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As we celebrate Women's History Month, we remember the powerhouse that was Shirley Chisholm

February 12, 2021
circa 1970: Portrait of U.S. congresswoman Shirley Chisholm wearing a striped suit and cat's-eye glasses, holding a copy of The Congressional Record, and smiling.
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Sandra Salathe
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Indy100-Conversations

As we celebrate Women's History Month, we'd be foolish not to remember the powerhouse that was Shirley Chisholm. Before Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Stacey Abrams, and Kamala Harris; there was Shirley. While many are familiar with Chisholm being the first African American to run for President of the United States, she's accomplished much more than that.

In fact, many would say Chisholm was among the first women to shatter the elusive glass ceiling, paving the way for a new generation of women to make their mark.

In 2021, it's routine - if not encouraged - for women to run for office. In 1972, it was remarkable. Having a woman run for President wasn't a part of the societal norms we're familiar with seeing today. It was a different era when a woman's worth was measured by how quickly she could fold her husband's laundry.

(Insert dramatic eye roll here.)

But to have a Black woman run for president? That immediately changed the political landscape.

Born Shirley Anita St. Hill in Brooklyn, New York in 1924, Chisholm displayed a natural talent for academics and activism from an early age. While studying at Brooklyn College, Chisholm advocated for women to run for student government, and petitioned for an African American history curriculum. Without realizing it, Chisholm was laying the groundwork for her political future.

After graduating from Brooklyn College in 1946, Chisholm attended Columbia University's Teachers College, where she received her master's degree in elementary education in 1952. One year later, Chisholm officially began her political career, campaigning for Lewis Flagg Jr. to become Brooklyn's first Black judge.

READ: As we celebrate Black History Month, we cannot forget about the legacy of Coretta Scott King

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Like her husband, Coretta Scott King was a visionary to be reckoned with, championing for justice and equality long after her husband was gone

While campaigning for Flagg Jr., Chisholm fought for economic empowerment and civil rights through her involvement with the Belford-Stuyvesant Political League. Continuing her advocacy towards gender and racial equality, Chisholm participated in the League of Women Voters, the Brooklyn Democratic Clubs, and the Unity Democratic Club.

With enough time spent immersing herself within the Brooklyn political scene, Chisholm decided to run for the New York State Assembly in 1964. Shortly after, Chisholm won a seat in New York's 12th congressional district, becoming the first Black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Earning the nickname "Fighting Shirley," Chisholm was an active House member, introducing more than 50 pieces of legislation catering to racial and gender equality, the plight of the poor, and ending the Vietnam War.

In 1971, Chisholm became co-founder of the National Women's Political Caucus, and became the first Black woman and second woman ever to serve on the House Rules Committee in 1977. In addition, Chisholm was a staunch pioneer for reproductive rights. In 1969, she was named the honorary co-president of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL), became a co-founder ofthe National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1970, and co-founded African American Women for Reproductive Freedom when she retired from Congress in 1990.

Chisholm also co-founded the National Congress of Black Women.

As inspiring as Chisholm's story is, it isn't exempt from discrimination. Because with every successful woman, there's bound to be a flock of threatened, insecure men not far behind. While campaigning for the 1972 Democratic Party presidential nomination, Chisholm was banned from participating in televised primary debates and was permitted to make just one speech.

In 2015, ten years after her death, former President Barack Obama awarded Chisholm the Presidential Medal of Freedom. There's no denying Chisholm laid the foundation for women to succeed in a predominately male universe. She provided a space for women to be their authentic selves and championed a future where they could thrive unapologetically.

In 1972 Chisholm was quoted saying, "I want history to remember me not as the first Black woman to run for the presidency, but as a Black woman who lived in the 20th century and dared to be herself."

It's safe to say Chisholm accomplished exactly that.

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Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases
Photo by Christina @ wocintechchat.com on Unsplash

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.