An Interview With Edward Sylvan
…The problem is that if something is “natural” the economic logic dictates that it shouldn’t be well-paid either. That is how our definition of technology has limited women’s economic opportunities throughout the ages. This needs to change. Not just for the sake of women (but no, we will never close the wage-gap otherwise) but for the sake of all of us. This is basically the main underlying argument of my book MOTHER OF INVENTION.
As part of my series about “authors who are making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Katrine Marçal.
Katrine Marçal is a bestselling author on women and innovation. Her first book Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? has been translated into more than 20 languages. Margaret Atwood called it “a smart, funny and readable book on women, economics and money”. It was named one of The Guardian’s books of the year in 2015. BBC also named Katrine one of its 100 Women in 2015.
Katrine works for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. In her role as a financial journalist, she has interviewed many of the world’s leading economic thinkers. Katrine’s second book Mother Of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored In An Economy Built For Men became a bestseller in Sweden in 2020 and will be published in several languages during 2021 and 2022.
She lives in the English countryside with her husband and three children.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
I grew up in Sweden. I guess the part of my childhood backstory that’s relevant to my new book MOTHER OF INVENTION is the fact that my mother was a computer programmer. I was born in the early 1980s and back then (as many people have now forgotten…) computer programming was quite female dominated. I remember how most of my mother’s managers were women: respectable ladies with big hair who brought me cake. That was the image of “tech” that I grew up with.
Then of course, it all changed…
When my mum retired a few years ago, computer programming had become very male dominated and as someone who writes about economics, this fascinated me: how a profession could go from female dominated to male dominated during such a short amount of time and how it simultaneously grew in status. Pay and prestige seemed to follow men in the economy. This is one of the themes I explore in MOTHER OF INVENTION.
When you were younger, was there a book that you read that inspired you to take action or changed your life? Can you share a story about that?
Like many women I read Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex at a formative age. Nothing more exciting or unusual than that, I’m afraid.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
My first book is called Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? and it’s about how economics forgot about women. “Adam Smith” in the title refers to the founding father of economics. The book came out in the US in 2016 and I was very proud to have a signing at a bookstore on Manhattan in NYC. I went there and introduced myself but quickly realized that they thought Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? was a cookbook…
Can you describe how you aim to make a significant social impact with your book?
Throughout history technology has been defined as “whatever men do”. We talk about the Iron Age and the Bronze Age. But we might as well talk about the Ceramic Age or the Flax Age. These technologies were just as important. But inventions associated with women are not considered to be technology in the same way.
The economic implications of this have been huge for women.
The problem has been that almost whatever women have done it has not been considered to be “technology”. Take my mother for example: the skills needed to code used to be compared to the skills needed to cook from a recipe. When men took over, it all changed. Suddenly programming was “tech” and required a skill that women were not seen to possess.
Midwives used to be banned in law from using tools made out of metal. That’s why pinard horns are still often made from wood. And since midwives were not allowed to use metallic tools their skill became seen as “natural” not “technical”. The problem is that if something is “natural” the economic logic dictates that it shouldn’t be well-paid either. That is how our definition of technology has limited women’s economic opportunities throughout the ages. This needs to change. Not just for the sake of women (but no, we will never close the wage-gap otherwise) but for the sake of all of us. This is basically the main underlying argument of my book MOTHER OF INVENTION.
Can you share with us the most interesting story that you shared in your book?
We didn’t put wheels on suitcases until 1972. Economists have pondered this mystery for decades. I show how they have been looking for the answer in the wrong place. It didn’t take me many hours in newspaper archives to figure out that there were in fact rolling suitcases before 1972; however, they were all niche products marketed towards women. That’s the key to the whole mystery.
Even after the wheeled suitcase was formally invented in 1972 American department stores didn’t want to buy it. Why? Because they were convinced that no man would ever roll a bag. A “real man” carried his bag and women didn’t travel alone anyway, that was the assumption. The reason the rolling suitcase eventually took off and disrupted the whole global luggage industry is because gender roles started to change.
This is where MOTHER OF INVENTION starts: with an example of a very concrete product that everybody has a relationship to. I then expand the narrative chapter by chapter into a bigger argument about how our ideas about men and women are holding us back when it comes to innovation.
What was the “aha moment” or series of events that made you decide to bring your message to the greater world? Can you share a story about that?
