Study: Human Capital and Women’s Business Ownership (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2008, Hackler, Harpel, Mayer, 2008)
Finding: Women are one of the fastest growing segments of the entrepreneurial business sector, having more education, more managerial experience and greater willingness to expand outside of “traditionally female” industries than their wage-earning female counterparts.
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: If you’re a woman and thinking of leaving the corporate sector for to own your own business, you’re not alone. Women and entrepreneurship have a lot in common.
Summary:
What patterns do we see among self-employed females, one of the fastest growing entrepreneurial segments?
As women gain more education and encounter more opportunities for advancement, they are also entering the ranks of the self-employed more often.
The study finds that women who are self-employed have more education and earn their degrees much faster than other working females. Self-employed women also hold more executive/managerial positions, and participate in non traditional industries for females. They are also older than wage-earning females, and have more “income diversity”.
Career Coaching Tip: If you’re thinking about going out on your own, don’t feel bound by your experience in the “wage-earning” category. Your female colleagues are using entrepreneurship as the opportunity to expand beyond traditional female employment categories and experiences. Open your mind and your eyes. Other women are doing just that!
Guide to Women in Leadership
Organizations with women in their executive suites regularly out-perform others. Yet rising female executives (and their mentors) are frustrated at how hard it is to break through the glass ceiling. In this extensive guide, Executive Coach Dana Theus shares her tried and true strategies to help women excel into higher levels of leadership and achieve their executive potential.
