Up to 60 percent of self-employed women choose entrepreneurship for its flexibility
While entrepreneurship and small businesses are considered the backbone of the Canadian economy, one sub-category of this sector is growing fast - the "mompreneur."
The last 20 years have seen a 200 percent increase in the number of women-owned Canadian small businesses, while the number of self-employed Canadian women has been rising in the past two decades and now stands at approximately one-third of all self-employed workers, Industry Canada reports.
This growth is likely fueled by "lifestylers" - Canadian small business owners that choose entrepreneurship not for its growth opportunities but as a way to have a healthier work-life balance.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) reports that more than 70 percent of Canadian women who run a small business are married and almost one-third have children under the age of 12. This led the CFIB to conclude that 60 percent of self-employed women can be categorized as lifestylers.
"Having my own business gives me the flexibility that I just wouldn't have working for someone else," Newmarket-based founder of Grace Announcements - and mother of two - Lindsay Brewda told the Toronto Star. "If I want to drop what I'm doing in the middle of the day so that I can take the kids to the park - I can… that's just not possible when you work in a traditional environment."
