Economy Ministry: 43% of women want to open own business, but only 26% do
The findings further found significant gaps between men and women with regards to the entrepreneurial process, from the formulation of an idea until its implementation.
By LIDAR GRAVÉ-LAZIUpdated: FEBRUARY 25, 2018 14:23Israel's Economy Minister Eli Cohen(photo credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)
Only one in four businesses in Israel is owned by women, according to a survey the Economy Ministry released.The ministry presented the survey, which examined the status of female entrepreneurship in Israel, at the “[Women] Connected to Business” Conference in Airport City.According to the survey published on Tuesday, 43% of women are interested in opening their own business, compared to 54% of men.However, only 31% of women operate or are currently in the process of opening up their own business, compared to 41% of men.The findings further found significant gaps between men and women with regards to the entrepreneurial process, from the formulation of an idea until its implementation.Some 42% of women said that they had come up with an idea for opening a business, compared to 51% of men. Of these women, 38% examined the feasibility of opening up the business, compared to 53% of the men. Finally, only 34% of these women implemented their idea and opened up their own business, compared to 40% of the men.The main obstacles to opening a business among both men and women included fear of losing a steady income (57%), of the business failing (43%), losing the investment (42%) and difficult competition (28%).However, women expressed a much higher rate of obstacles such as a lack of experience in self-marketing – 28% among women compared to 21% among men – and 22% of women said their main obstacle was a lack of financial knowledge.“In recent years, women have led in successes as employed managers of companies, important and significant organizations in the economy in a variety of fields, but they are much less present in business entrepreneurship and certainly there is a significant gap relative to their share of the population,” Economy Minister Eli Cohen said of the findings.AdvertisementCohen said that reducing these gaps in women’s participation in entrepreneurship was “essential for economic growth.”The survey was conducted by the Geocartography Institute in January among 1,000 male and female respondents aged 18 and above.
