The Painfully Familiar Reason Women Entrepreneurs Are 47% More Likely Than Men to Close a Business

Women entrepreneurs were 47% more likely than men to close a business because of family or personal reasons in 2024, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM).

The finding comes from a report based on 161,528 adults across 51 countries. It reveals a striking distinction in the reasons entrepreneurs leave business: women were not more likely to close a business overall, but family or personal circumstances featured substantially more often in their decisions.

GEM found that 3.4% of women reported closing a business in 2024, compared with 3.8% of men. Family or personal reasons accounted for 21% of women's business exits, compared with 14.3% among men, producing a women-to-men ratio of 1.47.

Profitability Affected Both Groups Almost Equally

The figures suggest the gender gap cannot simply be explained by women running less profitable businesses or experiencing greater difficulty obtaining finance. A business not being profitable was the most commonly reported reason for closure among both groups, accounting for 29.4% of women's exits and 30.3% of men's.

Problems getting finance were also almost identical, at 16.2% for women and 16.1% for men. The sharper difference appeared in the family or personal category.

GEM researchers said the pattern highlighted the tension some women face when balancing entrepreneurship with caregiving and household responsibilities. The report also cautions against treating the figures as evidence that caregiving alone caused these business exits, because the category covers broader family and personal circumstances.

Women Continue to Enter Entrepreneurship

The closure figures come alongside evidence that women are continuing to start businesses around the world. One in 10 women started a new business in 2024, compared with one in eight men. Women's startup rates increased in 19 of the 47 countries that participated in both the 2023 and 2024 surveys, with Morocco recording an increase from 4.5% to 12.5% and Jordan also seeing a substantial rise.

Women were also at parity with men or higher in bringing new innovations to market in 18 of the 51 countries surveyed. That means the challenge identified by GEM is not simply about getting women to become entrepreneurs. It also concerns whether they can sustain and scale businesses after entering the market.

Investment Remains Heavily Skewed Towards Men

Capital presents another obstacle, even though women and men cited finance problems at almost identical rates when reporting business closures. GEM found that two-thirds of informal investments went to men. More than three-quarters of male investors also invested most recently in other men, according to the report. Women investors, however, were 2.5 times more likely than male investors to invest in women.

The figures point to a continuing imbalance in both sides of the investment market, with women underrepresented as investors as well as recipients of informal funding. GEM recommends broadening investment networks and encouraging more women to participate as angel investors.

Technology Could Shape the Next Growth Gap

The report identifies another potential divide as businesses become increasingly reliant on digital tools and artificial intelligence. Women were less than half as likely as men to be active in information and communications technology (ICT), with 2.3% of women compared with 6.1% of men. Women also rated artificial intelligence as important for their businesses 11% less often than men.

GEM recommends tailored digital literacy and AI programmes, alongside mentorship, training, and support for women entering high-potential sectors. The research therefore presents a more complicated picture than a simple gender gap in business survival.

Women reported fewer business closures overall in 2024, but family or personal reasons were substantially more prominent among the reasons they gave for leaving entrepreneurship. For women who manage businesses alongside responsibilities outside work, the data suggests that keeping a company running can involve pressures that standard measures of profitability and access to finance do not fully capture.