The latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report evaluates gender differences in three stages of the entrepreneurial process in Catalonia:
- Potential entrepreneurship: the percentage of women with the intention to start a business in the near future is 9.4%, slightly lower than the 10.4% for men. Ten years ago, this difference was much higher: 11.1% of women compared to 17.1% of men.
- Recent entrepreneurship: the percentage of women involved in a nascent entrepreneurial project is 6.5%, also slightly lower than the 7.3% for men. Ten years ago, this difference was also much larger: 4.9% of women compared to 10.8% of men.
- Established entrepreneurship: the percentage of women who have established their businesses is 7.8%, also lower than the 8.6% for men. Again, data from ten years ago show a much higher difference: 7.2% of women compared to 12.9% of men.
Thus, although the data continue to show a
slight gender gap in the various phases of the entrepreneurial process, they also clearly demonstrate a
very significant reduction in this gap over the last 10 years.
The study also evaluates gender differences in more qualitative aspects, such as motivations for entrepreneurship or perceptions when doing so.
- Regarding motivations for entrepreneurship, job scarcity and the desire to create change in the world are more prevalent among women, while wealth creation and family tradition are more prevalent among men.
- Regarding perceptions, men perceive starting a business to be easier than women do and consider themselves better prepared to do so. In contrast, the perception of opportunities and the fear of failure are the same for both men and women.
Sociodemographic variables such as age, education, income level, or rural versus urban environment do not show significant differences between men and women when it comes to entrepreneurship.
Regarding productive sectors, female entrepreneurship stands out in
personal services, while male entrepreneurship stands out in business services, technology, and industry. Nevertheless, the drive for innovation and internationalization in entrepreneurial initiatives is similar for both women and men.
No significant differences are detected in job creation expectations either, although in established companies, women are slightly more conservative than men when it comes to hiring.
In summary, we can state that while a slight
gender gap in entrepreneurship remains, it has
significantly narrowed over the last 10 years, and the socioeconomic profile of women and men who start businesses is very similar, despite doing so with different motivations and in different sectors. We therefore celebrate that more and more women proudly state,
I am who I want to be.
