Research on female entrepreneurship: Are we doing enough?

Entrepreneurship has been pointed out by researchers as well as policymakers as one of the main drivers of economic growth and development. Over the years, a great deal of research has been conducted on this topic. However, in many cases the investigation is broad and not gender specific. Females encounter different challenges and barriers when compared to males; hence specific gender based entrepreneurial research could assist in the development and improvement of female entrepreneurship (FE). As research findings may in same cases be used either directly or indirectly to improve or amendment management policies, having more high impact data available could prove to be valuable in certain cases. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to highlight the importance of research on female entrepreneurs as a separate study field. In addition, this article aimed to determine whether the number of female entrepreneurship related peer reviewed articles appearing in leading entrepreneurship and management journals in the USA and Europe have increased over the decades. The study follows a theoretical investigation while comparing the data obtained from previous studies conducted from 2003 to current data. Results demonstrate that amongst the 14 leading management and entrepreneurship journals investigated, just one published more than 10 percent of its articles on female entrepreneurial and business management topics. These findings further indicate that, although research on female entrepreneurship as a focussed study field has slightly increased over the decades, there is still room for improvement. Initiatives such as special journal editions on this field could assist in increasing the number of peer reviewed academic research articles and studies carried out on this topic.