EXPERT PANEL | Unequal entrepreneurship

Twice as many men as women run businesses in Sweden. What are the reasons for unequal entrepreneurship? What concerns and bright spots do researchers see in terms of gender equality in entrepreneurship and small business? And what needs to be done to make it more equal? We ask an expert panel of three professors and one associate professor.

Carin Holmquist, Professor Emerita of Entrepreneurship, Stockholm School of Economics: “Those who talk about gender inequality in entrepreneurship as a problem are imposing guilt on women.”
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Malin Malmström, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Luleå University of Technology: “Public funding needs to be redirected to women entrepreneurs in women-dominated industries.”
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Magdalena Markowska, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Umeå University: “The key to gender-equitable entrepreneurship is a gender-equitable society in general.”
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Lucia Naldi, Professor of Business Administration at Jönköping University: “The most important thing women themselves can do is to find the right partner.”
TO THE INTERVIEW

Read also:
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
BOOK TIP | Women in the minority in the tech world

In-depth reading:
Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth’s final report to the government on women’s entrepreneurship (2023) + other underlying reports to the final report.

Anita Du Rietz, Kvinnors entreprenörskap under 400 år (2013), DialogosFörlag/Centrum för Näringslivshistoria.

Malmström, M., Burkhard, B., Sirén, C., Shepherd, D., & Wincent, J. (2023). A meta-analysis of the impact of entrepreneurs’ gender on their access to bank finance. Journal of Business Ethics.

Malmström, M., Voitkane, A., Johansson, J. & Wincent, J. (2020). What do they think and what do they say?: Gender bias, entrepreneurial attitude in writing and venture capitalists’ funding decisions. Journal of Business Venturing Insights.

Malmström, M., Voitkane, A., Johansson, J., & Wincent, J. (2018). VC Stereotypes About Men and Women Aren’t Supported by Performance Data. Harvard Business Review.

Malmström, M., Johansson, J., & Wincent, J. (2017) We Recorded VCs’ Conversations and Analyzed How Differently They Talk About Female Entrepreneurs. Harvard Business Review.

Yang, T., Kacperczyk, A., Naldi, L. (2024). The Motherhood Wage Penalty and Female Entrepreneurship, Organization science (Providence, R.I.), 35(1).

Wu, Z., Naldi, L., Wennberg, K., Uman, T. (2024). Learning from Their Daughters: Family Exposure to Gender Disparity and Female Representation in Male-Led Ventures, Management science, 70(2).

Markowska, M., Ahl, H., & Naldi, L. (2023a). Fix the Structures, Not the Women: The Case for Norm Critical Entrepreneurship Education. In A. C. Corbett, L. D. Marino, & G. A. Alsos (Eds.), The Age of Entrepreneurship Education Research: Evolution and Future (Vol. 23, pp. 51-63): Emerald Publishing Limited.

Markowska, M., Ahl, H., & Naldi, L. (2023b). Timeout: The Role of Family-Friendly Policies in Business Start-Up Among Mothers. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 47(4).

Markowska, M., Ahl, H., & Naldi, L. (2023) Women entrepreneurs doing and undoing their motherhood. . Paper presented at the RENT XXXVII, Gdansk, Poland.

Naldi, L., Baù, M., Ahl, H., & Markowska, M. (2021). Gender (in)equality within the household and business start-up among mothers. Small Business Economics, 56(2).