South Korean Women Outpace Men in Profitability, Report Says

A new report released by the Women's Enterprise Support Center's Women's Economic Research Institute on June 15 highlighted that women small business owners in South Korea are demonstrating stronger profitability than their male counterparts despite operating on a smaller sales scale.

The report, titled “Characteristics and Implications of Women Small Business Owners”, examined the characteristics and policy requirements of women entrepreneurs throughout the country in relation to their management performance. It pointed to the increasing resilience and good management skills of the women entrepreneurs working with micro and small enterprises.

According to the report, the average of women small business owners' annual sales was 133 million won, compared to 246 million won of male small business owners. In terms of operating profitability women entrepreneurs performed better than the men. Average operating margin for women-owned businesses was 15%, 3.2 percentage points wider than for male-owned businesses (11.8%).

The Women's Economic Research Institute noted that the findings reflect the ability of women entrepreneurs to maintain stable profitability despite having relatively smaller business operations.

"This result shows that women small business owners, despite their relatively small sales scale, are securing stable profitability and generating solid management performance," the institute stated.

Key Highlights:

• Women entrepreneurs achieved higher margins despite lower sales.
• Small businesses dominate majority of women-led enterprises nationwide.
• Work-family balance remains biggest challenge for business owners.

The report also revealed a strong concentration of women entrepreneurs in specific sectors. Among all women-led businesses in South Korea, small business owners accounted for 97.5% of the total, representing approximately 3,287,455 enterprises. Women's businesses were overrepresented in lifestyle service industries, such as education services, accommodation and food service industry, and more.

The profitability of these businesses is still good, but women business owners still have a lot of challenges. The burden of balancing work and family responsibilities was identified as the greatest issue. The business-related burden score was the highest for work-family balance at 51.9 points out of 100 points for business-related difficulties.

Researchers observed that many women entrepreneurs are running small businesses as self-employed and they are particularly vulnerable to disruptions due to childbirth, childcare, and caregiving. Such interruptions may, in turn, impact operations and financial health. To help these concerns, the Women's Economic Research Institute recommended that the government add greater policy support to boost competitiveness of enterprises and work-life balance. The report also highlighted the importance of expanding digital support initiatives to help women-owned businesses improve market access and sustain long-term growth.

To address these concerns, the Women's Economic Research Institute called for stronger policy support aimed at improving both business competitiveness and work-life balance.

"To strengthen the competitiveness of women small business owners, along with advanced digital sales channel support, a seamless work-family balance safety net that allows even small-scale business owners to focus on their livelihoods without care-related worries should be established as soon as possible," the institute emphasized.

The report underscores the important role women entrepreneurs play in South Korea's small business ecosystem and highlights the need for targeted support measures that can help sustain their growth while reducing caregiving-related barriers.