When it comes to female entrepreneurship, you could say that Boston is "Leaning In" pretty hard.
According to a recent study conducted by NerdWallet, the Hub ranks as the tenth best city in the U.S. for women innovators.
Why shouldn't it? New England Venture Capital Association found that over 75 startups in Boston are led by women, many of whom are rising in the ranks as influencers and leaders within the tech community. For example, Care.com Co-founder and CEO Sheila Lirio Marcelo just led the online caregiver marketplace company through its IPO in early January.
The study scored cities according to a number of factors, including business friendliness, presence of female entrepreneurs, earnings of female workers, education level and economic state.
As the representative city in the North East on the list, Boston's spot in the rankings is "fueled by high median yearly earnings for females and its generally well-educated population," reports Nerd Wallet. Research shows that while median earnings for full-time female workers clock in around $48,000, 29.7 percent of companies in the city are women-owned. Professional resources and organizations designated to help businesswomen, such as The Boston Club, a community of female executives and professionals, and the Center for Women & Enterprise, a nonprofit institution to help women entrepreneurs in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, are also touted in the study.
According to NerdWallet analyst Sreekar Jasthi, "The number of women-owned business firms has grown by 39 percent in Massachusetts and by 24 percent in Boston between 1997 and 2013."
Taking the top spot on the list for women entrepreneurship is Washington, D.C., with 34.5 percent women-owned companies with median earnings of around $60,100.
Numbers surrounding women entrepreneurship are on the up-and-up countrywide. According to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the number of women-owned business firms in the U.S. grew by 59 percent between 1997 and 2013. Today, female entrepreneurs run more than 8.6 million businesses in the country, generating more than $1.3 trillion in total revenues. Though guys still inch out gals when it comes to entrepreneurship in North America, female innovators are increasingly appreciating the autonomy that goes hand-in-hand with working within the startup trenches.
Take a look at the infographic below for all the details on female entrepreneurship:
