Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report on Women and Entrepreneurship Released
Thursday, May 8, 2008
WELLESLEY, Mass., May 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —
Women’s entrepreneurship matters — women are creating and running businesses around the world, contributing to economies that represent more than 70% of the world’s population and 93% of global GDP (2007). Women’s entrepreneurship is a key contributor to economic growth in low/middle income countries, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean according to The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2007 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship released today by The Center for Women’s Leadership at Babson College.
View the report at: www.gemconsortium.org/about.aspx?page=special_topic_women
A gender gap persists — both significant and systematic — in new venture creation and business ownership. The gender difference is more obvious in high-income countries but exists throughout all regions, with Europe and Asia showing a greater gap than Latin America and the Caribbean.
GEM data suggests that women who are employed and have built a social network of entrepreneurs are more likely to become entrepreneurs. The social and economic benefits of working are driving women’s entrepreneurship more than increased education or household income.
Women’s level of optimism and self-confidence in starting a business is highly influenced by the culture and social norms of their native countries. Women entrepreneurs have less fear of failure than women who are not involved in entrepreneurial activity; yet they express a greater fear of business failure than men starting businesses.
“Women’s entrepreneurship varies widely across the globe,” says Babson Professor Elaine I. Allen, principal researcher of the study, “It’s a surprise that developing countries in Eastern Europe have low rates of women’s entrepreneurship, closely resembling their highly developed European neighbors, while the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have rates of women’s entrepreneurship two and three times higher.”
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2007 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship, based on data collected through the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA), directed by Babson College, and is a comprehensive and up-to-date study of the role played by women in entrepreneurial activity across the world economy.
