New GEM research shows women’s involvement in high-potential entrepreneurship is strong at launch, yet their presence diminishes significantly as businesses mature.
GEM 2025/2026 WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP REPORT – EMBARGOED UNTIL 8 OCTOBER 2026
Improved data leads to improved comprehension, improved governance, and improved funding choices.”— Aileen Ionescu-Somers, Executive Director, GlobalUNITED KINGDOM, October 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — A study involving 150,799 adults from 48 economies reveals that women are strongly engaged in innovation, export, and job-creating ventures, yet high-potential participation plummets between the startup phase and the established-business phase.
VITAL STATISTICS
– 150,799 adults surveyed — GEM 2025 Adult Population Survey
– 48 economies — Covered in the women’s report
– 98% decrease — High-potential activity among women in established businesses versus those in early-stage ventures.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) draws attention to a significant gap in the entrepreneurial journey: while women are actively engaged in high-potential ventures, their numbers dwindle considerably as these enterprises grow older.
The GEM 2025/2026 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report, How Metrics Shape the Narrative, relies on the 2025 GEM Adult Population Survey encompassing 150,799 adults in 48 economies and introduces a new composite high-potential index that factors in product and process innovation, export intensity, and anticipated job creation.
Globally, 12% of women surveyed operated new businesses in 2025, versus 14% of men. Slightly more than half of new businesses qualified as high-potential, with women heading roughly 40% of them. In five nations representing various income brackets—Chile, El Salvador, India, Israel, and Oman—women surpassed men.
The most notable disparity emerges later in the entrepreneurial lifecycle. Women posted a 6.0% rate of high-potential early-stage activity, but merely 0.1% at the established-business stage—a 98% reduction. The report contends this trend underscores the need to examine survival and expansion, not just entry into entrepreneurship.
Women show robust participation across high-potential measures. They made up 44% of entrepreneurs emphasizing digitalization, 43% of those reporting AI innovation, 42% of those with product and process innovation, and about 40% of those aiming for international markets.
Investment also reveals differences. In 2025, 6.7% of women reported recent business investment, compared to 9.2% of men, with women investing roughly one-third less capital on average. Around 70% of informal investment globally flowed to male entrepreneurs.
PRIMARY OUTCOMES
What the data reveals
The report shifts focus from merely starting businesses to the entire entrepreneurial lifecycle—covering innovation, investment, survival, scaling, and exit
ENTREPRENEURIAL LIFECYCLE
– In 2025, the women-to-men ratio in established business ownership stood at 0.69, representing the most pronounced gender gap across all lifecycle stages.
– Women cited family or personal reasons for exiting a business 55% more often than men (20% vs. 13%).
HIGH-POTENTIAL ACTIVITY
– Women led approximately 40% of high-potential new businesses worldwide.
– Women accounted for 33% of entrepreneurs anticipating 20 or more jobs within five years and 37% expecting export revenue exceeding 25%.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The report outlines six policy and practice directives: measure what matters; back survival and scaling, not just startups; broaden women’s access to digital and innovation networks; bolster women’s investment networks; open additional sectors to high-potential entry; and directly tackle caregiving burdens.
CONTRIBUTORS
– Amanda Elam, Babson College, GEM Global (lead author)
– Mahsa Samsami, Chemnitz University of Technology, University of Agder, Stellenbosch University, GEM Global (data analysis)
– Fatima Boutaleb, Hassan II University of Casablanca, GEM Morocco
– Maya Dougoud, Fribourg School of Management, HEG-FR, HES-SO, GEM-GERA Board, GEM Switzerland
– Ulrike Guelich, Bangkok University School of Entrepreneurship and Management, GEM Thailand
– Natanya Meyer, University of Johannesburg, GEM South Africa
– Mónica Río Nevado de Zelaya, Francisco Marroquín University, GEM Guatemala
RELEASE
REPORT AVAILABLE — 8 OCTOBER 2026
The GEM 2025/2026 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report, How Metrics Shape the Narrative, will be accessible on the GEM website starting 8 October 2026.
LAUNCH WEBINAR — 15 OCTOBER 2026
GEM will hold a launch webinar with researchers and experts discussing the report’s findings and their implications for women’s entrepreneurship, survival, and scaling.
REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uiIxJXKxSS2pipqhIjSy3w
ABOUT GEM
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a worldwide research initiative focused on comprehending entrepreneurship and the factors that shape it. For 26 years, GEM has delivered comparable entrepreneurship data through extensive adult population surveys and expert evaluations across global economies.
MEDIA CONTACT
Georgia Gut
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
ggut@gemconsortium.org
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
YouTube
