Our understanding of the challenges women face in the startup ecosystem is limited.
Past research has focused on overtnegative sexist attitudes that question womens competence and suitability for entrepreneurship.
Unlike overtly hostile forms of discrimination, benevolent sexism manifests in seemingly harmless beliefs.
The startup ecosystem is particularly fertile ground for this kind of sexism to manifest and worsen over time.
This, in turn, gives room for more subtle forms of bias to emerge.
We did not expect their evaluation of mens startups to be affected at all.
Benevolent sexism often portrays women as delicate or in need of protection, while men are positioned as the providers and protectors.
Both entrepreneurs in our scenarios had identical qualifications and startup ideas.
There was no impact on the evaluation of women-led startups.
Addressing unwarranted advantages
Our findings call for a fundamental rethinking of what attaining true equity entails.
This suggests that common solutions for addressing gender inequities are not sufficient.
They mostly focus on barriers that women face, while ignoring the unwarranted advantages afforded to men.
Such common solutions include focus onwomens education, mentoring and networking.
This could be done through education and training of entrepreneurs, mentors and investors.
Such interventions could communicate to these stakeholders that while benevolent sexism seems positive it is actually harmful.
Further, we need to redesign the startup evaluation process.
The current ambiguous and unstructured conditions of startups allow subtle biases to emerge.
To address this issue, we need clearly defined and transparent criteria for evaluating startups.
Many interventions suggest that women need to change.
For example, women are advised tochange their communication and negotiation styles.
They are also advised to venture into moremasculine and higher profile industries.
Such advice overlooks the advantages men receive.
This callsfor fixing the system rather than fixing women.
