2 women entrepreneurs who invented a fake male cofounder say acting through him was 'like night and day'

[MonsteraCheeseplant]

www.businessinsider.com.au/witchsy-founders-created-fictional-male-cofounder-2017-8?amp&r=US&IR=T

Eugh that this happens.
How could this be addressed though? Obviously acting as a bloke is a means to an end, it's not going to change anything but I am a bit mystified about how we could get the respect and treatment we deserve in business.

I've seen this before when a husband and wife business swapped emails for the day.

I really don't know how we tackle this. It feels like we're going backwards.

so depressing but I would try the same thing if I set up my own business. kind of wish I could do it at work (male dominated industry)

This reminds me of a very funny radio 4 skit by Anneka Rice where she pretended she was her own agent.

Isn’t this the plot of Remington Steele (1982)? Where Pierce Brosnan turns up and tries to assume the boss identity?

@OneEpisode, my very first thought!

It’s often said on here that we are living in a dystopian great novel, or involuntary participating in someone else’s porn-soaked fantasy, but maybe also in something heavily influenced by biggish budget tv?

Am surprised that anyone is surprised. This is literally life as a woman 365.

Our opinions and ideas don't count, unless we pretend they come from Keith.

Oh I'm not surprised sadly

justanotherneighinparadise I think Anneka actually did that in real life!

I found lots of analysis on the Mathematical ingredients of the “gender” paygap from listening to this (gimmicky sometimes, obvs capitalist. American) podcast. This includes a name swapping exercise with predictable results.
freakonomics.com/podcast/gender-barriers/
Not the episode I was looking for.

The one I was looking for was a venture capital conference where entrepreneurs are trying to raise capital from VCs attending. Females answered the questions in the face2face meetings just as well but they got less money from the potential investors because they were asked slightly different questions. They were asked more “downside” questions. What happens if this goes wrong, etc. The males were asked more “Upside” questions. What’s the max market share & etc.
So investors finished the meeting with more “upside” answers from the men, and gave them more cash.

The conference recorded all the meetings and a researcher computerised and analysed the results.

Wow that's subtle! Amazing analysis, definitely not something I could have guessed. Thanks for sharing!

Couldn't be less surprised. Glad it's received coverage.

This thread gives me a chance to plug the series we've just finished watching, Halt and Catch Fire. It's probably not obvious in the first season, but it's got some good stuff on women entrepreneurs/women in 'tech'. Passes the Bechedel test easily.

Where can you find it @ErrolTheDragon?

I think it's Amazon Prime

i'll have a look thanks

I second Halt and Catch Fire. Really excellent observation about the differences for men and women in the same industry.

Another recommendation for Halt and Catch Fire. Do seek it out!

Parallels to the identify as men thread

@justanotherneighinparadise

This reminds me of a very funny radio 4 skit by Anneka Rice where she pretended she was her own agent.

I don’t think that was a joke

It's very pervasive I pay a lot of online cooperative games..... under my dh's name. It annoys the fuck out of me to do it but other players thinking you're male gives you so much more scope. I usually out myself after a while and often try to work out who else is secretly female then we generally team up.

Another one Halt and catch fire- it’s really really good - so underrated...

This doesn't surprise me, at all. But I think it will surprise a lot of people. And I think it's exactly the sort of thing we can share around without getting an avalanche of 'check your priviedge or TERF' comments from people who actually think feminism is pointless because women already have it all - I'm shocked how many people, many of them women, genuinely believe that. If you start from that view point any time we don't just 'shove up' sounds mean.

I've recently pivoted my consultancy business from a very female industry to add a specialism which is a very male dominated space and this has been one of my main 'threats' depressingly.

People won't give me the authority and weight my qualifications should deserve because I am female.

Fucking depressing.

Maybe I need a Geoff to join me