The number of Irish women is greater than the number of Irish men.
97.8 men to 100 women in Ireland to be precise.
Women have also outpaced men in third level education with 55.1% of 25-34 year old with a third level education being women.
Even unemployment rate amongst Irish women (7.1%) is less than that of Irish men (9.8%)
The stats seems to show that Irish women are rising to success through work and education like never before.
However, when it comes to starting their own businesses, women only make up 20% of all Ireland’s Entrepreneurs.
Even in the Rubicon centre, 16% of the businesses are female led.
Why is this the case?
In recent research carried out by Mastercard, it was found that female entrepreneurs tend to thrive in very particular environments such as;
- Developed countries where there is a ‘greater pool of enabling resources’.
- Cultures that promote positive perceptions of successful women
- Where entrepreneurship is seen as a ticket to opportunity
When it comes to female entrepreneurship, Ireland doesn’t even make the top 10 for female led businesses. And this shouldn’t be the case!
One of the biggest obstacles to women in the Entrepreneurial sector is gender-bias and poor social and cultural acceptance to women taking on this role of empowerment and success.
These obstacles create a lack of self-belief and is the reason that only 10% of women surveyed said that they wanted to start their own business in the next 3 years.
But….
There is a change afoot. This week National Women’s Enterprise Day was held to celebrate and encourage women who are challenging this belief.
Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys, T.D. launched a national programme of events that took place on Thursday 18th October. 16 Entrepreneurial events took place across the country aiming to get the women of Ireland to go from ‘local to global’.
This week, CIT also saw the WREN graduation. ‘Women’s Rural Entrepreneurship Network’ (WREN) graduated this week from Enterprise Development marking yet another stage in the progression of women in the field of Enterprise and Innovation.
Photo Credit: Daragh Kane
We may not be where we want to be, in regards to the support and success of female entrepreneurs in Ireland but we are going from strength to strength.
This week was a week for women.
But it doesn’t stop here, we need to support, encourage and celebrate the women who are taking the risks and paving the way.
Let’s be the change that we want to see.
