Women in Businesses: Having Kids is Not a Barrier!

by Karl H. Researcher, Marketer, Writer

Having kids is often considered as a barrier to business. This is especially true of our women entrepreneurs that feel they are distracted by little ones. But a recent study has proven otherwise.

The study conducted in United States concludes that mothers are more productive in business compared to their childless peers in almost every aspect of the business over their career span.

The research was originally for male which revealed that men with no kids or one kid were less productive than men with two or more children. With the women, the results were even more remarkable.

Women having kids dramatically outperform women having no kids during the first five years of their career. The researched showed that women with two kids were the most productive of all.

However, these women are educated and have the knowledge and the means to be an entrepreneur. Women with no education and little skills do face more problems in their careers. For that matter, it is important for women entrepreneurs to plan childcare thoroughly because having kids can get counterproductive if they have to choose from their kids and business at every turn.

Also, infants and toddlers do decrease a mother entrepreneur’s productivity. The research disclosed that a woman’s productivity can decrease 15-17 percent if she has kids. Women with multiple kids in preteen phase can face a dramatic decrease. The first kid will affect 9.5 percent of her performance, the second kid 12.5 percent and the third, 11 percent.

women entrepreneurs with kids

This means that a woman with three kids will be on average, 33 percent less productive.

Yet the research proves that women with kids are more prolific before and after giving birth. If their performance is spread across an average 30-year career, they are found to be more fruitful than their childless counterparts.

Author of the research, Christian Zimmerman remarks that little kids can indeed be a barrier to a productive entrepreneurial career, but “the impact is the other way” soon after that phase is over.

Zimmerman expresses a possibility of ‘survivor bias’ – that women with kids may be more reputable and secure and thus more credible, but he also suggests organizing as the single most important factor that could be driving the results. Maybe these supermoms are just super-organized.

Whatever the reason, these ladies are more likely to succeed as economists and women in trades.