Who are solo self-employed women? Analysis of the trends and characteristics of solo self-employed women in Ireland 2003–2019

Comparing self-employment rates across countries is challenging not least because of the different ways self-employment is defined. Solo self-employment is defined as ‘where people work on their own business on their own account’ (OECD, 2019) or ‘those who work in their own business, professional practice or farm for the purpose of earning a profit and who employ no other persons’ (Eurofound, 2019). However, some studies count all self-employed as inclusive of both solo self-employed (meaning without employees) and employers (self-employed hire employees) while others separate the two categories. Self-employment data might also be divided according to industry, with agricultural sectors included or not included depending on their relevance to the analysis (Duggan, 2001; Du Plessis, 2004). The term ‘freelancing’ is usually used to refer to solo self-employment in non-agricultural, often in professional or semi-professional sectors but inclusive of technical, scientific, arts and creative work – a potentially huge range of activities (Leighton and Brown, 2016). Furthermore, studies concentrating on ‘entrepreneurship’ as distinct from self-employment might attempt to narrow their definitions further according to factors deemed indicative of entrepreneurial activity such as the intention for further investment and growth (OECD, 2019). Some of these classification distinctions can be difficult to draw and are often, in actual sense, arbitrary (Freedman, 2001). Thus, due to definitional issues and the wide range of activities, socioeconomic positions, demographic characteristics and market or business situations of this group of workers it is difficult to measure the self-employed as a homogenous group. Nevertheless, some trends can be identified from the research literature.

While narrowing in recent years, the ratio of male to female self-employed in Europe is around 10:7, with 9.6 per cent of the female labour force in self-employment compared to 17 per cent of men (OECD, 2019). Withing certain types of self-employment these gaps narrow considerably, with women making up 44 per cent of professional self-employed and 43 of ‘freelancers’ in the EU in 2012 (European Commission, 2014). The proportion of overall self-employment that is ‘solo’ or without employees and that which is part-time has also increased, with women more likely than men to be in these categories (European Commission, 2014). Thus, while self-employed women in Europe appear to be situated within professional sectors, a high proportion are opting for part-time work and are less likely than men to hire employees (OECD, 2019). Some studies have linked the rise in part-time solo self-employment in Europe to increased numbers of women setting up their own businesses to obtain greater flexibility in working conditions than might be found in certain sectors of wage-and-salaried employment (Henley, 2015; Hatfield, 2015; IPSE, 2018). In the UK, women have been estimated to account for a substantial proportion of growth in solo self-employment rates between 2009 and 2014 (Henley, 2015; IPSE, 2017). The IPSE report that between 2008 and 2017 the number of mothers working freelance (defined as all solo self-employed in professional, semi-professional, creative or technical sectors) doubled, with working mothers making up 1 in 7 freelance workers by 2017 (ISPE, 2018).

In Ireland, figures from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions showed that in 2016, 1 in 10 workers in the Republic of Ireland were self-employed without employees. The proportion of solo self-employed working part-time was found to have increased by 34 percent between 2008 and 2016, with women representing the majority (51%) of this group (ICTU, 2017). They found that while the majority of full-time solo self-employed had less than degree-level education, among those working part-time 67 percent had degree level education or higher (ICTU, 2017). In terms of industrial sector, 32 percent worked in the agricultural sector and a further one in five in construction. Among part-time solo self-employed however, one in four worked in education and health and the rest spread out across a range of other sectors. Among full-time self-employed, 25 percent were in professional or managerial occupations whereas among part-time self-employed, one in three were working at professional and/or managerial level (ICTU, 2017).

From a quality of work perspective, several points about solo self-employment are notable. The self-employed have been found to have lower income levels and higher rates of ‘in work poverty’ compared to their counterparts in wage-and-salaried employment (Collins, 2015; Hormans and Marx, 2017). Solo self-employment, particularly that which is part-time, has been characterised as precarious: lacking in job security, generating insufficient incomes, lacking access to collective representation, training opportunities and social welfare benefits (Vosko and Zukewich, 2006; Eurofound, 2013; Coen and Schippers, 2019). Tending to be more exposed to market forces than wage-and-salaried employment, self-employment can foster situations of uncertainty with regards to the adequacy and continuation of paid work but at the same time can offer potentially high rewards (OECD, 2019). Studies have shown the self-employed have higher levels of job satisfaction, with increased autonomy over working arrangements and conditions and self-employed people in Europe by and large freely choose their work status, with only a minority expressing a desire to be in wage-and-salaried employment (Blanchflower and Oswald, 1998; Eurostat, 2017; Hessels et al., 2018).

