Women in Business a Growing Wave

Source:
About.com: Small Business: Canada

Source URL:
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/womeninbusiness/a/bizwomengrow.htm

Body:
By Susan Ward, About.com
In the past 15 years, there has been a 50 percent increase in the number of self-employed women in Canada, and one million Canadian women will own a small business by 2010, according to a report released by the CIBC, "Women Entrepreneurs: Leading the Charge". There are now 800,000 women business owners in Canada and the number of women-owned businesses is growing 60 percent faster than those run by men.
Reading this report provides interesting insights into what the "typical" Canadian business woman is like as well as raising some intriguing issues. For instance, we're all familiar with the income disparity between men and women (in the general work force, according to Statistics Canada, women earn, on average, 80 cents for every dollar earned by a man), but were you aware that women in business are less likely to bother to grow their businesses? The report suggests that 60 percent of self-employed women are "lifestylers" - business owners who chose self-employment specifically to balance the demands of work and family. This won’t surprise you, as 70 percent of Canadian business women are married and nearly a third of them have children under the age of 12.
However, it may surprise you to know that the fastest growing group of business women are those over 55, with an annual growth rate of over 4 percent, double that of self-employed men in the same age group. The CIBC calls “seniorpreneurs” a key driver of small business growth.
As for the fore-mentioned income disparity, it’s not as bad as it used to be, but it’s still there. Generally, self-employed women don’t earn as much as self-employed men. (See the table on page 11 of the report.) And the gap between self-employed female haves and have-nots is widening. “Self-employed women in sectors such as retail and personal services not only earn significantly less than the average self-employed woman, but significantly less than their male counterparts in the same occupations” ("Women Entrepreneurs: Leading the Charge", page 8).
And 41 percent of women small business owners say that they are not taken as seriously as male small business owners.
A particularly good piece of news is that the growth in women-owned businesses is more likely to be because of choice than poor economic circumstances than ever before. In 2004, only one in five self-employed women who had worked as an employee indicated that she was pushed into going into business for herself because of negative employment circumstances – a rate lower than that of self-employed men, which is one in three.
What is the “typical” Canadian business woman like then? According to this report, she is:

• Highly educated – Nearly one in four self-employed women are university educated as of 2004.

• 41 – The current average age for Canadian business women, although this is increasing as the population ages.

• More likely to be in a professional occupation – Natural and applied sciences, business and finance-related occupations, and technical and professional occupations in the health sector are all mentioned in the CIBC report as arenas of choice for increasing numbers of business women.

• More likely to be a member of a trade association – Almost 40 percent of women sole proprietors are now members – twice the rate of men.

• Less likely to be a immigrant than previously – one in five self-employed women was not born in Canada.

• Her business is a one-person operation. “Women sole proprietors (are) the fastest growing segment of the Canadian small business landscape” ("Women Entrepreneurs: Leading the Charge", page 2).

• If she’s just starting her business, she’s most likely in B.C., Alberta or Ontario. These provinces have the highest rates of growth in terms of women-owned businesses.

If you haven’t read this report, you really should. If you’re a Canadian business woman, it’s fascinating to see how you fit both the new average profile of the Canadian business woman and the trends.
And for both men and women in business, the report provides some tantalizing food for thought about marketing and business opportunities. “Seniorpreneurs” and one-person operations, for instance, are rapidly growing segments of our small business sector, segments that you may want to target with your marketing and/or develop new products and services for.
For more statistics and information about the growth of women-owned businesses in Canada and what the “typical” Canadian business woman is like, see my article, The New Face of Canadian Business Women.