Mastercard: Gender Bias as a Prevailing Roadblock to Parity for Women’s Entrepreneurship

16:03 - 9.03.2018


The common thread that restrains progress for women entrepreneurs around the world is the perception of gender bias, according to the second edition of the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE). The Index indicates that gender-related cultural biases were present across both emerging and developed markets, creating significant roadblocks hindering female business owners from advancing and realizing their full potential.  

Mastercard’s research tracks the progress and achievement of women entrepreneurs and business owners across 57 markets spanning five geographic regions – Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and North America. In the wake of global movements to close the gender pay gap and end sexual harassment in the workplace, conversations on gender parity have grown louder and galvanized an impetus for global social change.

Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs – Top 10 markets with the strongest supporting conditions and opportunities for women to thrive as entrepreneurs

1. New Zealand – 74.2

2. Sweden – 71.3

3. Canada – 70.9

4. United States – 70.8

5. Singapore – 69.2

6. Portugal - 69.1

7. Australia – 68.9

8. Belgium - 68.7

9. Philippines – 68.0

10. United Kingdom – 67.9

Overall, the Index suggests that women entrepreneurs appear to thrive better in more developed economies, as shown in the Index’s top three markets, New Zealand (74.2 points, 1st), Sweden (71.3, 2nd) and Canada (70.9, 3rd). Compared to their peers in emerging markets, women business owners in developed ones were able to draw from a greater pool of enabling resources and opportunities, including access to capital, financial services and academic programs.  

However, the Index indicates two key exceptions to this trend. For instance, developed markets with strong enabling conditions are not immune to cultural bias against female entrepreneurship. Japan tracked the largest decline in scores on the Index (55.4 to 51.1, 46th), dragged down by a significant decline in activity rates for women entrepreneurs (-30.9). Findings suggest that this decline could be attributed to prevailing discourse, which perceives women as inferior to men in both social and corporate settings.

More encouragingly, Mastercard’s research also suggests that the opportunity for entrepreneurship is not necessarily aligned to the pace of a market’s economic development. Emerging economies such as Ghana (46.4 percent) - one of the Index’s three newly added markets along with Malawi and Nigeria - Uganda (33.8 percent) and Vietnam (31.3 percent) were found to have higher women business ownership rates, compared to more developed ones. Women in these markets are deemed as necessity-driven entrepreneurs, spurred by a need for survival despite their lack of financial capital and access to enabling services.

Women business owners as a percentage of all business owners – Top 10 markets

1. Ghana – 46.4%

2. Russia – 34.6%

3. Uganda – 33.8%

4. New Zealand – 33.0%

5. Australia – 32.1%

6. Vietnam – 31.3%

7. Poland – 30.3%

8. Spain – 29.4%

9. Romania -28.9%

10. Portugal – 28.7%

The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs tracks female entrepreneurs’ ability to capitalize on opportunities granted through various supporting conditions within their local environments and is the weighted sum of three components:

  • Women’s Advancement Outcomes
  • Knowledge Assets and Financial Assets
  • Supporting Entrepreneurial Conditions.

The full version of the research is available here: https://newsroom.mastercard.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MIWE_2018_Final_Report.pdf

 

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