Women and Entrepreneurship: A Gender Comparison in Spain

Abstract

In the institutionalization of men’s and women’s roles in today’s society, three key issues affect women’s entrepreneurial capacity. First, women seek to balance their family and professional lives. Second, capitalist society uses male-dominated values and instrumental rationality to pre-define success. Third, according to the literature, women possess less human capital than men do. Nevertheless, this study does not corroborate the finding that women possess less human capital than men do. Furthermore, results reveal non-significant gender differences in individuals’ perceptions of whether women have the necessary skills to become entrepreneurs and whether society positively values entrepreneurship. This study shows that women’s entrepreneurial potential is very similar to that of men. The study was carried out using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for the period 2001–2010.