Entrepreneurship and Gender: What Researchers Say

By Tiffany Harper
on 21 October 2019

The business world has always been cruel and competitive, forcing entrepreneurs to do all it takes to keep their companies alive and kicking in the long run. It became a part of the entrepreneurial folklore and probably the main reason why men used to dominate business operations all over the world. 

Although the world has experienced some major changes in the last few decades, the situation is still lopsided when it comes to the sheer number of lady-entrepreneurs and professional leaders. A study reveals that only 5% of CEOs in S&P 500 companies are women, while only 11% of female employees are top earners.

This is also the main reason why many people still believe that male entrepreneurs are more successful than their female peers. Our job is to analyse this common misconception and determine who performs better – women or men.

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Entrepreneurship and Gender: What Researchers Say

Gender issues have long been an important topic for entrepreneurs across the globe, so it’s no surprise to see so many studies dedicated to the position of women in modern business. 

What might come as a surprise is the fact most researches reveal that women are outclassing male colleagues performance-wise. 

For instance, a report called ‘The State of Women Owned Businesses’ estimates that there are just over 11.3 million women-owned businesses in the United States, employing nearly 9 million people and generating over $1.6 trillion in revenues: “While overall employment figures have decreased by 1% during this time, employment by women owned businesses has increased by 18%.”

Another study shows that women outscore men on 17 of the 19 capabilities that differentiate excellent leaders from average or poor ones. There is also a report stating that about 95% of the women-led companies meet their financial targets, compared with just 65% for businesses with male leaders. 

According to another case study, private tech companies led by women achieve a 35% higher ROI than similar organizations founded by men. At the same time, owners of the thesis writing service called BrillAssignment claim that their best essay writer is also a woman. 

Real-life facts and statistical findings are almost unanimous, but let’s move on to other aspects of female entrepreneurship.

Why Male Entrepreneurs Outnumber Female Ones?

As we already mentioned, men launch companies more frequently than women. At the moment, over 60% of US companies are led by male entrepreneurs. It’s hard to give a straightforward answer and explain why it happens, but we can point out at least two very important reasons. 

  • Tradition: Women have traditionally been perceived as housewives who are supposed to stay home and take care of children. Although the situation changed drastically in the 20th century, it’s a slow and gradual process and it will still take some time before ladies get the status they really deserve.
confidence, business
  • Self-confidence: Most people don’t realise this simple truth, but the fact remains that self-confidence is the key to entrepreneurial success. This is where men drastically outperform women because they tend to be more aggressive and self-confident in general. While it doesn’t make them better entrepreneurs, it does explain why they engage in business adventures more frequently than female colleagues.

5 Reasons to Believe Female Entrepreneurs Are More Productive

female entrepreneur, business, productivity

There are so many reasons to believe female entrepreneurs are more successful than businessmen, but we want to concentrate on proven conclusions only. Without further ado, let’s see five features that prove ladies are superior to men when it comes to doing business.

1.Professional performance

If you go back to the reports mentioned above, you will realize that each stat proves that women perform much better than men in one way or another. They confirm the following conclusions:

  • Female entrepreneurs employ more workers
  • Ladies achieve financial plans more often than men
  • Their organizations achieve higher ROI

It wouldn’t be fair to say that every woman performs better than all men, but we can conclude that data reveal the superiority of female entrepreneurship.

2.Hard work

In the world dominated by men, a lady has to work twice as hard to make a big career breakthrough. While it is true that everyone needs to be passionate and diligent in the 21st century business, we must note that female entrepreneurs have to take an extra step and show even more dedication and persistence to succeed.

3.Women are genuine leaders

Exquisite leadership skills are yet another factor that separates female entrepreneurs from male colleagues. Ladies prove to be more empathetic than men, so they can understand employees much better and design workflows that perfectly suit their skills.  

leader, businesswoman, entrepreneur

Melissa Gardner, a human resource manager at the assignment help agency, says that women also have excellent communication skills and tend to confront professional problems directly: “In such circumstances, problems get solved quicker and more efficiently.”

4.Women promote work-life balance

Do you know that happy employees, whose needs for work-life balance are achieved, tend to stay with their employer and are more productive? Personal satisfaction is critical for employee performance, so it’s necessary to have a boss who understands the importance of work/life balance. As it turns out, lady entrepreneurs are much more aware of this fact as they encourage employees to make the right kind of balance between professional duties and personal commitments. 

5.Women are great listeners

Unlike egocentric male entrepreneurs, women make great listeners and it helps them to succeed professionally. It’s not only a matter of listening to their workers and understanding their needs. 

On the contrary, women have an ear for new trends and they can quickly realize there is something fresh going on in their industries. They are willing to experiment and test business alternatives, thus staying on the brink of cutting edge events and technologies.

Conclusion

The business world has traditionally been dominated by men, who were usually considered to be stronger, more energetic, and more agile than their female colleagues. This is also the reason why the majority of startup owners and business leaders are men.

But is it really the truth? Are male entrepreneurs really more successful than female ones? 

In this post, we analyzed the two questions and gave you some straightforward answers. Ladies are by no means worse or less productive than men – they are simply underrepresented in the business realm. As a matter of fact, most studies prove that female entrepreneurs perform better than their male peers.

What do you think about female entrepreneurship? Do you have any additional arguments to add to our points? Feel free to leave a comment – we are looking forward to reading it!

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