Size-Dependent Gender Gaps in Entrepreneurship: The Case of Chile*

Despite growing evidence that immigrant entrepreneurship is male-dominated and the gender gap in entrepreneurship is widening, our understanding of the factors driving this disparity remains limited. Existing research primarily focuses on micro-level determinants such as individual characteristics and firm-specific factors, with insufficient systematic analysis of the macroeconomic influences shaping the gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship. This paper addresses this gap by investigating the determinants of the gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship within the European Union (EU) from 2006 to 2022, utilizing a comprehensive analysis of macroeconomic statistics. The study finds that while the overall share of immigrant entrepreneurs in the EU has nearly doubled over the past decade, significant disparities persist across member states. The analysis identifies key variables influencing the gender gap in immigrant entrepreneurship, including the unemployment rate of foreign-born females, regulatory framework, civil gender liberties, tertiary education, GDP per capita, and the gender pay gap.

This study investigates the gender gap in entrepreneurship in the technology industry. Digitization has created vast economic opportunities in the technology sector and has lowered many barriers to entry, thus reducing traditional frictions regarding entrepreneurship and potentially increasing opportunities for female founders. However, anecdotal evidence has suggested that female technology founders are rare and that women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics roles. Based on individual career histories collected from more than 42 million U.S.-based LinkedIn profiles, including more than 1.3 million founders, we explore whether there are higher rates of female founders in technology companies relative to other industries. Our analysis revealed the following: (1) Females were only half as likely as males to found businesses in the technology industry. (2) Females were less likely to found successive businesses (i.e., serial founders), which was even more pronounced in the technology industry. (3) When we used the gender gap in labor force participation as a baseline, the gender gap in technology entrepreneurship was particularly large, even compared with other male-dominated industries (e.g., construction). (4) The gender gap in technology entrepreneurship was driven by lower rates of entrepreneurship by females in lower positions in the organizational hierarchy. In contrast, females who reached the C-suite in technology sectors were 16% more likely to found firms compared with their female C-suite counterparts in nontechnology industries. Combined, the results provide a nuanced view of the gender gap in entrepreneurship. Funding: Research support was provided by the Grief Center for Entrepreneurship Research and the Institute for Outlier Research in Business. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/stsc.2022.0170 .

This paper examines the quantitative effects of gender gaps in entrepreneurship and workforce participation in an occupational choice model with a household sector and endogenous female labor supply. Gender gaps in workforce participation have a direct negative effect on market, while gender gaps in entrepreneurship affect negatively market output not only by reducing wages and labor force participation but also by reducing the average talent of entrepreneurs and aggregate productivity. We estimate the effects of these gender gaps for 37 European countries, as well as the United States, and find that gender gaps cause an average loss of 17.5% in market output and 13.2% in total output, which also includes household output. Interestingly, the total output loss would be similar (12%) in a model without household sector, since the market output loss is larger when the female labor supply is endogenous. Eastern Europe is the region with the lowest income fall due to gender gaps, while Southern Europe is the region with the largest fall. Northern Europe is the region with the largest productivity fall, which is due to the presence of high gender gaps in entrepreneurship.

The gender gap in entrepreneurship – The role of peer effects

Shattering the Glass Ceiling? How the Institutional Context Mitigates the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is notably characterized by gender disparities, adversely impacting aggregate income and productivity. Accordingly, this study investigates the determinants of gender gaps in entrepreneurship in Russia, where the entrepreneurship gender gap, which is defined as the difference in entrepreneurial participation rates between men and women, is approximately 2%. Since the 2000s, this gap has remained relatively stable and is notably smaller than in many developed and developing countries. As such, the article highlights Russia’s relatively strong performance in fostering inclusive entrepreneurship using data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, encompassing 197,699 observations from 33,889 individuals (55% women) between 2000 and 2019. Based on panel data regression models and incorporating a comprehensive set of independent variables, including age, education, health status, marital status, number of children, religious participation, physical exercise, trust, migration background, ethnicity, and residence in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The findings reveal that participation in physical exercise and religious events significantly predicts entrepreneurial activity by gender, offering insights for reducing gender disparities in entrepreneurship. In contrast, traditional variables such as education, marital status, and number of children exhibit negligible effects. These results remain robust across different measures of entrepreneurship and hold when differentiating between necessity-driven and opportunity-driven entrepreneurship. Therefore, the findings suggest that Russia’s experience in narrowing gender gaps in entrepreneurship may serve as a model for other countries.

