major factor inhibiting of women entrepreneurs

major factor inhibiting of women entrepreneurs

In the 30 years since Schwartz‟s pioneering research, numerous studies have examined the motivations of women entrepreneurs, their personal attributes, background characteristics, access to resources, choice of business, venture performance, management styles, and the obstacles faced by them. Several studies suggest that women entrepreneurs belong to middle or upper class families, have self-employed fathers, are educated to degree level, are married with children and started their businesses after gaining relevant business experience at the age of 40-45 years . Education plays a major role at start-up, in terms of distinguishing between women who start non-traditional and traditional businesses, with the former being the ones with higher educational attainment . Research suggests that women start businesses for different reasons than men. While men want to be their own bosses, women want personal challenge and satisfaction . Access to capital has been found to be the major factor inhibiting women entrepreneurs. This may be related to the derogatory stereotypes associated with women entrepreneurs  and to their choice of business .