Do women still need role models in business?

I was talking earlier this week with Vanessa Boon about the way in which female business owners are portrayed in the media and about the extent to which this is helpful or otherwise in encouraging women to see enterprise as an achievable ambition.

Few doubt the power of role models to present options and opportunities to people who might not otherwise consider them but what is the best way to approach this?

On the upside, there is undoubtedly greater representation of women in business in the media than there once was but this can be spoiled somewhat by an insistence on mentioning their age or their hair colour, or by "featuring" them as women business owners.  I've been approached a number of times by business publications wanting ideas on who they might feature in their annual "women in business" edition and can't help wondering whether women might be better served by these types if they were simply featured as part of their regular coverage.

Another gripe is that coverage of women business owners so often focuses on how they've achieved what they have whilst balancing their other responsibilities, rather than on their business achievements in themselves. 

Does this pigeon-hole women in business in a way that men never are?  Does it restrict perceptions of what it means to be a "woman in business"?  Does it provide valuable insights into how women who might otherwise be daunted by the idea of setting up a business could achieve a goal they previously thought unattainable?  Probably all of these things but how can the laudable aim of making the impossible seem possible be achieved without women business owners being popped into media-convenient pigeon holes?

What do you think? Post a comment and let us know.