BY JILLIAN KRAMER

It’s expensive to start a business

In fact, according to a new report, the median start-up cost for an entrepreneur is $17,500. Unless, that is, you’re a woman.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s 2015 U.S. Report, completed in collaboration among researchers at Babson and Baruch colleges, female entrepreneurs needed half as much money as their male counterparts to launch their businesses last year. That’s right: After surveying 5,944 entrepreneurs last year, the researchers found that women overwhelmingly reported needing just $10,000 to begin, while men most often reported needing $20,000.

Why is there such a stark discrepancy in required start-up capital? Though the exact reasons were not confirmed, the researchers did have some likely postulations. Women might feel as if they can accomplish their goals with fewer resources than men, the study suggested. Or, because women could have less money to start out with, they use their resources in the most efficient way to make what they do have work.

What’s more, women tend to start more consumer-oriented businesses (think: retail and service), which can be easier to start with a smaller budget. In fact, according to one of the researchers, about three out of every five female entrepreneurs started a business last year that catered to consumers; this compares with just two in five men. Men, on the other hand, often start businesses aimed at serving other businesses, and those tend to cost more.

The GEM report isn’t the only survey that confirms that women use less money than men to start a business: A recent Census Bureau survey found that 43 percent of female business owners use less than $10,000 to launch their businesses, while just 38 percent of men reported the same. And not only are women using less money to start a business, they’re creating more jobs and hiring more workers than their male counterparts.

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