New Study: Women Entrepreneurs Ask For Less Financing Than Men, Get Smaller Loans At Higher Rates

The new data, while based on just 8,423 small businesses who applied for credit (and self-reported their gender) between February 2014 and June 2016, offer a bleak look at the uphill battle that women entrepreneurs and small-business owners face in opening their doors and expanding their operations.

The survey also showed a gap between approvals of female small-business owners and male ones. Among women who sought financing 32% received approvals, compared to 35% of men. Worse, not only did women entrepreneurs get offered smaller loans across every loan product from the same group of online lenders, they also received more costly debt than did male borrowers.