By: Susan Duffy

A recent report finds that more than 200 million women across the world are starting and running new businesses. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), although men are still 50 percent more likely to become entrepreneurs, women are steadily gaining ground: From 2012 to 2014, this gender gap narrowed by 6 percent, and in ten nations women are now just as likely as men to start new businesses.

These women are bringing innovative products and services to market, creating jobs, driving economic growth and providing for their families and communities. At Babson College’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (CWEL), we’re working to change the entrepreneurial ecosystem, so that we in the United States can soon join the list of countries that fully harness the innovation and leadership potential of their entire populations.

One gender gap we’re concerned about relates to how men and women see themselves as entrepreneurs. According to the GEM report, while women surveyed were nearly as likely as men to identify potential business opportunities around them, they were significantly less likely to view themselves as capable of starting a business to address those opportunities. And they were more likely to fear failure if they did.

In the United States, for example, only 46 percent of women surveyed said they believed they had the skills and knowledge to start a business, compared to 61 percent of the men surveyed.
These findings are part of a broader trend documented in numerous studies, in which men tend to overestimate their professional abilities and performance, while women underestimate their capabilities. In research about members of the U.K.-based Institute for Leadership & Management, half of women managers surveyed reported feeling self-doubt about their careers and work performance, compared to less than a third of men.

Men in that survey showed themselves four times as likely to ask for a raise, and women said they typically asked for less during salary negotiations than did men.

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