Barriers to advancing high-growth women entrepreneurs and founders

Abstract

The main aim of this thesis is to analyze three different areas of policy-making that are essential to supporting women in entrepreneurship and innovation. Namely, political priorities, policy design and implementation, and networks. In this thesis, I argue that the Canadian government needs better capacity for policy-making, and to do so must be informed of important barriers and drivers that impact women entrepreneurs and founders success. The literature review suggests that women founders and entrepreneurs are not being considered first, nor has the Canadian political agenda for increasing participation in entrepreneurship and innovation been developed with a gender bias towards women. This thesis uses a two-stage case analysis method and conducts interviews with twenty-four high growth women entrepreneurs and founders. The findings reveal that women entrepreneurs and founders continue to experience the same constraints, such as, access to financing, education, networking, and industry support. The main implications of this study suggest new barriers not yet researched that exist for women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in Canada. This work will inform new policy design and increase the strength of policy implementation to further the Canadian federal priority of advancing women in entrepreneurship and innovation.