Gender gaps in the gig economy: consequences for entrepreneurship in the 21st century

Abstract Although the gender gap in entrepreneurship has been well documented, we still know little about gender differences in gig work and freelancing activities, which continue to grow in importance. Using supply- and demand-side explanations, we hypothesize that gender differences will be smaller in the gig economy than in entrepreneurship. The primary reason is that the gig economy provides flexibility, which women find especially attractive relative to men. Using data from the Entrepreneurship in the Population survey, we find partial support for our hypotheses—relative to business ownership and nascent entrepreneurship, the gender gap is smaller for gig work but similar for freelancing. Moreover, if women do own a business or engage in freelancing, they are equally likely as men to remain entrepreneurs. Thus, the gender gap exists in entry but not exit. Our descriptive evidence suggests nonbinary individuals are more likely than men and women to use gig work as their primary job and more likely to remain business owners, but the regression results do not support these findings. We therefore find the gender gap in entrepreneurship is smaller in the gig economy than in other forms of entrepreneurship and smaller in exit.