NEW DELHI: The share of female founders has grown by 2.68x between 2016 and 2021 as against the share of male founders, which has grown nearly 1.79x during the same period, according to a report released on Wednesday.
New LinkedIn data, published in the World Economic Forum’s 2022 Global Gender Gap Report, reveals despite India having a disproportionately low representation of women in leadership, more women are now seeking entrepreneurship opportunities as compared to men.
The report shows that the growth rate of female entrepreneurship was at its highest in 2020 and 2021. At the same time, the data also highlights a gloomy aspect for women in the workforce, revealing that women are not being promoted internally to leadership in companies at the same rate as men. Men, in fact, are 42% more likely to be promoted into leadership positions than women.
Ruchee Anand, Senior Director, India Talent & Learning Solutions, LinkedIn, says the new data is indicative of one thing, that working women in India are being held back by more barriers in the workplace when compared to men.
“But despite the adversity, many women remain undeterred and continue to chart their own path by pivoting to entrepreneurship and building careers that allow them to work on their own terms with greater flexibility. We saw this, especially in the years of the pandemic (2020 and 2021), when women sheltered from a shrinking job market by starting their own businesses that also created opportunities for other women,” Anand said. However, LinkedIn’s data also reveals that more women are being hired into leadership roles from 8 years ago, shooting up to 24% this year – 1.36x since 2015.