Similarities and Differences Across the Factors Associated with Women’s Self-employment Preference in the Nordic Countries

Abstract

The trend in women’s self-employment appeared to be upward in the 1980s and 1990s, but women are still less likely than men to start new businesses. The economic growth potential in most industrialized countries is gendered, and with lack of paid employment opportunities, more hopes are targeted towards women’s entrepreneurship. We will explore women’s self-employment preferences across Scandinavian countries,1 and the influence and importance of societal and individual factors affecting self-employment preferences and their similarities and differences. Perception of self-employment skills arises across the countries as the most salient factor predicting self-employment preference. The multivariate models differ across the countries, thus challenging the existence of a universal Scandinavian model that explains the entrepreneurial activities of women. This article makes two contributions. First, we show that gender has become a key element in new firm formation activities. Second, we contribute to entrepreneurial theories by demonstrating similarities and differences across the countries and adding the importance of structural issues for explaining gender and entrepreneurial activities.