The weaker sex? A tale of means and tails

One of the most commonly held beliefs prevalent in entrepreneurship research is that women-led ventures tend to generate lower earnings than men-led ventures. We contend that this thinking emanates from empirical analyses that obscure the variation in entrepreneurial performance across the earnings distribution. Relying solely on the mean as a measure of central tendency conceals the heterogeneity among so-called underperformers. Using density plots from a nationally representative database, we demonstrate that women-led ventures perform better at some quantiles of the earnings distribution, contrary to the common myth that men-led ventures consistently outperform them. Our study debunks this myth and contributes to entrepreneurship research that adopts a gendered perspective by showing that the reality experienced by women entrepreneurs is not as dismal as it appears when compared to focusing exclusively on the mean. Our study has implications for policymakers, who need to adjust their policy approach by designing targeted policies explicitly incorporating the heterogeneity inherent in entrepreneurship.