Women, Education and the Self-employed

There is no shortage of surveys, studies and polls to tell us where we stand on certain matters. And in the last month there have been quite a few of these research projects relating to the self-employed. The most recent of those takes a look at self-employed women. Released from the Small Business Administration, Human Capital and Women's Business Ownership, compares self-employed women to both wage-earning (non self-employed) women and to self-employed men. Among the most significant findings are that self-employed women are more likely to have a higher education - attained at a faster rate, are typically older (over 40) and have some type of managerial experience in a current or previous occupation. Additionally, the survey indicated that self-employed women worked in industries dominated by men, as compared to their wage-earning counterpoints.

What does this all mean? Well, like most studies, it is a snapshot of self-employed women during a given period of time. In this case, the study was conducted from 1994 to 2006. And, if you look at the data, it can also be an indicator of where trends related to self-employed women are headed in the future. From the point of consulting, it may be that women will increasingly seek a higher level of education to provide them with the opportunity to work for themselves, and in industries that have not before had a great amount of participation by women, or in niche consulting industries. Similarly, it might be that women use an initial wage-earning career in a management or administrative role to springboard their goals for self-employment. Perhaps it would be interesting to see a survey that showed whether or not the number of women in the consulting field have grown. Any takers?