Introduction: The Current Status of Women in the Workforce
Women make up only half of the population and occupy a quarter of top leadership positions at Fortune 500 companies. They are also significantly underrepresented in STEM fields and those who do work in these fields report having worse experiences with harassment than men do.
Reasons of entrepreneurship gaps are derived from higher gender
How can We Encourage Women to Get Involved in the World of Businesses?
Women make up half of the world population, yet, only, one in three businesses are women-owned, according to the World Bank. The reason why men and women start a business can be necessity-driven or innovation driven. However, it has been found that women compared to men often start a business because they lack the education or have less opportunities to find a job.
The below chart shows that the highest percentage of women business owners have been found in African or emerging regions, where gender inequality is the highest. Panama was found to have the highest number of female innovation-driven businesses while in the US, only 13.9% of all women started a business. Other developed nations had even lower distributions with Italy having the lowest amongst the 43 countries being studied.
This statistic is both alarming and discouraging. It begs the question as to what we can do to change this situation. This section looks at how we can encourage women to get involved in the world of business ownership.
Why is it Important for More Women to Become Entrepreneurs?
Women are stepping up their entrepreneurial game in the 21st century, controlling over $7 trillion of the world’s wealth. This number is projected to increase with more female entrepreneurs. Women-owned businesses have nearly tripled to 8 million since 1997, and they now employ almost 9 million people.
The future of women’s entrepreneurship is very promising.
Female entrepreneurship has been shown to create greater economic opportunity for both women and their communities. When a woman starts a business, she creates not only income but also jobs for other people in the community. Moreover, female entrepreneurs tend to reinvest their profits locally – meaning that a lot of money stays in the community rather than flowing out or going abroad.
What are Some Resources Available for Female Entrepreneurs?
Women are still underrepresented in the entrepreneurial community in many parts of the world, because of negative cultural, social, and structural barriers. Throughout history, women have had to overcome hurdles that men have not faced to be able to pursue entrepreneurship. While handling the same barriers to entry as male entrepreneurs, women have also struggled with overcoming gender biases and other forms of discrimination.
Lately, many organizations have emerged that help women-led businesses with overcoming these barriers, such as:
Women's Business Development Centers provide a wide range of services including training programs and conferences that are tailored towards women.
NerdWallet offers free advice on their website, which includes the best options for free funding.
The State Department offers a program called "Women Entrepreneurs Initiative" with programs for International Women's Day every year.
Conclusion and Next Steps
Given the rise of female entrepreneurs, it is crucial to take a look at the resources and programs that are available to female entrepreneurs in order to help them succeed.
It is important to examine the rise of female entrepreneurs and how many programs are available for females who are looking to start their own business.
Bonnie Comley, Broadway HD
Trixy Castro, Aureus Finance Group
Loretta Markevics, Sed Communications
Jeanne A. Moir, International Planning Alliance, LLC
Lisa Rehurek, Rehurricane Enterprises
Sofia Shved, PR Novo
Dr. Mary Mason, Little Medical School
Sheri Mills, Your Wellness Redefined
Esther Jh Kim, Consider Beyond
Alina Krehovets, Business Intelligence
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