As I read so many posts and articles last week on #InternationalWomensDay, I reflected on the franchise community, which includes and is led by so very many strong, smart female executives.

And then there are the female franchisees. I ran across this list of the Top 50 Franchises for Women in 2017, published by one of our very favorite franchise friends, Franchise Business Review. Cheers to these (and so many more) franchise systems which have attracted and provided opportunities for so many female franchise owners. 

In our own world, over here at SPEAK!, we work with SO many wonderful, talented female speakers. As a curiosity, I checked through the last couple years to see the ratio of male/female speakers booked among our Clients’ franchise events. Interestingly, between 8-12% of presenters booked through SPEAK! within the last 4 years have been women…with no discernable trends toward increasing.

Of course, we, as do our Clients, look for the very best speaker fit for their event, based on learning objectives, franchise culture and budget, so there is not an intention toward gender, either way. However, considering the increasing number of female keynote speakers…even those coming out of the franchise industry, we’re thinking that percentage will increase over the next few years. We’ll be sure to watch and report! Stay tuned.

More soon,

Katrina

P.S. What percentage of your franchise leadership team is female? Let us know.