From limited research into solo self-employment available in Ireland to date it appears that, reflective of the wider European picture, there has been growth in certain types of self-employment, namely part-time solo self-employment in professional occupations and that this could be associated with increased numbers of women taking up this form of work. Yet little is known about these trends or, indeed, about who solo self-employed women in Ireland are. This research therefore uses Labour Force Survey data to address the question: who are solo self-employed or ‘freelance’ women and what has changed over time for this cohort of workers?

Research into this topic is necessary because of the way in which self-employment and entrepreneurship is promoted as a labour market option for women at a national and EU level. The promotion of self-employment and entrepreneurship and the narrowing of the gender gap in participation are policy priorities in Ireland and the European Union (European Commission, 2012; Enterprise Ireland, 2017). The contemporary economic and cultural climate is one focused on innovation and enterprise and where entrepreneurship is thought to provide benefits to both the individual and to society at large (Acs et al., 2016; Block, O. Fisch, and van Praag, 2017). The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) ranked Ireland as the 6^th highest in Europe when it comes to ‘early-stage entrepreneurship’ defined as new business owners and those planning to start a business (Fitzsimmons and O’Gormon, 2017). For women in particular, the dominant policy message and popular narrative is that self-employment can offer numerous advantages, not least the simultaneous fulfilment of individual creative goals alongside the attainment of greater work-life balance and flexibility (Ahl and Nelson, 2006; EIGE, 2014, Quinlan, 2014; O’Callaghan, 2014). By analysing a large national-representative dataset on self-employed women in Ireland, this research highlights the role of women in this growing, complex and heterogenous form of work.

International research has tended to position the self-employed woman as a secondary earner within the nuclear family, for whom non-financial factors act as incentives (Carr, 1994, Hundley, 2001; Boden, 1999; Georgellis and Wall, 2005; Dawson et al., 2009; Hormans and Marx, 2017). The positive association found between self-employment probability and household factors such as marriage and the presence of children have been interpreted as indicating that work-family considerations factor highly for women, and more so than men (Connelly, 1992; Carr, 1994; Boden, 1999; Caputo and Dolinsky, 1998). High marriage rates among self-employed women and higher rates of self-employment among those with a self-employed spouse, have been thought to point to a situation in which self-employed women have additional financial and cultural capital at their disposal (Bruce, 1999).

Few clear conclusions can be drawn from research into the ‘human capital’ (education, skills, work experience) of self-employed women. Some studies show that work experience and higher education increase self-employment participation (Carr, 1996), others that self-employment is most likely among those at the very top and very bottom of the educational attainment distribution (Blanchflower, 2000). As mentioned, recent European studies have pointed to significant growth in self-employment among the highly educated (van Stel and van der Zwan, 2019). Among female self-employed, the conclusions to be drawn from international literature are similarly mixed. Devine (1994) and Budig (2006a) found higher educational attainment among self-employed women compared to men while Semykina (2016) found no relationship between educational attainment and self-employment participation for women. Clearer trends are evident in the literature on professional status and sectoral activity however, with studies tending to show self-employed women being more concentrated in non-professional occupations and in lower paying sectors (Hundley, 2001; McManus, 2001; Budig 2006a, 2006b) although there are differences according to marital and parental status (Wellington, 2006; Simon and Way, 2015; Patrick et al., 2016)

Working trends data have shown self-employed women more likely than men to work part-time (Devine, 1994; Carr, 1994; Aidis and Wetzels, 2007) and spend more hours on unpaid domestic and care tasks compared to their wage-and-salaried counterparts (Hundley, 2001: Hildebrand and Williams, 2003). In terms of working time, some studies have highlighted a degree of polarisation, with self-employed women at one end working very few hours and others working very many hours (Devine, 1994; Carr, 1994; Patrick et al., 2016). Polarisation has been linked to a bifurcation between work-centred or careerist self-employed women and more family-oriented women perhaps constrained by caring responsibilities (Budig, 2006a; Patrick et al., 2016).

