Have you heard the term “Lipstick Entrepreneur”? It is meant 
to mean an independent business woman. Recently this term has been coined in UK papers like the Times, and the Telegraph. UK papers are in love with snappy headlines, but I take a bit of offense to this sexist name.
Historically when economies were poor, lipstick sales increased as an affordable luxury. At first I thought Lipstick Entrepreneur was about this phenomenon. I was dead wrong. This term is used in all seriousness to explain the increase of women entrepreneurs when world economies are depressed. Even the UK Financial Times had a headline “Recession Spurs Rise of Lipstick Entrepreneur”.
I take offense that women risking to start their own businesses in the face of a poor economy are diminished by the expression ‘Lipstick Entrepreneur’. Are men entrepreneurs called ‘Cigar Entrepreneurs’? Of course not! Men and women should be praised for their entrepreneurial endeavors, especially in a tough economy. Adding local jobs, adding taxes, local, state and federal are just some of the positive advantages that entrepreneurs give to the economy.
I am a proud lipstick entrepreneur, but not because I like the snappy title. I am just proud to be a woman entrepreneur, an independent business woman, and a menopausal entrepreneur to boot!
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Didn’t you get the mail? Women business owners are simply indulging in their little hobbies–”things’ll be back to normal as soon as we finish off those Nazis and them and bring our boys home. Get that little lady back in the kitchen where she belongs.”
We’ve come a long way baby–not! The first time I heard the pejorative “lipstick” was in reference to feminine(?) lesbians, then to a short-livied television series “Lipstick Jungle,” the story of three of New York City’s 50 most powerful women, and now this.
Next Labor Day we should gather to dump tons of lipsticks at the headquarters of these demeaning newspapers and networks.
Rosie would be proud.
You are right. What was I thinking!
This is another one of those cases where there are entrepreneurs, and then there are women entrepreneurs. Business executives, and women executives. Women can’t possibly just be part of the whole, rather than a quirky subset, in this mindset.
I’m with you on this! I also am not crazy about all the cute terms like Mompreneur, Webpreneur, Femmepreneur. Even worse is the implication that being an entrepreneur is the path of last resort. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This is the road to inspired livelihood.
Barbara, I love what you said, ” Inspired Livelihood”! That is fantastic. May I use that?
If people really find it necessary to mention the gender of the businessperson why not use “entrepreneuse?”
The insecure, stuck in cube folks (men and women) will always find ways to belittle with labels those that follow their dreams and succeed. Just plain ole ‘sour grapes’.
Be careful – don’t be guilty of doing the same thing you assume ”they” [cube folks] are doing. Isn’t it usually said that the things which bother us most in others are the things we are fighting or maybe giving into – ourselves? Let’s don’t hang everyone – some of those “cube folks” may be on the way to starting their own businesses. Sour grape come in a lot of different forms.
I am a 50ish woman, both a mom and an Entrepreneur. I own 2 full time businesses. One is a Curves and the other a very successfull company that sells product all over the world (Discovery Trekking Outfitters (DTO)) I started DTO as a home based business. I was scorned when I developed our line of ultra-fast dry towels (until I sold the first 10,000) and “hot flash” bedding & sleepwear…. But, even though our innovative products have been featured in dozens of magazines, I still get called both a lipstick entrepreneur and/or a Mompreneur.
I have given up worrying about the label. The large companies I deal with don’t refer to me as this…it’s just the people that talk about me that occasionally use the label. As a women, we need to focus on the goal rather than the people who are watching you attain the goal. Most gutsy entrepreneurs are women. We have to be risk takers…and I happen to be so busy making this work that I sure don’t have time to wear lipstick!!
Not proven, but I believe lipstick, the gycerin in lipstick, is the real reason women live longer than men. We lick it off, reapply and over the years that glyercin is making our arteries slicker and we live longer. So be sure to wear that lipstick!
Love your attitude!
when i saw the phrase i thought it was a person selling lipstick. duhhh!
Well, on the upside of this, women whose target market is other women are already branded!
But I don’t mean to minimize the sexism here–it is real. But let me say it like this: there are many, many incredibly successful female entrepreneurs who grasped this concept and turned it into a positive by working with, mentoring, and helping other women reach their goals as well.
Kind of a “if you can’t beat em, join em” philosophy. I love working with women who are our age. We have developed intelligence, wisdom, and humor after living with this exact thing.
I say “Embrace it” and use it to your advantage because it isn’t going away any time soon.
Kathleen Sullivan, The Savvy VA
http://thesavvyva.com
It is rather unsettling to one’s sense of accomplishment when having to answer to “How does it feel being a woman and doing what you’ve done?” My answer, “The same as it has felt for me for as long as I’ve accepted the fact that I can and will go after my dreams.” It’s kind of a non-question, that we’re spending too much time answering, because we’re so used to commercializing so much.
Wouldn’t it be ridiculous to say to a man, “How does it feel being a man and running the business of your dreams? Hunh? blah, blah, blah…” We are, we act on what we want and we do or do not achieve our goals.” I’m glad to be at that point, knowing that I can go after something, no matter who I am. It’s more about me believing in me, than justifying my existance to someone else who may or may not in their own habitat.
Look at the director of the “Hurt Locker.” Great movie! Right?! It gave me a headache, but I willingly suffered through every minute of it. I had no idea who the director was. I knew that it was a good film, and that was based on the action of the film. (It’s kind of like the people who like to know how old someone is, what does it really matter? When people try to go there with me, I gracefully attempt to inform them of how even with the youngest or oldest individual, it’s not just their age that gives them status in life. It is their wit, their experience, their compassion—or the lack there-of.
Blah, Blah, Blah… Actions speak louder than categories …!!!
Thank you VN.
… and BTW, I’m not a non-traditional student, I’m a now-traditional. Whatever!
Ciao