In European countries, the gender gap in entrepreneurship is persistently observed because females make up on average 30 percent of entrepreneurs. The aim of the paper is to investigate the impact of gender gaps in education at different levels (youth, higher education, adult learning and STEM education) on the gender gap in entrepreneurship, both in all analyzed European countries and in identified clusters of countries. The research is based on the cluster analysis and regression modelling of yearly panel data for 31 European countries for the period 2013–2018. Generally speaking, to the same extent, the gender gap in entrepreneurship can be explained by the gender gap in educational outcomes at different levels, mostly in early leavers and in STEM education. However, European countries are not monolithic in these aspects, as four clusters of countries are identified. Relationships between the gender gaps strongly depend on the country’s characteristics. In countries with a relatively lower level of female entrepreneurship and their education outcomes, the gender gap in entrepreneurship is affected the most significant in comparison to other clusters, by gender gaps in early leavers, higher education and STEM education. However, in clusters of countries with relatively moderate or high levels of female entrepreneurship and education outcomes, their relationships are rather limited.

This research examines the entrepreneurship gender gap by offering an additional novel explanation for the higher share of men in entrepreneurial activity focusing on intergenerational parental role. Participants (N = 1288) aged 18–81, including 259 actual entrepreneurs, completed questionnaires about entrepreneurship tendency, personality traits and socioeconomic background. The gender gap in actual entrepreneurship continues a significant difference in entrepreneurial tendency, which is developed in the first and the second stages of the entrepreneurial trajectory. When women reach the third stage of entrepreneurial development, the execution stage, they have already acquired a self-perception of an incapable and incommensurate entrepreneurial personality. The results indicate that role modeling behavioral channel significantly accounts for the gender gap in entrepreneurial personality. The results suggest that both parents contribute to women’s’ inferior perception of entrepreneurial personality and that their contribution affects all four aspects of the entrepreneurial tendency. It appears that the impact of fathers’ role modeling is larger than that of mothers, and furthermore fathers transfer other entrepreneurial role models from their side in the family.

The article considers a significant global issue – gender gap starting and developing own business. The field of business was for a long time reserved to men, thus, despite of an increasing number of female entrepreneurs during last decade, the number of female entrepreneurs in Europe, including Lithuania, remains lower than the one of male entrepreneurs. According to the data of various statistical sources, an average ratio of enterprises newly established by men and women in EU countries is about 70% and 30% (European Economic and Social Committee, 2007). Especially in developing countries where gender stereotypes formed through long decades (women’s main role is to be wife and mother) are treated as one of the most important obstacles preventing women to start their own business. Business development, achievements in work environment such as successful carrier, increased personal influence and prestige in society, in contrast with simple job, require conditionally great personal commitment which according to various sources of literature (Nordic Innovation Centre (2007); M. Minniti (2003); P. Tominc, M. Rebernik (2006)) is more acceptable to men than women. Moreover, it is supposed that own business often puts to shade personal private life; therefore it is more associated to men than women. Going deep into the field was also encouraged by the discovery that the analysed literature lacks more detailed discussion of factors that determine the emergence of gender gap in perspective of business establishment. Scientists point out various factors, attach them to various groups, however, little attention is paid to the impact of those factors to existing gender gap. At present, literature does not have an answer to such questions as: “Why do differences exist?“, “What causes them?“. The aim of the article – to determine differences of gender gap in entrepreneurship – is to review the reasons provided in literature explaining the emergence of gender gap when starting own business, to analyse and point out the factors which positively or negatively influence the behaviour of men and women in business and also, on the grounds of expert evaluation, to perform a comparative study of gender gap in entrepreneurship in Lithuania. Having performed an analysis of scientific literature, the conclusion was made that the theories of feminism and discrimination, changes of demographic factors, different value systems and various other factors best explain the prevailing gender differences between men and women. In order to systemise different factors influencing gender gap, the article provides such factor groups as cultural, organisational, economic, demographic, psychological, technological, institutional and political factors. Also the factors that influence the differences of men and women in business in three ways (increase, decrease and neutral) are excluded. Having completed a comparative analysis of gender differences in entrepreneurship, the conclusion was made that the gender differences discussed and analysed in literature are relevant also to Lithuanian entrepreneurs. An expert survey revealed that enterprises managed by men are bigger, exist longer than the ones managed by women; however, the fields of business establishment of both men and women are very similar. It is important to note that the theory emphasises different value systems of genders in obvious practise.

