Member Article

Female entrepreneurs not just 'jumping ship'

Women in their 40s and 50s are being driven to take the entrepreneurial plunge by a variety of factors, not just their frustration with the corporate world, a study has shown. The so-called ‘glass ceiling effect’ – the idea of unofficial male bias in large corporations – is often cited as a reason why women decide to become their own boss.

However, a new study by the Newcastle Business School at Northumbria University (NBS) has shown that under-representation at board level is by no means the only factor driving middle-aged women to go it alone. Assuming this is the case ignores a far more complex reality, the report said.

Instead, the study into female entrepreneurship in the North East found that a combination of organisational sexism, personal and domestic circumstances and the need to gain independence and control is driving more women aged between 45 and 55 to set up their own businesses.

Nicola Patterson, a graduate tutor at NBS and author of the report, said: “It is no longer enough to suggest that these women either jumped the corporate ship or gained new wings. All of the entrepreneurs’ career transitions were triggered by an event, or an accumulation of events, which simultaneously drove them away from employment and into the arms of entrepreneurship. The glass ceiling is still there, but is no longer the only decisive factor for women.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .