Fearless Focus: Business ownership
April 17, 2025
Noon to 1 p.m.
Women share their entrepreneurship journeys
The 2024 Wells Fargo Impact of Women-Owned Businesses Report showed that women-owned businesses employ almost 12.2 million people and that the number of women-owned businesses between 2019 and 2023 increased at nearly double the rate of those owned by men. But several obstacles still disproportionately affect women business owners, including lack of access to capital, child care challenges and mentoring opportunities. In this discussion, women business owners from across the state will share how they started their businesses, the struggles they’ve faced and what we can do to support entrepreneurs.
Fearless Focus: Women’s health care
June 19, 2025
Noon to 1 p.m.
Women have long faced disparities in receiving adequate health care, and conditions that predominantly affect women have fewer studies dedicated to them. For instance, women who visited emergency departments with chest pain waited 29% longer than men to be evaluated for possible heart attacks, the Journal of the American Heart Association reported in 2022. Only 1% of health care research and innovation was invested in female-specific conditions beyond oncology, according to 2020 data published by the McKinsey Health Institute. Iowa ranks last among all 50 states with the fewest obstetrics doctors per capita, according to the Cicero Institute. In 2024 the state implemented one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country. Women of color face heightened health disparities compared to white women. The good news? Several health care leaders have devoted their careers to tackling these issues. In this discussion experts from across the state will share what these trends mean for women’s health care in Iowa, and they will highlight solutions they’re working to implement.
Fearless Focus: Work-life balance
Sept. 25, 2025
Noon to 1 p.m.
Designing equitable workplaces
Work-life balance. Work-life harmony. Work-life blend. Work-life interface. Whatever term you prefer, one of the top issues affecting working women is managing all the responsibilities they hold in both work and life. In our annual survey on the status of gender equity in Iowa, Fearless readers often note that some of the most significant barriers to women include lack of flexibility, a disproportionate share of caregiving or household labor, and pay inequity. In this discussion, speakers will address how leaders can implement policy to address these challenges in their organizations. Attendees will also hear how to create personal strategies, boundaries and goals that better suit the work-life balance they hope for.
Watch videos from previous events
Learn more about the Annual Celebration
These events are part of the Business Record’s Fearless initiative, which is a multiplatform initiative with women-centered content, events and media designed to help women and the companies and allies who both value and support them. The elements of this brand can be simplified into one goal: We want to help empower Iowa women to succeed in work and life.
Through the Fearless Focus event series, we give you the opportunity to learn from and connect with others around the state equally as passionate about these issues. Women, gender-nonconforming individuals and male allies are all encouraged to be fearless with us.
Those who subscribe to our weekly Fearless e-newsletter see in-depth, solutions-oriented reporting about gender and family issues. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to sign up for it (it’s free!).