Here are some additional statistics about Canadian women in business and women entrepreneurs in general. You can use them for market research or reports if you like, as long as you properly cite the sources.
These are the freshest Canadian small business statistics as far as I know. If you find others on these topics that are newer and freely accessible, do let me know.
I. Elaine Allen, Nan Langowitz and Maria Minniti. GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) Global 2006 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship. Centre for Women's Leadership at Babson College. February 2007.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study on women's entrepreneurship is part of the overall GEM project, which focuses on measuring differences in the level of entrepreneurial activity among countries. The report makes use of data collected by 41 country teams, including Canada. The countries are divided into two groups for comparison purposes; high-income countries and low/middle-income countries.
"On average, women entrepreneurs in high-income countries are better educated than those in low/middle-income countries. Also, in both country groups, the level of educational attainment is somewhat higher for women who are established business owners than for women who are early stage entrepreneurs, suggesting that education may be positively correlated to survival rates" (p. 8).
"In both country groups, and similarly to men, the likelihood of being involved in entrepreneurial activity is significantly higher for those women who also are employed in a wage job (whether full or part time) compared to those who are not working, are retired, or are students. This suggests that working provides access to resources, social capital, and ideas that may aid in establishing an entrepreneurial venture (p. 10)."
"In both country groups, women tend to be less optimistic and self-confident than men with respect to starting a business" (p. 10).
Paul Lima. “Are Women Shortchanging Themselves?” Globeandmail.com Business, November 10, 2006.
According to the 2004 CIBC Small Business Outlook Poll, "on average, revenues generated by women-run businesses are significantly lower than those seen in businesses operated by men. A third of all enterprises run by women generated less than $50,000 in annual revenue, double the number among firms run by men, the survey said. At the same time, more than 20 per cent of firms owned by men generated annual revenue of more than $500,000, almost double the number among women."
"In addition, women, unlike men, said they would be better off financially if they were working as employees rather than as business owners. When asked whether they were making more money than they would if they worked for someone else, female entrepreneurs were much less likely to agree (38 percent) than their male peers (55 per cent), the survey found."
The poll, which was conducted by Decima Research, surveyed 1,829 Canadian small-business owners, defined as businesses with one to 15 employees and having revenue of less than $5-million.
"Women Entrepreneurs often motivated less by money….” RBC Financial Group, Press Release November 23, 2005.
This survey was conducted for RBC Financial group by Ipsos-Reid between August 12 and August 16, 2005. The survey compared the responses of aspiring entrepreneurs to those of a sample representative of Canada's estimated 2.8 million existing small-and-medium-size business owners.
Some of the study’s findings:
- a flexible work schedule is a greater motivator for women planning to open their own business (63%) than for men planning to do so (51%).
- 36 percent of men planning to open a business plan to do so to become wealthy, while only 23 percent of women planning to open a business do so for the same reason.
- The majority of women and men entrepreneurs (69 and 64 percent respectively) seem to be equally driven by a love for what they do or hope to do.
- Women are less likely than men to start a business because they want to be their own boss. Women are more likely to employ a spouse or a child and to be first-time business owners.
"While career motivations between men and women may differ in some cases, the RBC study discovered surprisingly little difference in the challenges experienced by existing entrepreneurs regardless of their gender. For instance, virtually equal amounts of male and female entrepreneurs listed their three main challenges faced when starting up a business as finding clients (56 per cent for men/57 per cent for women); keeping a steady workload (38 per cent for men/37 per cent for women) and working long hours (34 per cent for both genders)."
More Canadian Small Business Statistics
Statistics on How Many Canadian Small Businesses There Are
Statistics on Where Most Canadian Small Businesses Are Located
Statistics on the impact of Small Business on the Canadian Economy
Statistics on What Canadian Small Businesses Are Like
Statistics on Starting a Small Business in Canada
Statistics on What It's Like to Be a Canadian Small Business Owner
Statistics on Canadian Women in Business
More Statistics on Canadian Women in Business
