Women entrepreneurs in Spain

The social and professional inclusion of women is a current topic, but what is the current situation of women in the entrepreneurial environment in Spain? A few days before March 8, Women's Day, we review the entrepreneurship girly in our country.

In September 2018, Spain Startup-South Summit presented the 2018 Entrepreneurship Map in Madrid for the fifth consecutive year. One of the advances we saw is that, for the first time since the Map was drawn up, the percentage of women startup entrepreneurs grew up to achieve the 22%, four points higher than the previous year. In addition, women-led startups have a lower failure rate, only 22% compared to 51% in projects led by men.

Female entrepreneurship has also grown outside the world of startups: 45% of the entrepreneurial population in our country are already women. The gender gap in the business ecosystem has steadily decreased and has narrowed by 36% in the last ten years. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report, 70% of women entrepreneurs in Spain start their businesses motivated by the opportunities offered by the market.

The GEM highlights that The gender gap continues to narrow among entrepreneurs from all over the world and has introduced a new indicator, the National Entrepreneurship Context Index, which assesses the environmental conditions for entrepreneurship and which places Spain in 16th place out of 54 countries evaluated.

In this business context, we can observe a growing interest in the situation of women in the professional field, where entrepreneurship is increasingly a better option for women. New initiatives exist and continue to appear, both public and private, for promote women and promote the creation of women-led businesses.

For example, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce has the Women's Business Support Program (PAEM), for promotion and support for women's entrepreneurship. On the other hand, we have the National Association of Women Entrepreneurs and Self-Employed Women (ANMEYA), aimed at informing, training and representing this group for promote the full professional integration of autonomous and entrepreneurial women. The Madrid City Council is holding the Women Entrepreneurs Award, to contribute to the recognition of original, creative and innovative projects undertaken by women for promote and promote women's entrepreneurship.

In addition, there are companies that reward female entrepreneurship. An example is the Woman Explorer Award, from Banco Santander in collaboration with the EY Foundation, for distinguish and recognize young women entrepreneurs who lead innovative projects developed in the Explorer program “Youth with Ideas”. IFEMA has presented Women Evolution, a conference for contribute to the personal and professional renewal of women with managerial, entrepreneurial and professional positions, through the connection of their emotions and competencies.

Despite the fact that currently more women are encouraged to start their own businesses and that the figures are increasingly comparable and place women in a very positive way in the business world, the portrait of a Spanish entrepreneur continues to respond in a majority way to young men of approximately 35 years old and with university studies.

According to the GEM, No country in Europe shows gender parity between entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs. The highest rates of women entrepreneurs occur in those places where they are in contact with other people who identify opportunities and have the decision and initiative to carry out actions and organize resources so as not to miss them, that is, with other entrepreneurs! In addition, the presence of women in political and cultural environments also has a positive impact on female entrepreneurship.

Advice and information to women entrepreneurs, as well as their promotion and empowerment, are an important form of contribute to professional development and growth of all those women who decide to take the plunge, and a way to encourage those who haven't done so yet. There is still a long way to go, but little by little we can see the results of the actions that will lead us to achieve gender equality.