I’m not sure if there was an “aha moment,” but I had been ranting to friends for a long time about how business books aimed at women so often seemed to be about things like how to “achieve work life balance”, “boss up” or “unleash” your inner whatever. We let male voices speak about the forces that are shaping our economies and our world and leave women to “share their personal journeys” or give practical advice.
I think as a woman you are not encouraged to take on the very big picture in the same way. But we desperately need women’s voices here too, so I guess I gave it a go in order to do my bit…
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
- Politicians need to have a think about how the current financial system is not working for women. Only 3 percent of venture capital goes to women and as I argue in the book, this is a problem that goes to the heart of the whole system. It can’t be fixed on the surface level.
- Society needs to reflect on how it views technology as this neutral force. What I try to show in the book is just how shaped it us by our ideas about gender and how this holds us back.
- As an individual you could look into an organization like SheEO which is one of many trying to figure out a business paradigm that will work better for women (and as such better for everyone).
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
I don’t think I have a definition or see myself as a leader. I see myself as a writer. Sorry.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- Writing gets easier.
I wish I’d known as a younger writer that writing does get A LOT easier with time and practice, just like any craft… I write, not just better, but a lot faster than in my twenties and early thirties.
2. Writing is thinking.
The writing process itself is what will make your ideas clear, so keep going.
3. Only write books about things you are prepared to talk about for years…
Books are amazing because they have such a long life. If you write an article people forget about it after a month but once you have put something into book form you will get asked to speak about it again and again for years.…
4. There are a lot of languages in the world.
I have been lucky having my books translated into many languages. When it comes to nonfiction there is often such a focus on the English-speaking market but there are so many potential readers out there who speak other languages. I think many authors underestimate the reach they could have by only thinking of the English-speaking market.
5. Being Swedish is not a problem.
For a long time, I felt that coming from a very small country was a disadvantage. After all, I write in a language only spoken by around 11 million people, so how could my books have any impact? I was wrong about this.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I like the Polish proverb: “Not my circus, not my monkeys”. It helps as a reminder to not try to control what isn’t yours to control. (And it’s funny.)
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Jacinda Ardern can be my friend if she wants to!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
I have a newsletter that comes out every Thursday. It’s a short feminist take on economics and business. It’s called “The Wealth of Women”.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
About The Interviewer: Growing up in Canada, Edward Sylvan was an unlikely candidate to make a mark on the high-powered film industry based in Hollywood. But as CEO of Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc, (SEGI) Sylvan is among a select group of less than ten Black executives who have founded, own and control a publicly traded company. Now, deeply involved in the movie business, he is providing opportunities for people of color.
In 2020, he was appointed president of the Monaco International Film Festival, and was encouraged to take the festival in a new digital direction.
Raised in Toronto, he attended York University where he studied Economics and Political Science, then went to work in finance on Bay Street, (the city’s equivalent of Wall Street). After years of handling equities trading, film tax credits, options trading and mergers and acquisitions for the film, mining and technology industries, in 2008 he decided to reorient his career fully towards the entertainment business.
With the aim of helping Los Angeles filmmakers of color who were struggling to understand how to raise capital, Sylvan wanted to provide them with ways to finance their creative endeavors.
At Sycamore Entertainment he specializes in print and advertising financing, marketing, acquisition and worldwide distribution of quality feature-length motion pictures, and is concerned with acquiring, producing and promoting films about equality, diversity and other thought provoking subject matter which will also include nonviolent storytelling.
Also in 2020, Sylvan launched SEGI TV, a free OTT streaming network built on the pillars of equality, sustainability and community which is scheduled to reach 100 million U.S household televisions and 200 million mobile devices across Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV and others.
As Executive Producer he currently has several projects in production including The Trials of Eroy Brown, a story about the prison system and how it operated in Texas, based on the best-selling book, as well as a documentary called The Making of Roll Bounce, about the 2005 coming of age film which starred rapper Bow Wow and portrays roller skating culture in 1970’s Chicago.
He sits on the Board of Directors of Uplay Canada, (United Public Leadership Academy for Youth), which prepares youth to be citizen leaders and provides opportunities for Canadian high school basketball players to advance to Division 1 schools as well as the NBA.
A former competitive go kart racer with Checkered Flag Racing Ltd, he also enjoys traveling to exotic locales. Sylvan resides in Vancouver and has two adult daughters.
Sylvan has been featured in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and has been seen on Fox Business News, CBS and NBC. Sycamore Entertainment Group Inc is headquartered in Seattle, with offices in Los Angeles and Vancouver.
Social Impact Authors: How & Why Journalist Katrine Marçal Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.