New Delhi: While the number of startups in India has grown significantly to 80,000 in 2022 from 6,000 in 2017, the share of women-led startups has not kept pace with this growth, a new report has found.
In 2017, women-led startups accounted for only 10 percent of the total, and in 2022, only 18 percent — less than one out of every five startups. This gender gap is more evident when it comes to Unicorns — startups valued at more than $1 billion.
The report aims to understand the drivers for gender diversity across employment levels and spotlight best practices that have helped improve women’s participation.
The report is based on surveys of over 200 startups, 111 founders, 117 chief human resources officers (CHROs), and 755 startup employees. It found that only 8 percent of Unicorns in 2017 had a woman founder, which increased to 17 percent in 2022.
The report also noted that women made up 35 percent of the total startup workforce of 8.6 lakh in 2022. It, however, predicts that this proportion will rise to 50 percent by 2030 — creating two million jobs for women in startups.
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Women leaders bring multiple benefits
The WISER report highlights the multiple benefits of having a woman leader in a startup — both for improving the gender balance and for implementing policies that are sensitive to the challenges faced by working women.
The survey found that startups with at least one woman founder had a higher percentage of women in different functions.
For instance, the sales departments in these startups in 2022 had an average of 28 percent women, compared with 23 percent in startups with only male founders.
Similar differences were observed in product development, customer service, and especially in research and development (where the gap in women’s representation was 15 percentage points).
“Additionally, startups with a woman founder have 2.5x women in senior roles compared to male-founded startups,” the report said.
The report also found that not only were women founders “more acutely aware of the barriers faced by women employees, but were more likely to introduce policies to address them.
For example, just 16 percent of the male founders perceived that ‘investment needed in safety and care infrastructure’ was a barrier for women, something acknowledged by 29 percent of women founders — although this too is a low proportion.
Similarly, just 32 percent of male founders thought that maternity leave-related issues could be a barrier for women employees, compared with 40 percent of female founders.
The biggest difference between the perception of male and female founders was about flexibility and mobility needs. While 46 percent of women founders understood that this could be a barrier for women employees, only 26 percent of male founders did.
According to the report, half of the startups with a woman founder offered flexible work days, two-thirds offered flexible work hours, and a quarter offered return-to-work programmes for new mothers. However, there was no data on how these numbers compared with startups with only male founders.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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