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Sesame Street is finally showcasing Black muppets - it's about time

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 30: Muppets attend the Sesame Street Workshop 10th Annual Benefit Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street on May 30, 2012 in New York City.
Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

For the nearly 50 years PBS's Sesame Street has been on air, there has been nothing but education and words of wisdom delivered to children through the iconic and lovable muppets such as Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird, Elmo, and even the Cookie Monster.

As the new thought processes came to light, the show didn't hesitate to address and develop many important cultural events such as diversity, inclusivity and homelessness, which is fantastic for children to gain awareness.

Additionally, the highly esteemed children's show is now focusing on the concept of racial literacy in their new special titled The ABC's of Racial Literacy. It also debuted two new Black muppets named Elijah and Wes.

The father and son duo are the latest members of the Sesame Street neighborhood. In the latest episode, they embark on a journey to teach children about racial literacy and detailing what it's all about.

The controversial things about Dr. Seuss that took me by surpriseconversations.indy100.com

The episode features Elmo examining leaves and seeing that one is red, comparing it to himself, and then noticing that another leaf is brown.

Elmo then innocently asks why Wes and Elijah's skin is brown, which brings up the topic of skin color being produced by melanin. They also go into details of race in this special, which I feel was thoughtful to discuss.

I wish more things like this were around when I was a little girl to help build perspective about various people.

In a statement, Sesame Workshop's Senior Vice President, Dr. Jeanette Betancourt, detailed that they delved into this project because they felt it was essential to open up a dialogue about race to children.

"At Sesame Workshop, we look at every issue through the lens of a child. Children are not colorblind — not only do they first notice differences in race in infancy, but they also start forming their own sense of identity at a very young age," Dr. Betancourt said in the statement.

"By encouraging these much-needed conversations through Coming Together, we can help children build a positive sense of identity and value the identities of others."

How sweet!

Overall, it's groundbreaking to see Sesame Street teaching children and anybody willing to listen and embrace the world's differences.

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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.