Women's Entrepreneurship: Challenges & Opportunities
Iryna Tytarchuk
???? Executive Director at ITFC | ??♀? Founder at Women IN | PhD in Economics | ?? Gender Equality Researcher | Female Entrepreneurship Supporting | ?? SMEs Developing
The Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) covering 85% of the global population, reveals that close to 9 out of 10 men and women hold fundamental biases against women.
In this article, I want to answer the question in a little more detail: why should women be realised in entrepreneurship and the society should support women in this?
Women's economic equality is a human right
?? Gender equality is a fundamental human right
Deep rooted gender inequality, damaging gender stereotypes and sexist attitudes persist everywhere — and this all impacts on women entrepreneurs’ success. The fifth United Nations Sustainable Development Goal: achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls.
?? When women thrive, we all benefit
When women entrepreneurs succeed, they’re more likely to invest back into their families and community — into education, nutrition, wellbeing, and children’s health. What’s more, their businesses are more likely to provide necessary services and opportunities to their communities.
?? Women entrepreneurs are power global prosperity
At least 231 million women run formal businesses in low and middle income countries and many more necessity-entrepreneurs run informal businesses to support their families. If women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could rise by up to 6% — boosting the global economy by $2.5-$5 trillion.
?? We won’t wait 169 years
Women’s economic empowerment gives women life choices. Closing the overall gender gap will require 131 years. At the current rate of progress, it will take 169 years for economic parity and 162 years for political parity. Financial independence is essential for women’s freedom and equality — and women being able to start, grow and sustain successful businesses is a core part of this.?
Major Challenges that Women Face in Business
Deep-rooted societal norms and gender stereotypes can create an unwelcoming environment for women in entrepreneurship.
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Women entrepreneurs may face psychological barriers, including self-confidence and self-esteem issues. The Rose review found that only 39% of women are confident in their capabilities as an entrepreneur opens in new window compared to 55% of men, despite the actual gap being non-existent.
Legislative and Regulatory Obstacles: A lack of supportive legislative frameworks can pose significant hurdles for women entrepreneurs.?
Balancing work and personal responsibilities remains a challenge for many women, particularly those with caregiving duties.
Women are still underrepresented in key fields.
Ukrainian Female Entrepreneur Portrait
Our updated Ukrainian Female Entrepreneur Portrait study prepared by Ukraine Investment & Trade Facilitation Center (ITFC) , with the support of USAID Competitive Economy Program in Ukraine (USAID CEP) identified that despite a significant portion of respondents still believing that female entrepreneurship does not differ substantially from general entrepreneurship, every year, there is a growing number of those who recognise the unique characteristics and challenges that women entrepreneurs face. This may reflect both increased awareness of various aspects of female entrepreneurship and changes in social and economic conditions.
???? The Ukrainian respondents noted what they saw the positive changes: female’s entrepreneurship is gradually gaining more recognition and support.
10 out of 10 female entrepreneurs claim that Ukraine has all the opportunities for the development of female entrepreneurship.
The 2023 survey found that female entrepreneurs lacked the most resources for development, including financial resources (25%). Among the sources of funding, women mention the need for government support, affordable loans, reduced tax burden, and information on grant programmes. ?
Overall, the survey results show that to support female entrepreneurs, it is necessary to provide access to a variety of resources, including financial, educational, and informational, as well as to create conditions for emotional support and partnership.
Read more articles on my blog >> SME/Projects/Women Leadership:
If you want to discuss or pioneer in this topic, feel free to contact me >> ?? [email protected]
Specialist in launching & growing digital products, online courses, programmes + SaaS | Launch Strategy + Planning | Freelance Marketing Consultant & Manager | GTM |
1 个月Personally I’ve not been given opportunities mid to late pregnancy - instead of asking about the maternity leave I was taken - an opportunity was taken away from me. When my eldest was a toddler I wasn’t given a contract because I had a child, exact words said by a woman founder who had 3 young children. It’s crazy how much gender bias can come from women too.
CEO and CoFounder, WMarketplace | Author, Breaking Borders | Speaker | Global Sales and Marketing Leader | C200 Member
1 个月Thank you for sharing. We DON"T have 169 years for have equality. Gender equity is good for all.
Applying behavioral science to do good better
1 个月Thank you so much for this -- the research shows inequality is equally bad for men! Here's a blog post I wrote a while back about a global study of "The Women are Wonderful Effect": https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/think-women-wonderful-heres-why-thats-problem-sara-isaac/
Strategist Economist Innovator
1 个月In my point, all talks about entrepreneurship devided by gender quite funny, especially in 21th century. If woman capable of doing business she should do it. Self-confidence and support within the family are another thing. Obviosly all rights and base opportunities must be equil for everyone. I personally know women who are better that men in business.