What causes the startup gender gap? Most entrepreneurs that I know are men, though I am fortunate to know a number of successful female entrepreneurs as well. That being said, what causes the disparity?
Is it a delayed affect? Women continue to move up the corporate ladders at all types of businesses. As that trend continues, will we see more decide to become entrepreneurs?
Is there simply a difference between men and women that cause the difference?
Is it a cultural issue, where men are encourage to become entrepreneurs and women aren’t?
I would be interested in seeing:
- % of Female founders in relation to the overall market
- % breakdown by industry type
- Insights into what is important for women, and what my keep them from being entrepreneurs
What are your thoughts on why we don’t see more women entrepreneurs?
About nathan kaiser
I recently saw a stat that 70% of new businesses were started by women. Naturally this statistic was celebrated, because gender equality really means “women getting everything.” Arg.
Of the few female entrepreneurs I know, most have started lifestyle businesses as opposed to growth startups. In fact, you might never call their businesses startups because 1) they aren’t sexy tech 2) they get revenue pretty much from day 1. They don’t hang out at startup events or participate in pitch competitions, they’re busy taking care of customers. The industries I’ve seen this in is retail, recruiting, and real estate.
I usually avoid the events and organizations that are focused on women. From what I’ve seen, they’re more focused on “rawr we are women” than just getting the info and connections they need and executing on it. The snarky thing I think but don’t say (and should), is, “It’s business, not a social club ladies”. I agree with Marina.
Did you know the federal government gives financial aid, as well a government contract preference, to women in business? I say let the free market work: http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/09/19/time-end-gender-bias-startup-support
I totally concur with both Marina and Danielle (and not because they’re women!). Gender bias can go both ways, and it offends me whenever there’s a ladies only event or opportunity – how hypocritical! Can you imagine the outrage if there was a boys-only conference? The best way for women to make it in business is to work hard and prove themselves reliable, resourceful, and smart, just like anyone else.
I realize my comments above build on what Marina and Danielle have said and don’t really address your question, why is there a gender gap? I honestly have no clue. I think women are perhaps intimidated. There’s just not as many ladies in tech, and that would of course lead to fewer being leaders in tech. I’m sure that will change over time as women move into these areas. Some industries have stereotypes of being for a certain gender – ask any male nurse. Things change slowly. It’s the people who do what they want to and ignore the stereotypes that will cause that change. There’s no reason for nursing or tech to be geared towards any specific gender. After all, people forget the first programmer was a woman!
As Marina said, women start more businesses than men. The fact that you know more male entrepreneurs than female probably has to do with your industry.
However, some additional factors compound this:
1) Of the female engineers, a disproportionate amount (in my experience) are foreign. Visa / economic issues may make it harder to start a company.
2) Female engineers tend to leave engineering faster than male engineers.
3) Children. Suppose a startup requires a five year intensive time commitment. In terms of fertility and child health, a woman shouldn’t have kids past 35. And after that, you have to actually raise the kids. While you do have families in which men are stay-at-home parents, that’s more usual. Typically child rearing falls on the woman, and that can be somewhat incompatible with starting a company.
@marina I dunno– that 70% statistic seems off… Is that business licenses? Or BUSINESSES? Even outside of tech, I just don’t see that (anecdotally).
What about good ol’ sociobiology? I’m not saying that we’re slaves to our monkey roots, but I wonder if women are likelier to have conservative instincts to overcome that men are less likely to have?
From a genetic standpoint, primate females will spread more genetic material if they play it safe and take fewer risks. Stay in the cave/tree, protect the little monkeys, and live to have more of ‘em.
On the other hand, males compete for social dominance– a few on top get mating rights while the rest are out in the cold. It makes sense to do some risky things to see if you can move up the pecking order because, heck, you’re not getting any younger and those other socially dominant monkeys are getting all the hot monkey chicks.
Of course, our society isn’t ANYTHING like this anymore (is it?). Monogamy is so much more civilized and we’re bright enough to overcome out instincts. But are any of those instincts there? If so, do they shape our behavior at all?
I started a small food-service company. It grew incredibly well and has had the potential to be much larger, but I’ve chosen to keep it small, actively restricting the number of customers I have.
Why didn’t I continue to grow, to cross the chasm into the next level? Because I need to have kids before 35 and running a business isn’t compatible with motherhood, at least not for me. I needed to keep my business as a “lifestyle business” (a term I loathe, since it makes me sound like I’m not a real businessperson but more like Holly Homemaker) so that I could easily scale it back to a manageable level when there’s a baby at home.
If I hadn’t launched my company very young (24), (and if I hadn’t given up graduate school in order to start young), I wouldn’t have had time to get established before the biological clock starting ticking.
I don’t think it’s an issue of discrimination. It’s biology.