Gender Matters for the Entrepreneurial Activity: Case of European States

Abstract

Abstract The gender inequality is the hot topic for most countries in the world. However, sometimes the talks about the risks and threats are more dramatic than the reality is. The paper aims to test the gender gap in the selected states and to consider the hypothesis that gender matters in entrepreneurial activity. The methodology of the regression and statistical analyses is proposed to access the main hypothesis and to trace the dynamics of the gender indexes and ranks. The preliminary results show that gender affects the level of entrepreneurial activity; besides government support programs and socio-cultural factors have a significant impact as well. The valid results for all states represented positive correlation and dependence between Entrepreneurial Motivation for TEA and Female/Male ratio for all analysed states. We can conclude that the change in the ratio of women and men engaged in entrepreneurial activity in the state (i.e. Poland) will affect the level of business innovation. For example, when the gender structure of entrepreneurs in Poland changes towards the number of women compared to men, the level of innovation of products and services will increase, or vice versa.