The rise of Girl Power: what happened when the Spice Girls generation grew up?

The Spice Girls generation has well and truly grown up. Never before has my news feed been more filled with talk of female equality, female entrepreneurs and more renditions of Frida Kahlo than you can shake your hairbrush (microphone) at. Is that a Frida Barbie doll?

It’s no coincidence that this movement is being triggered by a generation of women who, from the tender age of six, have been spicing up their lives and putting friends before lovers (see you at Wembley in June).

In the past 20 years (sudden realisation of how old I am) we've seen a huge shift in women’s rights, starting more recently with the gender pay gap. But there is still a long way to go. 

According to Mintel, there is still a 7% gender pay gap for women without children. This rises to 21% for women with at least one child however, there is a positive out of all this. Britain comes 3rd for the portion of female managers in Europe (that's not the positive as would suggest there is still a gap in equal pay). Whether that’s down to our amazing ability to multitask or the fact that traditionally, women have been the ones to make the family decisions we don’t know, but what we do know, is this struggle for equality, matched with seniority in the work place has led to a boom in female self-employment. Basically, put us down and we’ll rise right back up through it. 

More women are reviewing their role in the home and in the workplace, increasingly prioritising their career and putting motherhood on the back-burner. Indeed, Mintel’s Lifestyles of Couples Without Children Report found that 27% of 21-44-year-old women in a relationship, but currently without children, have no plans to start a family in the future, with a further 15% unsure. That’s almost half of women not bothered about reproducing the next generation. 

So what are we doing with our lives?

There has been a significant increase in self-employed women as they look to take more control over their work/life balance. This is particularly resonant with mothers needing childcare.

Research from Microsoft Office 365 suggests that young people in the UK are doing better in business start-ups than anyone else, with women under 35 proving the most successful. However, a lack of funds, experience, financial risk, and not knowing where to start are key barriers. Yes barriers, not deterrents.

We’re showing no signs of slowing down with 14% of 25-34-year-old women looking to start their own business in the next three years, compared with the 6% UK average. Between 2011 and 2016, there was a 21% increase in female self-employment compared to an 11% in men and that gap is expected to get even greater by 2021 with a further increase of 22.5% in female self-employment compared to just 8% of males. 

For this generation of aspirational females, experience is the new status symbol. They’re attracted to brands that appear to be different and say something about them as people. It’s what makes events like She Can She Did Mid-Week Mingle so successful - and there are plenty of these events out there. Encouraging women to support one another, learn from each other’s experiences and come away feeling inspired to grab life by the bollocks and achieve your career ambitions.

So think about what you want...what you really, really want, and do it. Reclaim your lunch break, find your purpose, surround yourself with positive vibes and get on with it. 

Who run the world.