Title: Women Entrepreneurs Are Driving the Economy Through the Gender Gap
Study: Overcoming the Gender Gap: Women Entrepreneurs as Economic Drivers (Lesa Mitchell, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, 2011)
Finding: While women have broken through the glass ceiling, they seem to encounter ‘glass walls’ that keep them from venturing out of big companies or structured academic settings to launch their own firms at the same rate men do.
Note about The Woman Effect Research Index: This study was performed by researchers not affiliated with InPower Women. Our Research Index includes all relevant research to the subject of women, business and power. We do not influence how the research was conducted or reported by the researchers. In our abstracts, we focus on pulling out the most actionable advice for individual women. To suggest additional research we should index, or discuss our choice of abstract focus, please contact us
InPower Insight: Women exercise more choice than many men when starting a company, many choosing to fit the business to the lifestyle they wish to lead.
Summary:
There is a gender gap in entrepreneurial success and only 35% of small businesses are owned by women. In fact, early in the startup process, women take fewer steps to position themselves to start high-growth companies.
While women tended to produce research that was equal to or slightly better than men’s, on average, female faculty patented their research at only about 40 percent of the rate of their male colleagues, the study showed. They also tended to rely on formal university conduits to help them commercialize their research, rather than making connections and seeking guidance from private industry. In addition to more actively reaching out to establish new networks – a critical step for would-be entrepreneurs – men had more exposure to industry earlier in the process, with 93 percent of them serving on science advisory boards of high-tech companies, as compared to only 6.5 percent of women.
Other studies show that women might be more inclined to seek work/life balance and therefore shy away from establishing innovative firms that aim for global scale. On average, they also have greater difficulty raising investment capital than men do.
Personal Coaching Tip: If you go into entrepreneurship, know your reasons. Know that the models of what men achieve as entrepreneurs are much less often accomplished by women – often because that’s not the women’s goals! If you want to be the next Steve Jobs, it’s a tough road, but one that’s open to you. If you want a more sane lifestyle than you have, that’s available to you too! Choose your path and you’ll be successful.
Keywords: Business startup, Global market, gender gap, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship
