Empowering Women in Digital Business: A Practical Guide

The History Behind Women’s Personhood and Power

Women of all races, abilities, sexualities, and classes have legally been people for less than a century. Less than fifty years, even. White women received personhood rights far earlier than the non-white or disabled women around them. 

And that said, this only accounts for North America – in many places, women don’t hold the same status as men. They cannot act, work, vote, parent, procreate, learn, live, or die with the same freedoms as their male counterparts. So, in many ways, all women are still yet to be considered wholly human by the entire world.

Women in Business: A New and Powerful Chapter

Unilateral voting, working, housing, and healthcare access are new ideas. Bummer lead, I know. I’m going somewhere with this. 

I say all this to highlight how new and groundbreaking it is to see women actively creating, building, sustaining, and excelling in business. Women holding a semblance of a business’ power, let alone most to all, is a concept women before us would marvel – or maybe scoff – at. 

Why Women-Owned Businesses Matter

You are forging never-before-blazed trails by creating, leading, and succeeding the way you are. You are participating in hands-on history-building. Independently operating a business demands an exercise of economic, socioeconomic, and legal personhood. Another proverbial step is taken forward for every women-owned, -run, and -staffed business.  

Leading With Purpose at Glass Cactus Marketing

Glass Cactus Marketing understands the significance of our position. To be able to do the work we do with a complete creative license is a gift we don’t take lightly.  We know that we work in situations that many women around the globe aren’t allowed to. Founded, led, primarily staffed, and inspired by women, we know that the ability to use our voices the way we like is a privilege – that should be a right – afforded to few.

How to Support Women in Your Life and Work

When rights become privileges, those who hold the privilege are obligated to uplift those deprived. With our combined years of personal and professional experiences, we wanted to compile a short list of how to empower, uplift, and sustain the women in your life at work and home. 

1. Try to create intentional community. More than shooting the breeze, intentionally building connections with people around you takes effort and inconveniences. Meaningful, lasting connections come to be through continued, repeated care. Financial support matters, of course, but proper support is about doing everything you can but within your means. 

In your personal world, this can look like driving friends to the airport, reviewing each other’s work, babysitting your neighbor’s pets, and engaging in mutual aid. Community connections account for in-person and digital presence. Be it your community member’s GoFundMe, small business, or volunteer initiative, show when and where you can.

Professionally, community building looks different. Here, social media, conferences, business events, fundraisers, and interpersonal relationships all serve as opportunities to show up and offer the support you can comfortably give.

2. Pursue education by and about women, as well as other marginalized groups. As a digital marketing firm, Glass Cactus Marketing understands the power of the Internet. Books, e-books, research papers and journals, peer-reviewed articles, documentaries, YouTube videos, Tumblr blogs, and literally millions of other resources exist at libraries and online. Never before in human history has so much comprehensive knowledge been readily available to most people.
   
   If you can access this information, your greatest gift to yourself and others is to do so. If you have the gift of literacy, indulge in it whenever possible. If you want to know more about women’s history, read about it. If you want to know more about LGBTQ+ liberation, learn about it. If the lives and liberties of disabled people intrigue you, take the time to do the research. The better educated one makes themselves, the more room they have for compassion, empathy, and philanthropy.
   
   Let the people you hope to learn about tell their own stories. Now that the World Wide Web inextricably links us, we can hear about history, life, liberty, joy, education, business, and more from the mouths of those who live it. Rather than assuming knowledge, we have the opportunity to seek conclusions.
   
   
3. Worry less about policing yourself and more about uplifting others. There is no personal or professional world where we behave perfectly, say the perfect things, and always make the ideal decision. Oftentimes, people worry so much about doing the “wrong thing” when it comes to supporting women in their lives that they opt to do nothing at all. Rather than worrying about doing something wrong, what if we took joy in trying to help someone else?
   
   Business owners marginalized by society will be happier if you engage with their work than if they stay quiet out of fear. If you do something “wrong,” you are only open to more education and growth.

I know that using my voice without punishment is a luxury. My opportunity to participate in the world as an equal is a gift. These privileges should be universal rights.

The freedoms I experience are thanks to the work and sacrifice of women before me. Most of these women, thousands of them, I will never know. But, I owe those women, and those unheard around the globe, to use my voice in every capacity possible.

As a web development firm, community member, and group of diverse creatives, Glass Cactus Marketing makes every decision with inclusion, transparency, equity, and compassion in mind. 

While our world continues to change, we can actively choose to support women as neighbors, family members, coworkers, social media followers, mentors, educators, peers, and allies. 

We can make decisions that benefit women around us, even those we don’t know personally. We can learn about women we don’t understand because that is how we grow. We can take new information and adapt our world views. 

Take Action and Build a Better Future

We believe that every small action adds up. Whether it's liking a post from a woman-owned brand, hiring women freelancers, or sharing a female entrepreneur’s service, it all matters. The internet makes it easier than ever to support women in business — from your local community to across the world. That’s a powerful thing.

If you run a business, think about how you can make your workspace more welcoming. This could mean offering flexible hours, highlighting women’s achievements, or simply listening more. If you work with others, take the time to celebrate your teammates and share credit often.

And if you're a woman starting out or building your brand, know this: you belong here. The challenges are real, but your voice is needed. Your story has value. Your work deserves recognition.

At Glass Cactus Marketing, we don’t just talk about empowering women — we live it. Through content, web design, branding, and community outreach, we help women-owned businesses grow online. We know marketing is more than numbers and clicks. It’s about showing up, telling the truth, and building trust.

So let’s keep going. Let’s keep learning, growing, and supporting one another. Let’s keep building a future where women in business aren’t the exception — they’re the norm.

I’ve said a lot. I’ve rambled, even. So, let me be clear: as women in business, we are part of something never before seen. I know I am in a position my grandmother, my great-grandmother, or my great-great-grandmother couldn’t imagine being in. 

Because when women rise, communities rise with them.