Who says we can’t have it all?

Femtech is most definitely the rising star of the technology market. It’s becoming ever more popular with investors and is projected to reach $50 billion over the next few years. This is good news for female entrepreneurs, as many of the new start-ups are headed up by women. One of the earliest, and now most successful, of these, is Tania Boler, CEO of Elvie.

Elvie: Femtech pioneer

Elvie was one of the first female-led companies to introduce innovative new technology products focused on women’s health (Femtech). Now, thanks to the support of international investor and Femtech champion, Nicole Junkermann, it is one of the most well-known brands in the sector, boasting a clientele brimming with influencers and celebrities. And, according to Tania Boler, it’s just getting started.

Elvie supports working mums

So why are Elvie products so popular? It’s simple, really: they provide much-needed, effective support for working mums. Not surprising, really, as their inventor is one herself. Mum-of-two, Tania, started her family in 2011, while heading up health programmes for the UN across Africa and Asia. She knows first-hand, therefore, how difficult it can be to balance a successful career with being a new mum.

What has the tech sector been doing for 40 years?

What a travesty, then, that in an age of amazing technological breakthroughs, there were no groundbreaking products available to her. It’s not as if women having careers was a new thing. In fact, four decades had passed since women first began ‘burning their bras’ and making ‘having a career’ a priority. Though the former didn’t last very long, the latter has only gone from strength to strength. Gone are the days when a girl’s highest ambition is to get married and start a family (or are they?)

Can we have it all?

The reality is, that however much women may want a successful, meaningful career, the biological and cultural urge to produce offspring is still very strong. Through the 1980s, career women tried desperately to ‘have it all’, but with work patterns and expectations so decidedly un-parent-friendly, sadly something always had to give. Little by little, however, things are changing for the better and technology is playing a big part in this.

I have a secret…

If we have smart apps and devices to help us be organised, eat healthily and get fit, then why on earth don’t we have more of these to help us effectively juggle having children and a career? That’s exactly what drove Tania Boler to invent the Elvie Pump, which allows you to discreetly and silently pump your breastmilk wherever you are and whatever you’re doing – and nobody even knows you’re doing it! How cool is that!

Aim high

Successful working mums like Tania Boler and Nicole Junkermann are committed to disrupting traditional business models in the hope that their children will benefit from equal opportunities to grow, develop and innovate. As female consumers, we need to look for technology that’s tailored to us and reject second-best. Push the ‘stuffy old suits’ to give female entrepreneurs with exciting new ideas a chance and encourage our daughters to aim as high as they want.

We don’t have to burn our bras, we just have to embrace who we are!