An analysis said domestic women small business owners posted higher operating margins than men small business owners, showing their capability for "practical management." Their sales scale is smaller by comparison, but they are continuing solid growth based on stable profitability.
The Women's Enterprise Support Center's Women's Economic Research Institute on the 15th published a report, "Characteristics and implications of women small business owners," and announced the results of its analysis of the management status and policy demands of women small business owners.
According to the report, the average sales of women small business owners was 133 million won, about half that of men small business owners (246 million won). However, the operating margin was 15%, 3.2 percentage points higher than that of men small business owners (11.8%), it was found.
The Women's Economic Research Institute said, "This result shows that women small business owners, despite their relatively small sales scale, are securing stable profitability and generating solid management performance."
Women small business owners also showed a clear tendency to be concentrated in certain industries. Among all women-led enterprises, the share accounted for by small business owners reached 97.5% (3,287,455), and they had a higher share than men in lifestyle-focused service sectors such as education services and accommodation and food services.
The biggest difficulty women small business owners face in running their businesses was the "burden of balancing work and family." The burden level for that item was the highest, at 51.9 points on a 100-point scale. Because a high share of women small business owners are sole proprietors, critics noted that work gaps caused by childbirth and childcare are highly likely to translate directly into management risk.
The Women's Economic Research Institute emphasized, "To strengthen the competitiveness of women small business owners, along with advanced digital sales channel support, a seamless work-family balance safety net that allows even small-scale business owners to focus on their livelihoods without care-related worries should be established as soon as possible."