Administrative sciences Women in Business

Whole Sample
Men
Women
N
◦
%
N
◦
%
N
◦
%
Marital status
Married
20
87.0
6
85.7
14
87.5
Life partners
1
4.3
1
14.3
0
-
Single
0
-
0
-
0
-
Divorced/Separated
2
8.7
0
-
2
12.5
Widower/Widow
0
-
0
-
0
-
Total
23
100
7
100
16
100
79

---

Adm. Sci.
2018
,
8
, 74
Table 2.
Cont.
Whole Sample
Men
Women
Number of children
No one
1
4.3
0
-
1
6.3
1 child
14
60.9
4
57.1
10
62.5
2 or more children
8
34.8
3
42.9
5
31.3
Total_23_100_7_100_16_100_Age_of_children'>Total
23
100
7
100
16
100
Age of children
At least one child aged less than or equal to 10 years
3
13.6
1
14.3
2
13.3
Children aged more than 10 years
19
86.4
6
85.7
13
86.7
Total
22
100
7
100
15
100
Based on analysis of the motivations of these who refer to an improvement in their work–family
balance, results show that for almost all women (81.3%), this change was determined by the age of their
children. On the contrary, male entrepreneurs never mentioned this factor (Table
3
). For them, in fact,
the improvement was mainly due to the reduction of work due to the recession and the consequent
increase in free time (85.7%). Therefore, the economic crisis seems to have had a positive impact on
male entrepreneurs’ work–family balance, while for female entrepreneurs, no influence emerged as the
improvement of their work–family balance was mainly linked to the age of their children, an aspect
that is obviously not conditioned by the recession.
Table 3.
If your work–family balance has improved, can you tell us why?