Gender, Race and Religiosity Inequalities in an Entrepreneurship Context

Aneta Ptak-Chmielewska, Warsaw School of Economics

It is obvious that gender and ethnic (or religious) differences matter in entrepreneurship (as part of peoples’ life cycle). In some societies, mostly European, the inequalities can be ignored, but in some they play a big role. Female entrepreneurship is limited in some societies. Black women are in an even more challenging situation (Africa). It is therefore interesting to know what circumstances accompany such inequalities, what are the main causality mechanisms and are there any regional differences in these inequalities. The basic questions raised in this paper are following: (1) What is the profile of the successful entrepreneur and are there any similarities or differences across countries and continents? (2) Are there any gender, race or religiosity inequalities in entrepreneurship? (3) What role plays entrepreneurship in peoples’ life? The data used covers two countries: South Africa and Poland, from two different continents and different political and economic regimes.