The gender-based attainment of education and female entrepreneurship: the European perspective

Abstract

Although in European countries women obtain higher education more often than men, they still comprise about 30% of entrepreneurs. To understand the gender gap in entrepreneurship, the study aims to assess the impact of education on female entrepreneurship in two aspects, as explained by both male and female education levels and by different levels of education (primary, secondary, tertiary). To verify hypotheses, the empirical models are estimated with female entrepreneurship as the dependent variable and with the level of education as the independent one with the panel regression method for panel data for 31 European countries yearly 2000-2019. Results confirm that both male and female education levels impact female entrepreneurship. Female entrepreneurship is positively related to the share of females with higher and partial secondary education, as well as the share of males with primary education. Female entrepreneurship is reduced by the share of females with primary education and the share of males with higher education. There are two aspects of novelty in the paper. Firstly, female entrepreneurship is explained by both male and female education levels as both genders create the social environment for entrepreneurship; female education has a direct impact through the skills and competences, while male education impacts indirectly by influencing the business environment. The second aspect is the assumption that female entrepreneurship is explained by different levels of education (primary, secondary and tertiary), which impact their decisions to enter entrepreneurship.