Entrepreneurship Monitor, and the Global Gender Gap Index, among others. The Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard identifies impediments to high-impact female entrepreneurship in 31 economies. High-impact female entrepreneurs are defined as those “who own and operate businesses that are innovative and growth oriented” (Aidis, Weeks, and Anacker 2015). A composite index of 21 indicators, the Scorecard highlights key aspects of an economy’s institutional and business environment, gender access issues and individual-level entrepreneurial characteristics.

The Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI), developed by the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute (GEDI) in 2011, is another composite index of entrepreneurial activity. The GEDI launched the Female Entrepreneurship Index (FEI) in 2013. It measures the global development of high-potential female entrepreneurs, who are defined as “women who own and operate businesses that are innovative, market expanding, and export-oriented” (Terjesen and Lloyd 2015, 4). The FEI consists of 23 gender-specific variables that inform three sub-indices: (i) entrepreneurial environment, including equal rights and market size, secondary education, business risk, and access to childcare; (ii) entrepreneurial eco-system, including support and training for small and medium-size businesses and labor force parity; and (iii) entrepreneurial aspirations, including expenditure on research and development and external financing.

A comparative analysis of the existing data sets devoted to global entrepreneurship shows certain limitations. Most existing data sets and indicators are based on data which are largely self-reported by individuals or by domestic entrepreneurship experts. As a result, some of these data are reported sporadically or based on perceptions. Several indicators among the reviewed data sets represent composite indices that aggregate a set of different sources and other data points. A further limitation is the wide range of definitions of female entrepreneurship. These definitions can vary _—_ which can create issues of comparability among data sets. In addition, the various data sets use different input data about factors facilitating or impeding the development of entrepreneurship and output data measuring female entrepreneurial activity. A comparative analysis of the existing data sets, with a focus on their input and output indicators, is presented in Table A1 in the appendix.

The existing data sets related to female entrepreneurship usually apply a general approach that covers various types of business entities. They do not differentiate between sole proprietorships, LLCs or corporate organizations. However, several studies point to the importance of a differentiated approach to female entrepreneurship (Aidis and Weeks 2016; Estrin and Mickiewicz 2011; Terjesen and Lloyd 2015). For example, based on their analysis of the Female Entrepreneurship Index calculated for 77 economies, Terjesen and Lloyd (2015) suggest that “although all forms of female entrepreneurship are important, more sophisticated ventures require additional resources, skills, and aspirations” (2015, 5). A survey of high-tech firms conducted in 2004 by the Kauffman Foundation provides substantial evidence of the existence of discrepancies in organizational form between male and female business owners. Robb and Coleman (2009) conclude that women-owned high-tech firms are more likely to be organized as sole proprietorships or partnerships during their start-up year (38.7 percent versus 24.9 percent for firms owned by men) and are less likely to be organized as either corporations or as LLCs (61.3 percent versus 75.1 percent). Even at the initiation stage, male entrepreneurs tend to develop larger and more sophisticated businesses than women. In this respect, disaggregated data on the organizational form of women-owned businesses could provide new insights into lower levels of participation by women in growth-oriented entrepreneurship.

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