globally women entrepreneurs face a wide range of financial and nonfinancial barriers that prevent them from entering andor fully participating in the formal economy to be sure many of the barriers that women entrepreneurs confront in the business environment affect other small businesses as well foggin however women often contend with additional obstacles above and beyond those encountered by their male counterparts because of persistent social economic cultural andor legal inequities because these barriers do not exist in isolation this section also explores the unique sociocultural challenges faced by women business owners these challenges both inform and often exacerbate the other barriers firms that start with higher levels of capital show better performance in terms of assets revenue profitability and survival ernst young