IWA 34:2021— Women’s Entrepreneurship
Advancing women’s employment could add $12 trillion to global GDP and boost some countries’ economic output by as much as 35%. However, according to the 2023 Gender Gap Report, it will take 131 years to close economic gender gaps. Despite the clear business and economic case, global progress is stagnating—but it could be realized by ensuring greater equality and opportunities for women. IWA 34:2021— Women’s Entrepreneurship – Key Definitions And General Criteria establishes definitions that pertain to women’s entrepreneurship.
Gender Inequalities Are Still Prevalent in Business
While women have made strides in advancing gender equity in the workplace, gaps still are prevalent:
- Women earn less: women only make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men
- Women get promoted less frequently: women are 14% less likely than men to be promoted at the company in each year (largely because woman are consistently judged as having lower leadership potential than men even though women research by the Harvard Business Review found that women outscore men in most leadership roles)
- Women continue to be underrepresented in the highest leadership positions in business: in the United States and Canada only 37% and 35% of leadership positions being held by women, respectively, despite women comprising 47% and 46% of the workforce
Women are therefore faced with specific obstacles that have to be overcome in order to give them access to the same opportunities as men.
What Is IWA 34?
IWA 34:2021 establishes a set of definitions related to women’s entrepreneurship, such as those for women-owned business and women-led business. This standard also defines women-led cooperatives and women-led informal enterprises. These definitions can be used, for example, in women’s economic empowerment programs (such as procurement and trade programs) and for the collection of internationally comparable data on women’s entrepreneurship, including the impact on local and national economies. IWA 34:2021 also provides criteria for evaluating important factors related to these definitions, such as ownership, management, and control, as well as how to handle dilution by investment.
The Importance of Women Entrepreneurship
In 1980, only half of women participated in the workforce compared to nearly 80% of men and only 15% of women held bachelor’s degrees. Today, women make up the majority (56%) of college students and account for 47% of the total workforce in the United States. Additionally, women are founding companies at a historic rate, with more than 14 million women-owned businesses in the United States today, which accounts for nearly 40% of all businesses in the nation.
Women-owned businesses pack a powerful economic footprint of $3 trillion that translates into the creation and maintenance of 23 million jobs—that is 16% of all U.S. jobs. These jobs not only sustain the individual worker but contribute to the economic security of their families, the economic vitality of their communities and the nation. Hence, the importance of women’s entrepreneurship is linked to freedom and equality for women as women’s entrepreneurship has been largely neglected both in society in general and in the social sciences. This has been changing since the late 20th century as women businesses have been making tremendous strides.
IWA 34:2021— Women’s Entrepreneurship – Key Definitions And General Criteria is available on the ANSI Webstore.
