The participation of women in business life as entrepreneurs has been increasing in recent years. If in 2000 the proportion of women starting firms was barely in double digits, it has exceeded one fifth in recent years.
In the statistics shown below, we define an entrepreneur as the CEO of a new firm that also controls at least 50% of the firm's equity.
The absolute number of female entrepreneurs has been on a significantly increasing trend in recent years.
(The increase in both groups of entrepreneurs after 2011 is linked to the decrease in the minimal capital required to start a limited liability firm and lower auditing requirements. There is also some volatility coming from the Covid shock.)
The proportion of female entrepreneurs has been on an upward trend throughout the period, it is higher than the proportion of women CEOs in established firms - and double that of women CEOs in established large firms.
It is generally thought that entrepreneurs tend to be young. Indeed, older populations have been found to be associated with lower entrepreneurship rates.
However, the age profile of people starting new firms spans a wide range, and the average age is above 40. There are no large differences between the ages of male and female entrepreneurs, and the average age has been quite stable over time.
The size of the firms started by male and female entrepreneurs tends to be fairly similar.
The graph below presents the log of total assets (in million kroner) for new firms starten by women (in red) and men (in blue). Men are slightly more represented among the very small and the very large firms. The graph also shows the importance of minimum capital requirements to start a firm.
A similar overlap is also visible if we look at the initial revenues (log of sales in million kroner) of new firms.
On average, firms started by male entrepreneurs seem to be more profitable than firms started by female entrepreneurs, but the difference has become smaller in recent years. The graph below presents the return on assets over the first 5 years in the life of firms started in a particular year. Firms with female entrepreneurs are in red, and firms with male entrepreneurs are in blue.
The survival rates and growth rates of the two groups of firms during their first 5 years are similar.