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Statistics

General:

• Women entrepreneurs are one of the fastest growing segments of the Canadian economy and represent a growing economic force.
• Between 1991 and 2001, women's self-employment expanded by 43%.
• There are more than 821,000 women entrepreneurs in Canada, who annually contribute in excess of $18 billion to Canada's economy.
• 4 out of 5 businesses are started by women.
• 47% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's) in Canada have at least one female owner.
• Women hold majority ownership in 18% of firms in Canada.
• Over 2.6 million people were employed by businesses with at least one woman owner in 2001.
• The average age of woman business owners is 45. Almost 80% are married and over half have children.
• One in 10 women in Canada is self-employed. In 2004, 29% of self-employed women ran an incorporated business, while 68% ran unincorporated businesses.
• At least two-thirds of self-employed women start their own businesses, while one-third buy existing companies.
• Over 80% of Canadian SMEs owned by women are service industries, compared with 59% owned by men.
• The number of women business owners in manufacturing, construction, transportation and communications is growing rapidly.
• Women are responsible for 83% of all consumer purchasing and make 95% of all household financial decisions.
• In 2002, 24% of female tax-filers contributed to an RRSP, up from less than 20% in 1990 and 10% in 1982.
• By 2004, 65% of all women with children under three were employed, more than double the figure in 1976.
• In 2004, 73% of Canadian women with children under 16 living at home were employed, up from 39% in 1976.
• In 2003, over 4.5 million Canadian women - 35% of the total female population - did unpaid work for a volunteer organization.

Trade Related:

• 6.9% of women-owned businesses are exporters.
• Canadian women are selling their products and services all over the world. Women-owned firms are doing business with Canada's most important trading partners. The U.S. is the dominant market where 74% of women exporters are making sales. Sixty percent of women exporters report activity in Asia and 58% sell in Europe.
• Active women exporters generate close to 40% of their sales in foreign markets.
• Women exporters set aggressive growth targets, expecting to increase both total sales and export sales by more than 50% in the next two years.
• Active women exporters have an average 15 years of industry experience. Over 70% have a college or university degree. Close to 30% speak more than one language.
• Thirty percent of women exporters began to export at business start-up and 55% made their first foreign sale within two years of launching the business.

Online:

• Two out of three women in Canada use the internet.
• 57% of women business owners make purchases online.
• 90% of women Internet users are online at least every other day
• The majority of women spend their Internet time gathering information and communicating via e-mail.

Sources: Going Global, Women Entrepreneurs in International Markets, CanadExport Supplement, International Trade Canada, September 2005; The Prime Minister's Task Force Report on Women Entrepreneurs, October 2003; Services to Global Markets: A Profile of Women Who Export Services, Foundation of Canadian Women Entrepreneurs, April 2000; Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship Special Edition, March 7, 2006; Key Small Business Statistics, Industry Canada, January 2005; Women in Canada: a Gender-based Statistical Report, 5th Edition, Statistics Canada, March 2006; Beyond Borders - Canadian Businesswomen in International Trade, Trade Research Coalition, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, 1999; Current Analysis: Canada needs more growth-oriented small businesses, RBC Financial Group; GenderMark International; and Sequentia Communications.

Women Lead Charge in Self-Employment Statistics*

The following article is based on the 2001 Census release (http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/release/
index.cfm). Self-employment is classified under the topic heading "Class of Worker".

Solid economy growth of the late nineties and the dot com bust have taken their toll on entrepreneurship in Canada. The dream of self-employment has lost some of its appeal. The growth rate in the number of self-employed Canadians between 1996 and 2001 was the lowest in 20 years. The 3.3% increase is dramatically less than the 28.2% recorded between 1991 and 1996 and significantly below the 16.3% and 10.4% growth rates recorded between 1981-1986 and 1986-1991 respectively.

Moreover for the first time ever, over the same 20-year period, the overall increase in the Canadian labour force between 1996 and 2001 outpaced that of self-employment. And it was not a marginal difference either. The Canadian labour force grew by more than double the rate of self-employed (7.2% vs. 3.3%). This is a complete turn around from the previous 5 years when the self-employed labour force grew by more than 13 times the rate of the labour force as a whole.

The figures look somewhat bleak but a closer look reveals a vibrant entrepreneurial spirit within the sector as a whole. Between 1996 and 2001, the number of male entrepreneurs increased by a meagre 0.6% while their female counterparts flourished, growing in numbers by 8.0%. Put another way: for every additional self-employed man, there were nearly 7 (6.9) additional women setting up a business.

Many of these women not only generated a job for themselves but created employment as well. More than one in four (26.9%) of new female-lead self-employed businesses employed at least one person other than the owner. The same vigor is not apparent among male entrepreneurs. In fact, there was an actual 2.3% decline in the number of male self-employed businesses with paid help.

This thriving female entrepreneurial activity is not readily apparent on the surface of the 2001 Census results because it is buried beneath years of males dominating the self-employed sector. In 2001, there were 1,861,200 self-employed Canadians. Of those 1,230,750 (66.1%) were men while 630,440 (33.9) were women. This 2-1 dominance greatly influences the total apparent growth rate of self-employment.

Overall, regardless of gender, the majority of self-employed Canadians fall into the 35 to 54 year age group. The fastest growing demographic however is women between the ages of 55 and 64. Over the 5-year period, this group saw a 40.3% increase in self-employment (unincorporated). Part of this growth can be attributed to the population aging. However given the fact that the overall labour force growth rate for this group was 28.1% it is clear that demographics are not the only issue at play. As a comparison, the growth rate of self-employed males in the same age bracket was 17.9% with an overall labour force growth of 19.4%.

Women are not only joining the ranks of self-employment more quickly, they have a distinct approach. Most self-employed businesses are unincorporated however this is more prevalent among female entrepreneurs. Nearly three quarters (73.8%) remain unincorporated as compared to 63.9% of males.

Another trait of women entrepreneurs is they recognize the benefits of working from home. In 2001 there were 525,070 self-employed Canadians working from home. Women headed 45.7% of these home-based businesses. Even more telling is the fact that more than half (52.7%) of all self-employed women work from the home as opposed to 32.3% of men.

Men and women establish their businesses in many of the same sectors; however, there are some unique differences.

For women the top five sectors are:

1. Health care and social assistance
2. Professional, scientific and technical services
3. Other service
4. Retail trade
5. Agriculture, forestry, fishing & hunting

For men the top five sectors are:

1. Construction
2. Agriculture, forestry, fishing & hunting
3. Professional, scientific and technical services
4. Retail trade
5. Other services

For both sexes, farms are the top self-employed business. After that, building construction and building interior work lead for men while child day-care services and personal care services are the leading businesses for women.

It is clear from the latest Census results that women represent the future of self-employment in Canada. For more information and data tables from the latest 2001 Census release, see: http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census01/release/index.cfm

NB: The Census provides insight into the five-year period of 1996 to 2001. It should be noted that two recent studies have indicated that within the last two years overall self-employment and small business activity is back on the upsurge.

* Source: Reprinted from The Business Research Newsletter (March 7, 2003), published by GDSourcing - Research & Retrieval; contact@gdsourcing.com or visit www.gdsourcing.com