Other demographic characteristics that emerge from the literature include the tendency for self-employed workers to be older than their wage-and-salaried counterparts (Devine, 1994; Blanchflower, 2000), a crucial factor that at least partly explains other trends such as higher rates of home ownership (Burrows and Ford, 1998; Dawson et al., 2009). Links between ethnic or immigrant status and self-employment have been found in some studies, with the argument being that lower barriers to entry are attractive to marginalised groups (Clarke and Drinkwater, 2010; Jones et al., 2012), but little is known specifically about gender variations here.

Variation by jurisdiction is evident. Aidis and Wetzel's (2007) study linked gender differences in part-time working rates to the labour market characteristics of the EU countries studied. They considered that in countries (such as the Netherlands) where relatively high-quality part-time work is more commonly available, women would be less likely to turn to self-employment for working flexibility. In a study by Andersson-Joona (2016) findings were interpreted as being reflective of the particular labour market structure in Sweden, where institutions in place to facilitate the combination of motherhood and work, such as extensive parental leave and publicly subsidised childcare (Andersson Joona, 2012). As a consequence, women did not need to turn to self-employment as a flexible work option since this would be available in wage-and-salaried employment. Hatfield (2015) attributed higher self-employment rates among women in Spain compared to Denmark as indicative of different social policy contexts, with women in Denmark having a stronger attachment to the labour market. This connection between self-employment and work-life balance, gender regimes or family policies arises frequently in the research. After all, the flexibility offered by solo self-employment or freelance work are considered important ‘pull’ factors, the necessity or desire for which will depend on the policy, social and gender-role context, (Dawson, 2009; Patrick et al., 2016).

Despite rapid rises in labour market participation and education of women in Ireland in recent decades, the primary responsibility for unpaid childcare and domestic work still rests on their shoulders (Russell and McGinty, 2008; Loftus, 2009; Fine-Davis, 2011). Expensive and often inadequate childcare options, a cultural disposition towards a female primary caregiver/male breadwinner normative household structure and with demand for flexible working arrangements not meeting supply, the continuation of a career can become difficult for Irish women if they have children (Loftus, 2009; Barry, 2009; O’Hagan, 2015; OECD, 2016). The ability to combine work and family life inevitably depends on the affordability of childcare or the availability of helpful family members and, indeed, grandparent care was the most popular form of childcare in Ireland in 2013 (McGinnity et al.., 2013). Childcare costs, tax structures and a desire or preference among many people for time with their children, especially in the early years, means it often doesn’t ‘pay’ either from a financial or a utility perspective for both parents (or one parent in lone parent families) to work full time (Wayman, 2016; Wayman, 2018). Irish women are three times as likely to work part-time than their male counterparts, with 37 percent in part-time employment compared to the OECD average of 25 percent (OECD, 2019).

Self-employment, particularly solo self-employment is frequently presented in both popular narratives and policy discourse as offering a potential solution to work-life balance issues (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2014; O’Callaghan, 2015; Denning, 2020). Lower barriers to entry, the rise of online or ‘platform’ work, reduced commute time and a greater ability to work from home is thought to enable traditionally marginalised groups such as mothers, ethnic minorities and older workers to access the labour market (Clarke and Drinkwater, 2010; Cooke et al., 2018). The promotion of self-employment as a way to improve the labour market participation of women was included as a policy priority in the EU's ‘Strategy for Equality Between Men and Women’ 2010–2015 (European Commission, 2010)

This study is henceforth concerned with the just over 48,000 women in solo or ‘freelance’ self-employment in Ireland in 2019. Table 4 provides a breakdown of the main demographic characteristics in percentage terms. Figures for men and for wage-and-salaried workers are included for comparison.

There are some small but notable differences in nationality trends visible in the data. While the self-employed overall are predominantly Irish in 2019, the proportions of self-employed women who were EU or third country nationals are slightly larger than among men or wage-and-salaried workers. To put this another way, while the numbers are small (N=9,014), migrants make up a higher proportion of female self-employed (19%) than within the male group, perhaps pointing towards a tendency amongst EU or non-EU migrant women for this form of work. In terms of age, while the self-employed tend to be older on average than wage-and-salaried workers, self-employed women are younger than self-employed men.

