While female entrepreneurs in Canada are on the rise, a study commissioned by Salesforce.com Inc. and The Gandalf Group shows that they are not breaking into science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) at the same rates as they are with other industries.
Released just ahead of International Women’s Day, the study shows 53 per cent of businesses led by females have existed for five years or less, compared to 34 per cent for their male counterparts; which suggests that women are starting businesses at a greater rate in recent years than men.
Despite this surge, it is twice as likely for a man to open up a STEM-related business (13 per cent of women surveyed had businesses in STEM, compared to 25 per cent of the men).
The statistics within this study seem to show that this is due to some struggles that women are experiencing more often than men; struggles that seem to be experienced more greatly in STEM than any other industry.
And yet, the findings showed that female entrepreneurs across all industries actually found it a little easier to implement new technology in their business than their male counterparts.
So what is leading to this discrepancy within the STEM industry? Some of the main struggles outlined by the study are achieving work-life balance, acquiring capital, and undervaluation of their product or service by consumers.
Almost two-thirds of the women who were surveyed said they experienced struggles in those areas compared to less than half of the men surveyed. Two-thirds of women say they struggled with their work-life balance (compared to 48 per cent of men), 63 per cent of women had troubles acquiring capital (compared to 40 per cent of men), and 61 per cent of women say they felt their products or services was undervalued by consumers (compared to 41 per cent of men).
You can read the full report here.