Flexibility and losses: 11 per cent of employed women are their own boss
A growing number of women are self-employed, in downtown Fredericton you don't have to go far to find a business operated by a female entrepreneur.
Chess Piece Patisserie, Sweat Club, and Reimagine are all women owned businesses on Queen Street.
"I think that it's a combination of feeling empowered of knowing our worth and our value, and knowing what we can bring to the table,” said Patti Hollenberg, owner of Chess Piece Patisserie.
According to a recent Statistics Canada report, women represent 37 per cent of all Canadians who work independently to operate a business or professional activities or who were unpaid family workers.
"I never grew up wanting to be a business owner it just happened, super naturally and organically,” said Laura Clendenning, the founder of the boutique gym Sweat Club.
That's up an 11 per cent increase from 1976, and four decades later, women are still less likely to be self-employed. But those working for themselves say it's worth the leap.
"Just do as much research on the back end as you can, talk with other business owners in your industry,” said Mallory Lennon, owner of Reimagine Interior Design & Store.
"I would say go for it, make sure it's something you're super passionate about,” said Clendenning.
“Because it is a lonely and tough journey but go for it, you never want to wake up in 10-15 years and say what could have been.”
Laura Clendenning is the founder of Sweat Club in Fredericton. (Alyson Samson/CTV Atlantic)
According to StatsCan In 2022, 11 per cent of employed women were their "own boss,” while 16 per cent of employed men were their “own boss.”
Maritime business women say there are pros and cons to being self-employed.
"I think flexibility being able to make your own schedule,” said Lennon.
“We're open through day time, not evenings, so I can spend time with family through weekends and stuff as well having that flexibility is huge for me.”
Mallory Lennon is the owner of Reimagine Interior Design & Store. (Alyson Samson/CTV Atlantic)
"Everybody likes to think that if you're a business owner it's just win, win, win every day,” said Hollenberg.
“But sometimes there are losses, and you have to take those losses a little bit more on the chin than just your regular employees.”
The report went on to say 80 per cent of self-employed women had no employees in 2022, while 68 per cent of self-employed men had no employees.
"It can be a very lonely journey,” said Clendenning.
“Women are underrepresented in leadership roles, sometimes you don't feel support is always there. With men in majority leadership roles you can get imposter syndrome.”
For these female owned Fredericton businesses it’s important for them to come together and support each other.
"I'd like to think that the tide is changing a little bit,” said Hollenberg.
“But there's still a little bit of a patriarchal ceiling that we have to smash.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.