GenderGap in start-up world: study: few women in start-up start-up scene

If a start-up is set up in Germany, according to a study, the founding person is a man in a good four out of five cases. The proportion of women under start-up is only 19 percent and even fell slightly last year. This emerges from a survey of the startup association among 1,800 start-up entrepreneurs and 1,000 students on behalf of the Bertelsmann Foundation.

Hurdles, obstacles and roots in early phase of life

The analysis sees some causes for the narrow proportion of women in early phases of life. Women are slowed down by missing models and stereotypes. Family and entrepreneurship are also difficult for many. Women continued to perform most of the cars work and a family foundation and foundation of the company came together.

The so-called gender gap also had to do with traditional role models that influenced young people’s career preferences. Around two thirds of the male start-up founders had already made their founding plan as a teenager or during their studies. For women, this usually happens later that the priorities are initially different.

Around 60 percent of the students strive for a safe job, which plays an important role for less than a third of the male students. “This shows how social expectations shape the risk awareness of women and men differently.” As a result, women rarely went towards the start-up in early years. The look then changed later: A third of the founders made the decision in the first years of working, another quarter.

Germany cannot do without female potential

Female entrepreneurship does not fail because of the lack of interest, but due to the framework conditions that would have to be better for women, the foundation sums up. “Germany cannot afford to do without the potential of women,” warns the startup association. Especially in times of economic stagnation, the country needs everyone to advance the economy. Start-ups meant new impulses, more dynamics and innovation.