the proportion of women who run their business at a loss is somewhat lower than for men in the united states of women versus for men the reason for their careful risk management may be greater concern about the consequences of failure chapter indeed the small business service in the united kingdom found that women with family responsibilities were particularly wary of extending commitments and that any business venture they embarked upon would need to be independent of family finances and selfsufficient however there is no conclusive evidence that women entrepreneurs are always less willing to take risks than men croson and gneezy on average of selfemployed women across oecd countries work less than hours a week against only of selfemployed men