I’d really like to know how self-employed women differ from their wage- and salary-earning counterparts.
Because we are different. I just can’t put my finger on exactly how.
Neither can the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy. In a study released last month — “Human Capital and Women’s Business Ownership” — the office makes only vague and largely obvious connections in an examination of census data from 1994 to 2006. In general, self-employed women tend to be older, are better educated and have more managerial experience than wage and salary earners, the study concluded..
Specifically:
•Earnings data show that the self-employed were most likely to be either in the lowest or highest quartile.
•High percentages of the self-employed were in the 40-49 and 50-59 age groups.
•A much lower percentage of self-employed women have 36-to-45-hour workweeks, but higher percentages work either less than 25 hours or more than 46 hours compared to wage- and salary-earning women.
These subtle data points are interesting, yes, but they tell us nothing about motivation.
However, there is a key point in this study that I think speaks to the real differences in women who become self-employed. The study’s authors note that self-employed women appear to be branching out of industries traditionally associated with women.
In an examination of data from 2003 to 2006, the authors said: “More wage- and salary-earning women than self-employed women were active in the industries with a high percentage of women-owned businesses (education and health services only), while more self-employed women were active in the industries with a medium percentage of women-owned businesses (wholesale and retail trade, financial activities, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and other services).”
Now, your brain may hurt trying to make sense of that analysis, but I think it does speak to an interesting theory:
Women business owners are more willing to explore new frontiers. They are generally braver than wage and salary earners. Education helps embolden many of them. As does hitting the “glass ceiling” in their careers.
Of course, maybe they just seem brave to me, your typical wage and salary earner.
Note: For a complete copy of the SBA report, which also compares self-employed men and women, go to www.sba.gov/advo.
Join the discussion
Share your observations and experiences about news. Lively, open debate is the goal, but please refrain from personal attacks or comments that are racist, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. If you see an inappropriate comment, please click the "Report as violation" link to notify a KansasCity.com editor. Thanks for your feedback.