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Fix the gender diversity gap in entrepreneurship? Focus on supporting female entrepreneurs who are starting a family.

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Sure, there are mentorship programs, female-focused incubators, books and podcasts to 鈥渓ean in鈥� or 鈥渓ean out.鈥� But how about policies supporting parents so they can actually found and grow companies, to ultimately diminish inequities in entrepreneurship.

Did you know the average startup founder is in their? And why are they mostly men? Because by the time a future entrepreneur cuts their teeth, builds the expertise, saves up to bootstrap, they鈥檙e right at the baby-rearing age window. And, by that 鈥渂aby time鈥� (let鈥檚 call it that, say) there are new choices that need to be made by women.

Women don鈥檛 have to make the same choices and considerations as men when deciding to start a family, I don鈥檛 care what you say.

How do I know? Because I鈥檓 doing it right now as a founder of a and a parent of a 3-year-old and 3-week-old, and it鈥檚 freaking hard. To prove it, I鈥檓 actually writing this in the old-fashioned way, by the sole 鈥渃andlelight鈥� on my cell phone in the Google Docs app, while feeding my daughter at 4 a.m.

Female-founded startups are not just a good thing to do in practice, they also deliver better financial outcomes. and have all done studies on it: Investing in women isn鈥檛 philanthropy, it is good business sense. We know that diversity within an organization is associated with,,, and.

As someone who works with some of the most brilliant student entrepreneurs around as the Program Lead of , I know that it鈥檚 not that women in college or right out of university can鈥檛 be entrepreneurs (in fact that鈥檚 a whole other topic that I believe in strongly 鈥� check out my testimony at the Small Business Committee in Congress), it鈥檚 that you increase probability of success when you have someone with experience, access to customers/networks/capital, and the confidence to tackle it.

However, the issue is that there are not enough policies and systems in place to help support women thriving as an entrepreneur once they start having kids, so the reality is that women don鈥檛 get over the initial hurdle of founding a company.

Stroll with me:

• 鈥淟et鈥檚 get pregnant鈥�: This is not a magical time for most people. It certainly does not happen overnight. It took me almost 1.5 years to get pregnant with my second kid 鈥� oh, and I had an early pregnancy loss on my birthday while trying to found our company. Which life event should an entrepreneur focus on?
• 鈥淗ooray! I鈥檓 pregnant鈥�: Indeed, I was ecstatic, but now begins the 鈥減owering through鈥� stage. During the first trimester, there is nausea and pain, in addition to the chaos of another child, if you have one. I will forever remember frantically tossing my daughter to daycare just in time for an important meeting and a quick vomit behind my car. Male counterparts have a major leg-up: sleep, caffeine and lack of nausea.
• 鈥淟et鈥檚 stay pregnant鈥�: While the second trimester gets easier, the third trimester is brutal. No matter how supportive anyone is, that there is tremendous unconscious bias during this period. I pitched investors both incredibly pregnant and fearful of losing the deal. I wanted to win them over while diverting focus from the bump. The last three to four weeks of pregnancy are a toss up: you don’t know when your baby is coming and are uncomfortable physically. In a startup, three to four weeks is like a century, however, because every day counts.
• 鈥淲elcome baby鈥�: Goodness, society really fails women entrepreneurs here. How the heck are we supposed to tackle this one? You want to take parental leave, but this is impossible as a small startup. We need a federal paid leave policy to help offset some of the costs and be able to afford to temporarily backfill without using precious investor dollars.

There are tremendous positives for starting a company as a new parent, many of which many employees only dream of in more 鈥渢raditional鈥� roles. As a startup founder, you:

• Are the boss;
• Set your schedule;
• Can work where you want;
• Follow your passion; and
• Make an impact: are more apt to pursue businesses to satisfy societal issues.

All of these roles allow women to get back to work how they see fit, and also grow their company to create jobs, and then give back to those families that are engendering the growth of our economy, population and workforce.

This country deserves more, should do more, and can do more. Let’s support women and babies with paid parental leave and universal childcare support, which are both articulated in the American Families Plan proposed by the Biden administration.

If we want to increase the number of female entrepreneurs, this is the way to do it. If we want to tackle large societal issues with more financial success and jobs for our nation鈥檚 economy, let鈥檚 better support and take advantage of half of our population.

Andrea Ippolito is founder of , and a leader in entrepreneurship and health tech. She is also the program lead of, and

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