Girl Power: 27 Women in Business Statistics

Are you curious about the progress women have made in the business world? In this post, we’re delving into the struggles and successes that female entrepreneurs have witnessed to achieve their goals and follow their deepest entrepreneurial passions through women in business statistics. Let’s get started with some inspiring numbers.

Overview of Women-Owned Business Statistics

When it comes to female-run businesses, there are a lot of stats to look over. Studies are constantly being done to track how females are rising to their own challenges through committing to businesses—in tech, beauty, engineering, arts, and more. Let’s go through some of the top women in business statistics so you can get a better overview of the status of female entrepreneurs.

Women-Run Startups

In 2022, all-women teams raised 1.9% of venture capital funds, while teams with “at least one woman founder” raised 17.2%, a number that’s generally remained the same in the past 10 years. (Source: Pitchbook)

In 2021, 49% of startups were created by women, a big increase from 28% just two years ago in 2019. (Source: Gusto)

In 2018, female startup founders were found to use about two-thirds less capital than male startup founders, while men were likely to be in twice as much business debt as women. (Source: Kauffman)

Women-Owned Small Businesses

In a Shopify study, which polled over 1,500 working moms, more than 60% expressed interest in supplementing their income through entrepreneurship. (Source: Mompowerment)

Between 2007 and 2018, women small business owners increased by 58%. (Source: Zippia)

In 2022, women owned 42% of all small businesses in the U.S. (Source: Zippia)

Self-Employed Women

According to a 2019 survey, the most popular reason why women set out to start their own businesses was to “pursue their passion,” and the least popular reason was to “create their own environment.” (Source: Visa)

A 2023 survey shows that the top industries in which self-employed women start their businesses are retail, health, beauty, fitness services, and food and restaurant services. (Source: Guidant Financial)

Related: How to Start a Catering Business from Home

In the same survey, female business owners stated that their top reason for working for themselves was that they’re ready to be their own boss (27%), that they’re dissatisfied with corporate America (23%), and that they want to pursue their passion (15%). (Source: Guidant Financial)

Minority Women in Business

Two-thirds of African-American entrepreneurs relied on their own personal savings in order to start their business and only 6% were likely to be able to access funds from family members or friends (compared to 10% of white business owners). (Source: Gusto)

Out of the 12.9 million female business owners, the top minority-owned businesses were black and Latina: 21% were owned by black women, and 18% were owned by Latina women (Source: Inc File)

US firms with a majority Black or African American ownership went up 14% between 2017 and 2020, bringing in an estimated $141.1 billion in gross revenue, which was an 11% increase since 2017. (Source: PEW Research)

Loans and Funding for Women-Led Businesses

According to a 2019 survey, 61% of women self-funded their businesses, and 73% of them said that they found it difficult to obtain funding. (Source: Visa)

Women have been found to be less likely to receive venture capital funding or angel investors, and they tend to pay higher interest rates and front more collateral than their male-owned counterparts in similar fields. (Source: Kauffman)

Twenty-nine percent of women found that a big strategy and operational challenge when starting their own business was raising capital and funding. (Source: Visa)

Impact of Women in Business

Of all the female-owned businesses, 54% have family members on staff, and 52% have children under 18. (Source: Visa)

When female business owners were asked how will they use more funding if they had the chance, 25% said they’d want better benefits for their employees, and 16% said they’d want it to go to social or charitable causes. (Source: Visa)

Data from data tells us that B-Corps are 25% women-owned, twice as likely to have majority women engagement, and 67% more likely to have conducted a pay equity analysis by gender, ethnicity, and other demographics (and implement an equal compensation improvement plan). (Source: B Corporation)

Related: How Do I Patent an Idea?

Revenue Generated by Women Entrepreneurs

In 2017, a women-owned company’s average annual revenue was $1,099,286, with an average of 11 years in operation. (Source: Visa)

Between 2021 and 2022, the average revenue earnings of a female-owned business rose 2% to $263,091 per year. (Source: Forbes)

Between 2021 and 2022, the average revenue earnings increased by 27% for women-owned businesses to $57,712 per year. (Source: Forbes)

Contribution of Women in Business

As of 2019, the number of minority-owned women in business reached 50% of the total number of women-owned businesses at 6,417,407. (Source: The Motley Fool)

Women-owned businesses with at least one employee had 10.8 million workers on the payroll in 2019, an increase of 28% compared to 2012. Comparatively, male-owned employers witnessed only a 10.8% growth in overall workforce employment. (Source: SCORE)

Females tend to donate to nonprofits as a way to address community problems, while 60% of men say they donate because of the tax benefits. (Source: Forbes)

Challenges Faced by Businesswomen

According to a 2019 survey, 35% of surveyors felt that men have it easier when it comes to negotiating contracts with employees and suppliers. Additionally, 34% felt that men have it easier when it comes to raising funds. (Source: Visa)

For every 100 men who are promoted from an entry-level position to a manager, only 87 women are promoted and only 82 women of color are promoted. (Source: Lean In)

At the start of 2022, the people in VP positions at companies were represented as follows: 54% of white men, 24% of women, and 8% of women of color. (Source: Lean In)

Related: 5 Questions to Answer Before You Register a US-Based Business

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