EXPERT PANEL | Women’s entrepreneurship – Lucia Naldi

Twice as many men as women run businesses in Sweden. What are the reasons for this? And what are the bright spots for more equal entrepreneurship, according to the researchers? This week we ask an expert panel of three professors and one associate professor. Fourth out is Lucia Naldi, Professor of Business Administration at Jönköping University. She has conducted research on entrepreneurial mothers and fathers.

What is equal entrepreneurship?

– When there are roughly equal numbers of women and men running businesses. But there are many barriers to women starting businesses. For example, it is much harder for them to access capital.

– Then the welfare system is designed for employees. Being self-employed and a mother at the same time is not easy, as it is difficult for entrepreneurs to take advantage of parental benefits such as parental leave. In contrast, motherhood is associated with entrepreneurship and self-employment. 82% of women who start their own business are mothers and 71% of the self-employed. Among men, 77% and 61% respectively are fathers. One explanation could be the so-called maternity pay penalty. This can be described as the negative impact on the pay and pay progression of employed mothers. Employed mothers earn 6-8% less than employed non-mothers. While employed fathers earn 2% more than employed men without children.

– Income differences are independent of factors such as work experience, occupation and hours worked. As long as there is inequality in society in general, there will be inequality in entrepreneurship.

What are the bright spots and concerns you see in the sky when it comes to gender equality in entrepreneurship and small business?

– After all, Swedish society is becoming more equal, and we are moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. But we must recognize that problems remain. We cannot say that the issue of gender equality has been solved. At the same time, it is unfair to compare entrepreneurship in Sweden with all other countries in Europe. In Greece, many people may start businesses because they have no choice, with very low profitability and zero growth – and would rather be employed with good conditions if they could. It would give a more relevant picture of entrepreneurship in Sweden if we compare it with similar countries.

– The worry I see is that many people seem to think that we have come so far with gender equality that we don’t need to work any more on the issues. But we still have a lot to do.

What needs to be done to make entrepreneurship more gender equal?

– As entrepreneurship researchers, we need to pay more attention to gender inequality in education – from the various funding opportunities to the larger issues of family life in relation to entrepreneurship.

– Politicians need to review all issues related to gender equality. From creating equal funding opportunities to building a social security system that also suits women who want to run businesses and have children. Our studies show that women who want to start their own business wait until after their last child to make ends meet.

– The most important thing women themselves can do is to find the right partner. A prerequisite for women to start a business is often that they have an equal relationship at home, a partner who takes equal responsibility for home and children. Otherwise, one option may be to divorce. Women who are divorced have an easier time with entrepreneurship. You then have shared custody and are guaranteed to have the children only 50% of the time. Time is important in entrepreneurship.

Contact lucia.naldi@ju.se

Read also:
Expert panel | Women’s entrepreneurship – Carin Holmquist
Expert panel | Women’s entrepreneurship – Magdalena Markowska
Expert panel | Women’s entrepreneurship – Malin Malmström
2023 Expert Panel: “The state of play on gender equality in entrepreneurship”
DEBATE: Entrepreneurship – the forgotten issue of gender equality
NEW RESEARCH | 4 strategies women use to deal with inequality
NEW RESEARCH | Women run rural businesses for life balance
BOOK TIPS | Policies for women’s entrepreneurship
BOOK TIP | Entrepreneurial women create great value for themselves and others