The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is Accelerate Action because we know that, at the current rate of change, it is likely to take five generations before we see complete gender parity, meaning that – despite the best of intentions – most workplaces and organisations will continue to fail women for more than a century.

But the women stepping outside of these traditional workspaces and starting up businesses of their own are taking that theme and really running with it.

From building your side hustle, pursuing your true passion or going it alone in an area that you have more years of expertise in than most and the drive to make it matter, women are seeking the opportunity to rewrite the narratives about what is possible for them and redefine measures of success in a way that better reflects our own lived experiences.

Women are action takers at heart. And those women who are bold enough to build their own businesses (and there are more and more of them year on year!) might just have unlocked the secret to speeding up how we get to a society where there truly is equality – both inside and outside of the world of work.

Why now? Why we are seeing increasing numbers of female startups

Many women find themselves on the entrepreneurial journey after feeling forced out of the workplace once they started a family or frustrated by the options to progress that are open to them. And, when I begin working with the women who join me for coaching or mentoring and I ask them why their business matters to them, this is often the driving force.

Whilst, yes, there have always been ambitious women out there building innovative businesses in some form or another, there really has been a notable shift in the way in which many of us see this route as an available option.

The heady days of the 90s when we were led to believe we can ‘have it all’ are behind us because we can see that whilst, yes, we can work in any field and receive the recognition for our efforts, there is usually a greater cost to us somewhere. And, if we are going to have to compromise, we want to choose what that looks like.

And that choice is where the real change is occurring.

Women are choosing to drop the balls that bounce and step away from the juggle so that they can prioritise a life that looks like the version of success that they would actually want. Yes, this might look like working 10am - 2pm so they can be present on the school run but, equally, it might look like doubling their corporate salary without ever having to abide by a dress code or stand on a train platform at 6:30am.

How building a business creates gender equality

But, for these women and, in fact, society at large, this change in the way women are working is creating the real change that could look like complete gender equality.

Everything about the process of becoming a business owner – from developing the self trust to take greater risks to creating financial ecosystems that empower others – is setting women up for the sort of equality that we have been told isn't possible for us just yet.

Whilst women have always had the skills to be ‘successful’ in the traditional sense of the word, this is about opportunity. And the women I work with who are building the businesses that will change their lives are creating just this.

Yes, they are putting into practice the areas of expertise they have previously trained in when they are going it alone, but they are also upskilling in areas from financial management to marketing in order to see their businesses thrive. Instead of waiting for the perfect opportunity to arise or the permission from someone senior to take on a new initiative, building your own business requires you to act to drive things forward even when you don’t feel ready or capable.

But there is more to this too. For so many women, building their business is the personal development journey they didn’t know they wanted and, in doing everything it takes to start up and scale the business they are building, they are actually shifting their identity in big, powerful ways. This self development work is the secret to rewriting the societal conditioning about what it means to be a woman in the world on a broader scale too. The online space has become a place where female business owners are visible at every stage of their journey. So, whether it is someone putting out their first Live with an idea for a product they think could change the world or someone celebrating securing outside investment, others are able to see a place for them within the entrepreneurial world.

But, possibly most importantly, female business owners don’t ever question – consciously or unconsciously – working with other women in business. This means that there is a growing ecosystem of women supporting other women by actively choosing to work with female led businesses. And, when it comes to accelerating the rate at which we achieve gender parity, this might be the key factor in pressing fast forward.

We are choosing to remove the systematic barriers in place in regards to the strategies, resources and opportunities available to us with work that also feels fulfilling whilst simultaneously challenging the stories about what is possible for us in the future. And, this International Women’s Day, I am sure that you will see this in action in ways big and small but, I also believe that, when it comes to women changing the face of what work can look like, this is just the start!