ocasio-Cortez. "And you should probably stop using these hashtags because women's rights include trans women."

All in all, we need more compassion and understanding in the world. Just because someone may be different from what you are used to or believe doesn't mean that they aren't all human beings that deserve to be treated with the same amount of fairness and integrity.

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Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases

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.