Women not as active in entrepreneurship as men

Editor’s note: Michelle Stockman works with Little Rock-based Arkansas Capital Corp. to promote entrepreneurship development around the state. Stockman earned a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University-Chicago in communications and fine arts, and earned a master’s in entrepreneurship from Western Carolina University. Her thoughts on business success appear each week on The City Wire.

Sorry guys, this week we are taking a look at women business owners. It is a sobering thought to realize that women are making their mark in the business world. From having a better opportunity to make as much money as men to retaining employment at greater percentages during this recession, women are inching their way up the ladder.

However, there is an area in business where women are still largely ignored. Women entrepreneurs continue to scurry along starting businesses around the lime light that most male dominated fields continue to control.

The Kauffman foundation recently conducted one of the country’s first studies on women entrepreneurs and found that women are not as active in entrepreneurship as they can be. The report, “The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Are Successful Women Entrepreneurs Different from Men?” shows that small numbers of women are majority owners in small businesses, and the number quickly dwindles when it comes to technology-based companies.

Kauffman studied men and women entrepreneurs for several years to see if there were major differences in the way they conduct business to how the business operates. Through the study, Kauffman found that men and women are almost identical in every way, except in social manners. Men and women have different values and motivations when it comes to starting and running a business. They also differ when it comes to placing a value on their networks. 


While the days of women needing a husband or father to secure a business loan for them are long gone, the support services needed for men and women are different. Women entrepreneurs tend to become entrepreneurs after they have made a very calculated decision to start the business. Through personal encouragement, experience  and non-traditional financing, women are more prone to start their businesses. However, women face barriers from their own intuitive nature that can be overcome through peer networks and coaching.

Women entrepreneurs can grow businesses other than hair salons and bakeries. Women are capable of starting and growing technology-based companies based off their own intellectual property developed from R&D efforts. Women can grow a billion dollar baby and seek the cover of Wired Magazine, but they need support that speaks their language as much as our male friends.

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Stockman can be reached at [email protected]