Key Small Business Statistics - July 2006

How many small business entrepreneurs are women?

There is no easy way to precisely determine the number of entrepreneurs in Canada, much less the number of women entrepreneurs. However, it is possible to estimate the number using available data on self-employment and business ownership.

Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey reports there were 866 000 self-employed women in Canada in 2005, accounting for about one third of all self-employed persons. (While not all of the self-employed would identify themselves as entrepreneurs, the number of self-employed women provides an upper limit for the number of female entrepreneurs.^{Footnote 10}) Over the past 10 years, the number of self-employed women has grown by 23 percent, compared with 20 percent growth in male self-employment.

Another way to count entrepreneurs is through business ownership. The report entitled Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Financing in Canada, 2002^{Footnote 11} distinguishes four types of business ownership^{Footnote 12} based on gender: majority female ownership, equal partnership between male and female owners, minority female ownership and no female ownership.

Based on the Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2001, it is estimated that 47 percent of SMEs had some degree of female ownership in 2001. Of those, 39 percent were equal partnerships between male and female owners, 38 percent were majority-owned by females and the remainder were minority owners in businesses majority-owned by males. The degree of female ownership varied by industry, but it is clear that the percentage of female-owned businesses lags behind the percentage of majority male-owned businesses in every industry (Figure 11). Nearly one quarter of SMEs in professional services industries are majority-owned by females, while only 3 percent of SMEs in primary industries are majority-owned by females.

Figure 11: Business Ownership Distribution by Sex and Industry, 2001

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Source: Statistics Canada, Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2001.

The survey found that SMEs majority-owned by women were less likely than other SMEs to employ more than 20 employees and also started up more recently than firms that are majority-owned by men. Women owners of SMEs also tended to have fewer years of experience in the industries in which they operated compared with their male counterparts.

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Footnote 10. Some entrepreneurs, especially if they are on the payroll of their own businesses, may not identify themselves as being self-employed; however, this number is likely to be smaller than the number of self-employed who are not entrepreneurs.

Footnote 11. Government of Canada, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Financing in Canada, 2002. The report is based in part on Statistics Canada's Survey on Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2000.

Footnote 12. This report covers only commercial businesses, which represent approximately 64 percent of all business establishments.