Is your business-owner client facing a gender revenue gap?

By Staff, with files from The Canadian Press | August 15, 2018 | Last updated on August 15, 2018
3 min read

A lack of access to capital is one of the biggest challenges for women entrepreneurs, a new study suggests.

The wage gap between men and women has been long-standing—women on average make 74 cents for every dollar of annual salary made by men, according to the most recent Statistics Canada data—but research from PayPal Canada and consulting firm Barraza and Associates suggests that this dynamic also applies to those who own small and medium-sized businesses.

Businesses owned by women generate an average of $68,000 less revenue than similar businesses owned by men, representing a gap of 58%, according to the online survey of 1,000 Canadian small and medium-sized businesses between Jan. 26 and Feb. 28.

Read: Advisors dish up details from the gender divide

The findings suggest that the median annual revenue for businesses owned by men across six different categories of firms, ranging from manufacturing to services, was $118,000, but just $50,000 for those owned by women.

Commenting on the survey of Canadian businesses, Becky Reuber, professor of strategic management at the Rotman Business School at the University of Toronto, cautions it’s difficult to compare businesses based on the gender of the owner, as there is some research that suggests that women tend to start businesses in sectors that have lower-growth rates, such as service-based businesses.

For example, there are fewer women engineers and in turn fewer with the background to start high-tech businesses, which often see higher growth, she added.

When you compare the performance of similar businesses owned by men and women, recent studies have shown that there is no difference, said Reuber.

Read: Progress stalls for women in Canadian C-suites

That being said, there is a difference when it comes to seeking capital from investors, she said.

“There is evidence that some stereotypes play up in that. And women may have more difficulty getting high value investment,” she said.

The Liberal government has prioritized gender equality and increased participation in the workforce. Among the many initiatives aimed at this goal as part of its latest budget, Ottawa has allocated $1.4 billion over three years from the Business Development Bank in new financing for female entrepreneurs and $105 million over five years to help the regional development agencies support women-led businesses.

Different story for advisors’ books

U.S. data on advisory services reveals more nuanced results for advisors’ books when it comes to gender.

PriceMetrix found in 2013 that female advisors tend to have more high-asset relationships (households with more than US$250,000) and fewer small-asset ones (households with less than US$250,000). The median female advisor has 56 large households and 72 small ones, while the median male advisor has 51 large and 78 small households. Female advisors also tend to have more female clients—51% of clients versus 44% for male advisors.

The composition of female advisors’ books—a higher proportion of larger relationships and of female relationships—suggests they may be better positioned for future success. “Given that women are making up more of the workforce and an increasing portion of the investor market, female advisors may again have a greater growth trajectory,” says PriceMetrix in a blog post about the report.

“Ultimately, neither X nor Y chromosomes determine the likelihood of an advisor’s success; the advisor does.”

Read: What it really means to put clients first

About the survey: Research from PayPal Canada and consulting firm Barraza and Associates included an online survey of 1,000 Canadian small and medium-sized businesses, conducted between Jan. 26 and Feb. 28. Online surveys can’t be assigned a margin of error because they don’t randomly sample the population.

About PriceMetrix data: Aggregated data represent 10 million retail investors and over US$4 trillion in investment assets.

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Staff, with files from The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press is a national news agency headquartered in Toronto and founded in 1917.