Women Entrepreneurship Issues and Policies

1. Women Entrepreneurship Issues and Policies Frédéric Delmar Stockholm School of Economics

2. Presentation • Background • Purpose • Domains • Women entrepreneurship and economic growth • Statistics on women entrepreneurship • Possible policy implications

3. Background of the study • Women’s entrepreneurship needs to be studied for two main reasons: • It has been recognized during the last decade as an important untapped source of economic growth • The invisibility of women in entrepreneurship both in society in general and in the social sciences

4. Purpose • To investigate the availability of statistics and research on the role of women’s entrepreneurship in the economy; • To propose further developments to acquire better knowledge about women entrepreneurship.

5. Assessing the economic impact • Women entrepreneurship play an important role: • In Europe 10 million self-employed women provide employment for 16 million people • In the United States 6.4 million self-employed women provide employment for 9.2 million people • In all economies self-employment is an important career alternative for women • Women entrepreneurship is not only micro businesses

6. Lack of reliable information • Need for more basic information (sex disaggregated, N, employment and sales) • At least cross sectional estimates • Method biases: • age, • industry, • entry and exit, • legal form

7. Future and further changes • Problems with definitions: • International comparisons • Women entrepreneurship vs. small firms • Need for longitudinal analyses (the dynamics of e-ship): • Survival, growth, mergers and acquisitions

8. Conclusions • Women entrepreneurship represents an important economic impact • Some improvements have been made over the last ten years • Still lack a reliable and detailed picture • Cross-sectional a first step • Longitudinal needed in the future