Women Entrepreneurs Have Come a Long Way—But There’s Still Room for Improvement


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Starting and running more businesses than ever, women business owners worldwide are on the rise, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2016/17 Women’s Report. The report surveyed women entrepreneurs in 74 global economies to create a snapshot of women’s progress. Here’s some of what the new report found:

  • In the past year, 163 million women worldwide started businesses.
  • 111 million women currently operate established businesses.
  • Since the last report in 2014 …
    • Total Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) among women grew by 10%.
    • Women’s ownership of established businesses grew by 8%.
    • The gender gap (that is, the ratio of women to men participating in entrepreneurship) shrank by 5%.

This continues the positive trend revealed in the previous report, which showed an average 7 percent increase in women’s TEA rates and average 6 percent reduction of the gender gap.

Why women start businesses

Entrepreneurial intentions—that is, the intention to start a business—among women increased by 16% from 2014 to 2016. The highest participation in entrepreneurship among women is in the 25-34 and 35-44 year old age groups. (This is also true for men.)

What prompts women to start businesses? On average, women in the survey are 20% more likely to start a new business out of necessity than are men. However, spotting entrepreneurial opportunity still accounts for the majority of women’s business startups. In innovation-driven (developed) economies, women are over 3.5 times more likely to start businesses of opportunity rather than necessity.

Women in factor-driven (undeveloped) economies are more likely to see opportunities for starting a business than women in innovation-driven economies. Fifty-seven percent of women in factor-driven economies say there are plenty of good opportunities to start a business, compared to 39% of women in innovation-driven economies.

RELATED: 3 Leadership Lessons Wonder Woman Can Teach Female Entrepreneurs

Innovation and women entrepreneurs

Overall, women entrepreneurs are 5% more likely to start innovative businesses than are men, the study reports. The highest level of innovation occurs in North America, where 38% of women say their businesses involve innovative products and services. North America also has the highest education rates among women entrepreneurs; 84% have a post-secondary or higher education.

What kinds of businesses do women start?

Overall, just 10% of women entrepreneurs are sole proprietors with no plans to add any employees in the next five years.

Over half of women entrepreneurs in innovation-driven economies are in government, health, education, and social services. In fact, at all economic development levels, women dominate this business category relative to men: On average, they are 2.25 times more likely than men to start businesses in this sector.

Women still remain less prominent in information and communications technology, however. Overall, fewer than 2% of women are starting business in this sector—slightly more than one-fourth the percentage of men starting IT/communications businesses.

Room for improvement

Despite all the positive news the GEM survey reports, there is still room for improvement in one key area: confidence. Surprisingly, women’s confidence seems to be lower the more developed their economy. In factor-driven economies, for example, more than two-thirds (67%) of women believe they have the capabilities to start businesses based on the opportunities they see. However, fewer than 35% of women in innovation-driven economies believe the same thing.



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