Global survey data show women starting businesses at slightly lower rates than men and owning fewer businesses that last beyond 3.5 years. The reasons remain unproven.

In 2023, about one in 10 women started a business, compared with one in eight men, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s (GEM) 2023/24 women’s report. Across the 30 countries covered by the report, the rate of established-business ownership among women stood at 5.9%, up from 4.2% over 25 years. Earlier GEM reports also found women’s established-business ownership rates trailing men’s, but the available data do not establish why the gap persists.

Women’s established-business ownership trails men’s 

GEM defines an established business as one that has paid its owners for more than 42 months. Its 2020/21 report found women made up one in three established business owners worldwide, with an ownership rate of 5.6%. The 2018/19 edition, published by Babson College and Smith College, reported a global rate of 6.2%, about two-thirds of the rate among men.

Rates vary across regions. The 208/19 report recorded a women’s established buainess ownership rate of 11.3% in sub-Saharan Africa and 5.7% in North America. 

These figures offer context, but they do not form a directly comparable time series. GEM’s data come from surveys of individual entrepreneurs, and countries included vary across editions. Differences between reported rates may therefore reflect changes in country coverage as well as changes in entrepreneurship. 

Business exists do not appear to explain the gap

Women do not consistently report higher rates of business discontinuance than men. GEM’s 2018/19 report found a global discontinuance rate of 2.9% for women and 3.2% for men. The 2023/24 report found that women were one-fifth less likely than men to report existing a business.

If closures do not account for the gap, it may emerge before businesses reach the 42-month threshold. GEM’s data do not show at which stage, or why.

Reaching that threshold does not end risk exposure. Eileen Fisher, a U.S. clothing brand founded in 1984, reported revenue of $241 million in 2021, down from $393 million in 2019, the Business of Fashion reported. The company said profits rose over the same period. Founder Eileen Fisher is the majority shareholder, and employees have owned the rest since 2006.

Finance ranks as top obstacle in sub-Saharan Africa study

Researchers have tried to rank barriers within regions. A 2022 study by Oyedele Ogundana of Nottingham Business School analyzed World Bank Enterprise Survey responses from 2,341 women entrepreneurs in 40 sub-Saharan countries. 

The study identified lack of access to finance as the leading obstacle, followed by electricity shortages, informal-sector practices, tax issues and political volatility. 

The findings identify constraints reported by women entrepreneurs in the region, but do not establish that women face these barriers more acutely than men. The study’s abstract describes no comparison with male-owned firms. Its results therefore cannot, on their own, explain the global difference in established-business ownership rates.

Fear of failure rises alongside skills confidence

Women’s perceptions shifted in two directions over two decades, according to GEM’s 2023/24 report. Perceived business opportunities rose 79% and perceived startup skills rose 27%, while fear of failure rose by more than half. GEM says the rise in fear of failure poses new questions for researchers and policymakers.

The report also found women entrepreneurs about 40% more likely than men to report living in a low-income household. That is an observed difference, not evidence that household income causes lower business survival rates. Establishing such a link would require research examining income alongside other factors affecting business development and longevity.

Venture funding tilts toward AI deals

Venture capital reaches only a fraction of businesses, so it is a partial gauge. Startups with at least one female founder raised a record $73.6 billion in 2025, up from $44.7 billion two years earlier, according to PitchBook data reported by Fortune. AI companies took two-thirds of that total. Fortune reported that Anthropic, co-founded by Daniela Amodei, and Scale AI, co-founded by Lucy Guo, skewed the figures.

The aggregate increase therefore needs to be read alongside the concentration of capital in a small number of AI companies. Excluding Anthropic and Scale AI, female-founded startups raised about 13% more in 2025 than in 2024, according to PitchBook data cited by WLRN. Teams made up only of women received about 2% of total funding, Fortune reported.

These figures illustrate the difference between participation in entrepreneurship and access to growth capital. They also show why headline funding totals can obscure how unevenly investment is distributed. Venture funding data cannot explain the experience of all women entrepreneurs, many of whose businesses do not seek institutional capital.

Nykaa, an Indian beauty retailer founded by Falguni Nayar in 2012, went public in 2021. Fortune reported that this made Nayar the first female founder to list an Indian startup valued above $1 billion. Nykaa generated about $760 million in revenue in fiscal 2024, up 24%. One case does not indicate how typical that path is.

Registration counts may miss women’s aims

GEM’s 2022/23 report found women entrepreneurs more likely than men to prioritize sustainability over economic goals. GEM Chair José Ernesto Amorós said support should “look beyond mere statistics” such as business registration numbers and consider women’s motivations and aspirations. 

That broader perspective adds another dimension to the debate. Registration, startup activity, established ownership, business exits and access to capital measure different aspects of entrepreneurship. None alone explains why fewer women reach established-business status. 

Whether rising startup activity will translate into higher established-business ownership remains an open question. Comparable data covering the same countries over time, combined with research tracking businesses from launch through their first 42 months and beyond, would help researchers identify when the gap emerges and which factors contribute to it. Until then, the disparity is documented, but its causes remain unsettled.