Women entrepreneurship in B.C. continues to grow.
According to the latest data from Statistics Canada, the proportion of self-employed women in B.C. nearly reached an all-time high in 2011, rising to 37.5% of all self-employed people in the provincial workforce.
But while more women are starting their own businesses, the vast majority of them remain sole proprietorships. Nearly three-quarters of self-employed women had no paid help.
And those who have hired help have remained small businesses. According to a 2010 Industry Canada report, 54% of women-owned businesses with staff in 2007 had fewer than five employees. Less than 20% with employees had more than 20 staff.
Those numbers have only marginally changed from data compiled in 2004.
While there are several reasons why women-owned businesses remain small, some argue a growing need exists to help encourage women entrepreneurs to expand their businesses, given business expansion tends to be a low priority for women.
A report released last year by the Canadian Taskforce for Women’s Business Growth suggests a 20% increase in total revenues among majority female-owned enterprises could contribute an additional $2 billion per year for the Canadian economy. (See “Female entrepreneurs remain untapped source of growth for Canada’s economy” – issue 1141, September 6-13, 2011).
Nevertheless, women are taking business ownership in a growing number of industry sectors. In 2010, nearly one-quarter of Canadian businesses in hospitality and food services were women-owned, followed by businesses in the wholesale/retail sector (21%), professional services (20.9%) and manufacturing (13.2%).
Rising women entrepreneurship coincides with continued growth of women in the workforce overall. Nationally, 47.5% of the workforce are women, up from 37.1% in 1976. The numbers in B.C. are similar, with women comprising about 47.6% of the province’s total workforce as of July 2012. That’s up from 37.2% in 1976, according to historical StatsCan data.
According to StatsCan, nearly two-thirds of women with children under the age of 3 were in the labour force, more than double the 27.6% of mothers with young children in 1976.