Macroeconomic Costs of Gender Gaps in a Model with Household Production and Entrepreneurship

This longitudinal evaluation of gender inequalities and economic growth addresses key questions in the evolving debate over the character of gender differentiation and the goals of womens empowerment. These questions include: 1) whether the impact of strategies of economic growth served to enhance or undermine the status of women; 2) whether changes in the status of women were accompanied by significant changes in gender inequality; and 3) the implications for existing debates. Section I reviews several sets of literature pertinent to the questions using three general approaches: modernization-neoclassical women in development and gender and development. Section II presents the data and methods used in the evaluation. The research assessed the contending interpretations reviewed in the first section by combining another set of cross-sectional and longitudinal data on womens status and inequalities between men and women with other existing indicators. Section III discusses the results in the following order: 1) cross-sectional patterns in womens status; 2) trends in womens status; 3) cross-sectional patterns in inequality between men and women; 4) trends in inequality between men and women; and 5) conclusion. Finally section IV presents an overall discussion of the findings of the whole longitudinal evaluation.

Aggregate Costs of Gender Gaps in the Labor Market: A Quantitative Estimate

This paper examines the quantitative effects of gender gaps in entrepreneurship and workforce participation. We simulate an occupational choice model with heterogeneous agents in entrepreneurial ability. Gender gaps in entrepreneurship affect negatively both income and aggregate productivity, since they reduce the entrepreneurs’ average talent. Specifically, the expected income loss from excluding 5 percent of women is 2.5 percent, while the loss is 10 percent if they are all employers. We find that gender gaps cause an average income loss of 15 percent in the OECD, 40 percent of which is due to entrepreneurship gaps. Extending the model to developing countries, we obtain substantially higher losses, with significant variation across regions.

This study utilizes a bibliometric analysis to examine the intersection of marriage and female entrepreneurship and identify five key themes: the gender gap in entrepreneurship, rural women entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurial concerns, entrepreneurship-family structure, and cultural problems of women entrepreneurs. Conducting a strategic diagram shows that the “entrepreneurship-family structure” is extensively developed and central, while the “gender gap in entrepreneurship” and “female’s entrepreneurial concerns” show no internal development but provide foundational knowledge for the other themes. Conversely, “rural women's entrepreneurship” and “cultural problems of women’s entrepreneurs” are well developed in theory but lack practical application in all topics. Additionally, the study proposes a conceptual framework that illustrates how work-family conflict and role ambiguity influence the gender gap in entrepreneurship. Applying the developed framework helps reduce the gender gap in entrepreneurship.

PurposeThis study examines the impact of social hierarchy and traditions on the gender gap in entrepreneurial intention, providing insights for designing culturally tailored policies to reduce this gap.Design/methodology/approachData from 352 business students across seven culturally diverse countries, including Mediterranean nations (Spain, Italy, Morocco) and South American nations (Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay), were analyzed. Entrepreneurial intention was examined through Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), with Hofstede’s power distance and long-term orientation serving as key indicators of their impact on the gender gap in entrepreneurial intention. Analysis was conducted using the partial least squares (PLS) algorithm with SMART-PLS software.FindingsPower distance negatively and significantly moderates the relationship between the gender gap and entrepreneurial intention, while long-term orientation positively and significantly moderates this relationship. Results indicate that the gender gap in entrepreneurship is smaller in highly hierarchical and traditional societies.Practical implicationsPolicies to reduce the gender gap in entrepreneurship should be culturally tailored rather than universally applied. In egalitarian societies, measures should focus on work-life balance and economic incentives, while hierarchical societies should prioritize eliminating gender stereotypes and structural barriers. Long-term oriented societies should enhance women’s access to financial resources, whereas short-term oriented societies should emphasize entrepreneurial training and education to leverage women’s adaptability and opportunity recognition skills.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by demonstrating how hierarchical structures and cultural traditions shape entrepreneurial opportunities based on gender, reinforcing the need for context-specific policy interventions.