Just under 60 percent of self-employed women are married, and 47 percent are in a couple with children and 40 percent have children under 15. Lone parents make up 11 percent of the solo self-employed. This means self-employed women are around as likely as women in wage-and-salaried work to have children but with higher marriage rates. Self-employed women are more likely than self-employed men, however, to have children under 15. Household trends such as these must be interpreted alongside the confounding effects of age, with self-employed women occupying slightly younger age cohorts than men.

Home ownership was included as an indicator of socio-economic status or household wealth (Dawson et al., 2009). Labour Force Survey data shows higher rates of home ownership among self-employed compared to wage-and-salaried workers. Again, this might be connected to the self-employed concentration in older age cohorts. It may also be associated with the economic position of the households which self-employed people find themselves within, that perhaps has the capital to allow for the riskier venture of small business entrepreneurship or freelance work.

Measuring ‘human capital’ by education, occupational level and including four sector/industry classifications, the Labour Force Survey data for self-employed and wage-and-salaried workers is presented in Table 5.

Self-employed women are the most highly educated group, with over 60 percent holding degree level education or higher, almost twice that of self-employed men and fourteen percentage points more than women in wage-and-salaried work. Twenty percent of self-employed women have a postgraduate qualification, the highest of all labour market groups.

A similar picture emerges when measuring human capital in terms of professional achievement. Again, self-employed women show not only the largest concentration at upper levels but the smallest concentration in lower-level service or manual occupations compared to both their male and wage-and-salaried peers. Nearly three-quarters of self-employed women work at professional, semi-professional, or managerial levels. This is almost twice that of both self-employed men and women in wage-and-salaried work. It can also be seen that gender differences in human capital attainment are wider among the self-employed. It is notable that self-employed men and women differ greatly in their levels of educational and occupational attainment while wage-and-salaried workers display much more similar trends here. Chart D below displays gender gaps in human capital attainment for self-employed and wage-and-salaried workers.

Self-employed women primarily work in professional, scientific, technical and financial sectors (31%) followed by services (24%) and health and education sectors (16%). They are less likely than other labour market groups to work in what are generally lower-paying service sectors and the most likely to work in professional or technical activities.

While the working arrangements of self-employed and wage-and-salaried workers will be explored in more detail using a larger sample in the following section, Table 6 displays information on the working arrangements of self-employed women in 2019. Information for wage-and-salaried workers is included for comparison.

While most self-employed women work full time, a notably higher proportion (44%) work part time than either their male or wage-and-salaried peers. The self-employed are more likely to work atypical hours (evenings, weekends and nights) than waged employees. A notably higher proportion of self-employed women work from home than any other group, with 62 percent working from home at least sometimes. Only a very small percentage of the self-employed overall (3%) have a second job, roughly the same as that of wage-and-salaried workers.

Looking at reasons cited for reduced working time we can see that self-employed women are the most likely to specify caring reasons (34%), notably higher than self-employed men and women in wage-and-salaried work. Counting caring, personal and family reasons together, almost three-quarters of self-employed women cite these reasons. At the same time, self-employed women are the least likely group to cite a desire for full-time work that is not available (underemployment).

Table 7 below presents changes in some of the primary household, human capital and labour market characteristics of the self-employed in the sixteen-year period between 2003 and 2019.

The most notable household composition characteristics is the increase in the proportion of self-employed women identifying as a lone parent household, which doubled in the 2011–2017 period. Otherwise, roughly half of self-employed women live in couple-with-child households in each of the years in question. While household composition has remained largely unchanged, there have been increases in count numbers of self-employed women with children, as outlined.

Self-employed women became slightly more educated, with the proportions having degree level education or higher increasing from 54 to 62 percent between 2003 and 2011. Interestingly, it appears that self-employed women have consistently been operating at professional occupational levels, from 80 percent in 2003 down to 73 percent in 2019.

Looking at labour market characteristics, self-employed women became more likely to work part-time during the period and the proportions citing caring reasons for doing so increased substantially between 2011 and 2017 from 19 percent to 41 percent. Working from home rates declined somewhat but then picked back up to 62 percent in 2019. It appears that self-employed women have moved away from service sectors and into the professional, scientific, technological and financial sectors as well as towards health and education.