The bigger the companies, the less women they lead

The more the size of companies increases, the less women are at their head. In companies with fewer than 50 employees, they are 14%, but in companies with more than 250, more than 6%, according to research presented Thursday by Bpifrance. Public Bank surveyed 417 women managers and 743 managers of SMEs with more than ten employees and medium-sized enterprises (ETIs) employing between 250 and 4,999 people. According to this research, only 12% of SMEs and ETIs are managed by women.

The oft-cited figure of one-third of female entrepreneurs includes, in contrast to the survey, very small enterprises (TPEs) with fewer than ten employees, in which the proportion of female managers is higher. According to Bpifrance research, their average salary is lower than that of men, and this “regardless of company size“. A quarter of them earn less than €50,000 a year, compared to 14% of men, and 5% earn more than €250,000, compared to 11% of men – 79%. According to the results obtained by Bpifrance, it is wrong to assume that women have more difficulties than men in obtaining financing. But business leaders?are slightly more cautious than men about fundraising and financing growthElise Tissier, director of the Bpifrance laboratory that carried out the investigation, explained to AFP. While 37% of female managers of SMEs and ETIs have set up their own business, almost one in three have taken over the family business, compared to one in ten male managers.

Leaders have the same educational level as Leaders, i.e. mostly Bac+5, but “they more often come from business and management fields, where managers prefer a scientific and technical background“. The path of women leaders is often “less linearthan their male counterparts, and they are younger, with an average age of 50 compared to 54 for men. Before taking the helm, female managers were more likely to be non-executives (46%) than executives (36%), while their male counterparts were 52% executives.