A Less-Explored Dimension of the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship

New research suggests women entrepreneurs may have a harder time getting that second chance.

A working paper by researchers at the University of Delaware and Rutgers University found women-owned businesses were significantly more likely than comparable male-owned firms to liquidate through Chapter 7 bankruptcy rather than attempt to reorganize under Chapter 11. And when women-owned companies did pursue reorganization, they were less likely to emerge successfully from the process.

I've always felt that failure is not an option but that's one reason bankruptcy laws exist, not simply to close struggling businesses but to determine which companies can restructure, recover and keep operating.

The findings point to a less-explored dimension of the gender gap in entrepreneurship.

Black Women Are Starting Businesses in Droves

Black women are becoming entrepreneurs at a faster clip than any other demographic – and a chillier corporate world has a lot to do with it.

Take Erin Giddens.  She had long dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur—but not while she earned a steady paycheck in the corporate world.

Then came the layoff from her communications-associate role and a months long job search that went nowhere. By the time she decided to focus full time on her own video-production company last fall, she says, the move came down to this:

“Do I want to get back working in corporate, where they’re still going to have my career in their hands, or am I going to bet on myself?” she says. 

Guess what she did?  Read on about how she and many others like her are tired of the anxiety in corporate America and are creating their own destiny.

After all, that is why we started Escape From Corporate America July 7, 2004!  Check out that post. 

Happy 250th America: To Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness!

©2026 Laurel J. Delaney (7/4/26).  All rights reserved.

The history of The Declaration of Independence (transcription). Sign the declaration.

Whatever Your Pride Plans Are, enJOY!

To All Dads

"To all Dads, thank you for everything." – Laurel J. Delaney

America's Self-Made Women Billionaires

Rocket ships. AI chips. Chinese food. Clothing. Construction. Chatbots. America's self-made women billionaires are rewriting the rules of wealth. Forbes counts 43 of them now – women who built 10-figure fortunes from scratch – up from 38 just a year ago.

AI is accelerating everything. Record numbers. Soaring net worths. An all-time high in total wealth held by women who earned every dollar of it.

The signal is clear: more self-made women billionaires exist today, with more influence and more opportunity, than at any point in American history.

Access the list.

Flowers Explode

©2026 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different." – John Steinbeck