Parliament: The Brutal Truth About Women-Owned Businesses.

Buckle up. We're about to shatter some illusions about the state of women in business. If you're comfortable, you're not paying attention.

The Ugly Numbers

80% of women-owned businesses gross less than $100k annually.
Only 1.7% ever break the million-dollar ceiling.

Feeling uncomfortable yet? Good. Let's dig deeper.

The Triple Whammy: Why Women-Owned Businesses Are Suffocating

1. The Home Front: The Unpaid Second Shift

While we're busy patting ourselves on the back for "work-life balance," here's the truth:

Women are working a second unpaid shift at home, logging 4.5 hours of domestic labor daily compared to men's 2.5.
Over half of women business owners cite work-life balance as their top challenge.

Translation: Women are expected to be CEOs by day and house managers by night. A very unsung hero of the male CEO is often his stay-at-home wife.

While 55% of male executives have stay at home partners, only 12% of women executives do.

Why does this matter?

Claudia Goldin, the Nobel prize-winning economist articulated this situation perfectly when she said “Women don’t pull back at work because they have rich husbands, women have rich husbands because they pull back at work.”

I have seen this dynamic in my own family. Three years ago, my husband, a professional engineer, started working part-time so that he could take the lead within our home which includes three children, then ages 2 - 10. That year my income rose by about 25%.

This year, my husband and I decided for him to stay home completely to focus on our family and our real estate business.

I expect my income to rise again and to stay on that trajectory. His role in our family and my business cannot be understated. It is only through his support both emotionally and logistically that we can have the family we strive for and I can focus my attention on moving the needle for us financially.

This arrangement isn’t a good fit for everyone, and if my husband wanted to continue working outside the home, I would support him 100%, but the impact of a non-income earning spouse cannot be denied on the earning potential of the breadwinner.

2. The Funding Farce: "Equal Opportunity" Is a Joke
VCs and banks love to tout their diversity initiatives. Here's what they don't advertise:

A laughable 2.3% of VC funding went to women-led startups in 2020.
Women are 32% less likely to get loans than men, even with better credit scores.

Without funding opportunities, many women are forced to grow gradually or without safety nets, which continues the vicious cycle of what appears to be “playing small.”

(Not to mention the struggle to gain support within your own household from a spouse who may be confronted with their own biases against a female breadwinner, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives anyone?)

3. The "Play Small" Plague: Internalized Oppression at Its Finest

Society has done a bang-up job convincing women they don't belong at the top:

75% of executive women admit to feeling like impostors.
Women consistently undervalue their worth, lowballing salary expectations and company valuations.

We've programmed women to apologize for their ambition. And then we wonder why they're not "leaning in" hard enough.

The Uncomfortable Truth

We don't need more "lean in" pep talks or pink-washed empowerment seminars. We need a complete dismantling of a system that was never built for women to succeed in the first place.

Here are some ways our small agency puts the experience of women at the forefront of our policies and benefits.

Starting here is a great place to bring a “female-forward” approach to business ownership and collaboration, whether they’re employed within your company or they’re starting their own.

Core collaboration hours of 9am - 2pm
Work from home, meeting free, Fridays
12 weeks of maternity leave paid at 70%
Bring your baby to work for the first year after birth
50% of all mental health paid
Life support : our program to help you buy back your time and get support at home. We reimburse employees up to $250/month for anything that allows them to buy back their time, house cleaning, dog walking, meal prep etc.
For the first time this year, a daycare partnership: We pay 50% of your daycare expenses at our partner preschool, Windsor Street Montessori (ages 18 months to 6)
- (the cost of daycare now exceeds the cost of a mortgage in all 50 states)

Artwork by Nya McClain, article by Senior Art Director, Bri Thomas

As we approach 2025, we're moving beyond minimalism to a new frontier: hyper-minimalism. Think single-color designs and ultra-simplified logos. Think: Brat Summer. Brands are asking, "How little can we use to make a big impact?" Hyper-minimalism takes the "less is more" philosophy to its extreme. It's characterized by:

Monochromatic color schemes, often using a single bold color
Ultra-simplified logos and icons, reduced to their most basic forms
Extensive use of negative space
Typography-focused designs with minimal additional elements
Removal of all non-essential design elements

(this image is not sanctioned by KGB who HATES Brat and is too old to get it)

It's a reaction to the visual overload we experience daily and a way for brands to stand out by standing back. We can thank Charli XCX for bringing this to the mainstream, and we aren't sure how we feel about it. Here at Hoot, our team is torn. As we move forward, expect to see more brands experimenting with hyper-minimalist approaches, pushing the boundaries of how little they can use to make a lasting impression. Sometimes the loudest statement is made through extreme simplicity.

The Upcoming Hot Take: The most successful designers of 2025 won't be those with the best technical skills, but those who can navigate the ethical implications of AI.