Pavel Danilyuk
The proportion of majority women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) appears to be increasing. Averaging the quarterly Canadian Survey on Business Conditions reports, WEKH researchers estimate that 18 per cent of businesses, including small, medium and large businesses, are majority owned by women in Canada (SMEs account for 99.8 per cent of these), said the report.
It said previous research showed that 16.8 per cent of SMEs in 2020 were majority women-owned, an increase from 15.6 per cent in 2017. Another study indicated that the gap between women and men in terms of entrepreneurial intent is narrowing.
Other report highlights include:
- The gap between men and women in reported total early-stage activity (TEA), which measures intent, increased from 65 per cent of the men-established businesses rate in 2021 to 81 per cent of the men-established businesses rate in 2022;
- The gender innovation gap has narrowed: women show the same rate of goods and services innovation as men at 14.5 per cent;
- Majority women-owned SMEs are significantly more likely to implement marketing innovations than men-owned SMEs, at 26.1 per cent vs 9.8 per cent, respectively;
- One-half of early-stage and one-third of established women entrepreneurs in Canada increased their use of digital technologies to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Indigenous women, Black women and other racialized women face significant barriers;
- Statistics Canada data on the ownership characteristics of SMEs owned by immigrants indicates that in the South Asian, Black and Chinese communities, women make up a higher proportion of entrepreneurs than in the general population.
“Despite the challenges, many women entrepreneurs adapted and pivoted to survive the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only have they narrowed the gap with men entrepreneurs in terms of representation, but also innovation and export. These are significant and optimistic changes. And while we need more data, I am particularly encouraged that the gap in terms of entrepreneurial aspirations is also decreasing,” said Wendy Cukier, the report’s lead researcher and founder of the Diversity Institute at the Ted Rogers School of Management at the Toronto Metropolitan University.
(Mario Toneguzzi is Managing Editor of Canada’s Podcast. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald, covering sports, crime, politics, health, faith, city and breaking news, and business. He works as well as a freelance writer for several national publications and as a consultant in communications and media relations/training. Mario was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list)
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