Climbing the Entrepreneurial Ladder: The Role of Gender

We investigate whether women and men differ with respect to the steps they take in the entrepreneurial process, distinguishing between five successive steps described by the following positions: (1) "never thought about it"; (2) "thinking about starting up a business"; (3) "taking steps to start a business"; (4) "running a business for less than three years"; (5) "running a business for more than three years". This paper provides insights into the manner in which women and men climb the entrepreneurial ladder and the factors that influence their position on the ladder. We use data from the 2006 "Flash Eurobarometer survey on Entrepreneurship" consisting of more than 10,000 observations for 25 member states of the European Union, Norway, Iceland and the United States. Findings suggest that for men it is easier to climb the ladder and that this may be attributed partly to their higher tolerance of risk.