Barriers facing self-employed women. (c2007)

Abstract

Although women, especially in the United States, have been choosing small-business ownership attempting to escape their inequality in the labor market, small businesses owned by women tend to be less successful than those owned by men. This research is considered to be an observation research based on secondary data and in a way some primary data defining the barriers facing the success of self-employed women in the US and in Lebanon. In other words this topic is looking into women's entrepreneurship that has been increasing from year to year in the American market as well as regionally and internationally, more specifically the service sector. The literature surrounding the topic suggests that women's entry into small capitalism resulted from their movement into expanding, but highly competitive, industrial niches that are relatively unattractive to men, like consulting, training, and development. These woman-owned businesses are concentrated within traditionally female-typed fields with lower average business receipts than male-typed fields. This paper brings together the different points of views in order to shed light on women's inability to gain greater parity with men in the small-business arena in Lebanon as well as in the United States. The purpose of this study is to investigate gender differences in initial motivations for starting a business in USA and Lebanon, and finding solutions for women's problems.