Frank & Eileen™ Center Gender Research

The Diana International Research Institute (DIRI) boasts a lively, supportive, and growing community of scholars who do innovative research on women, gender, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

Here we showcase some of the research that has come out from, and been amplified by, DIRI and Babson’s Frank & Eileen™ Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Research Highlights

GEM 2024/2025 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report

Over the years, the GEM Women’s report has profoundly influenced how researchers, policymakers, and entrepreneurial ecosystems view women entrepreneurs. This year’s report presents findings across 51 countries, 5 global regions and 3 national income levels and explores the diversity of women’s entrepreneurship through the lenses of startup motivations, digitalization—with new questions on artificial intelligence (AI) readiness—and access to business finance, including investment patterns of women and men investors.

The 2024/2025 GEM Women’s Entrepreneurship Report was produced by GEM Global with funding from Cartier Women’s Initiative (CWI), Fribourg School of Management (HEG-FR) in Switzerland and the Frank & Eileen™ Center for Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership (F&E Center) at Babson College. This report marks the 13th GEM report on women’s entrepreneurship.

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GEM 2023/2024 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2023/24 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report: Reshaping Economies and Communities highlights an upward trend in women's startup and established business ownership (a business in operation for more than three and a half years) over the past quarter century. GEM, currently celebrating its 25th Silver Anniversary, has provided insight on the state of women’s entrepreneurship since 1999.

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GEM 2022/23 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report

The GEM 2022/2023 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report emphasizes the need for targeted segmentation in designing effective support for women entrepreneurs, particularly in facilitating their access to digitalization. This approach is critical, considering the significant gender gap in established business ownership, with higher entrepreneurial intentions and solo-preneurship trends among women, especially in low-income countries. Additionally, the report highlights the role of women as one in four high-growth entrepreneurs globally, underscoring the need for tailored support in these areas.

The Frank & Eileen™ Center is a proud sponsor of the report.

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New GEM Report Recommends Action to Support Women Entrepreneurs

GEM 2021/2022 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report

The new GEM 2021/2022 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report—released November 18 and authored by Amanda Elam, research fellow at the Diana International Research Institute at Babson College—illustrates the state of women’s entrepreneurship two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Research Shows Women Entrepreneurs Are Key to Inclusive Economic Growth

GEM 2019/2021 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report

When it comes to new products and new solutions, the world would suffer if not for the tens of millions of women around the globe making an economic and social impact as entrepreneurs. According to a new report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), women entrepreneurs represent about one in three growth-oriented entrepreneurs active in the world today.

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Gender-Based Impediments Beyond VC

In a new report, we find gender-biased impediments continue to exist for women entrepreneurs but many find strategies to overcome them.

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Energy & Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs

A literature review: Building the evidence base for women's empowerment and entrepreneurship to improve energy intervention's effectiveness.

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The Hidden Gender Bias in Accessing Credit

A report in partnership with Oxfam America looks at the structural barriers and hidden bias in access to credit for women-led businesses.

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How Balancing a Career & Motherhood Makes You Better at Both

A new book co-authored by Babson Professor Danna Greenberg looks at how balancing a career and motherhood makes you better at both.

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Pulse Surveys for Women Entrepreneurs

In an effort to better support women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic, Babson’s Diana International Research Institute (DIRI) compiled a series of short (~5 min), confidential, and anonymous surveys. These surveys gathered input that provided a more comprehensive understanding of the business challenges women entrepreneurs were facing at that time.

Download the full PDF - DIRI COVID Survey Results for all four of our pulse surveys.

Women Entrepreneurs in a time of COVID-19

Survey 4: Personal Leadership from Crisis to Opportunity (Closed)

In this fourth 5-minute survey, we ask you to share your personal challenges, strategies, and silver-linings.

Download the Survey 4: Personal Leadership from Crisis to Opportunity (pdf) Result Highlights »

Survey 3: Stakeholder Management from Crisis to Opportunity (Closed)

In this third 5-minute survey, we ask you to share how you are managing key stakeholder relationships, including specific challenges, strategies, and quality of support.

Download the Survey 3: Stakeholder Management from Crisis to Operation (pdf) Result Highlights »

Survey 2: Business Opportunity (Closed)

In this second 5-minute survey, we asked you to share how you are planning around the financial impact of the COVID19 crisis on your business, including specific challenges, strategies, and future opportunities.

Download the Survey 2: Business Opportunity (pdf) Result Highlights »

Survey 1: Creating a Pathway from Crisis to Opportunity (Closed)

In this first 5-minute survey, we asked you to share how you are managing the effects of the COVID-19 on your business, the challenges you are facing, where you are getting support, and what you see as opportunities.

Download the Survey 1: Creating a Pathway from Crisis to Opportunity (pdf) Result Highlights »

Additional Research from Babson:

GEM Women’s Report 2020/2021 (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor)
Elam, Amanda & Hughes, Karen & Guerrero, Maribel & Hill, Stephen & Nawangpalupi, Catharina B & Fuentes-Fuentes, M.Mar & González, Juan & Fernandez-Laviada, Ana & Martínez, Catalina & Rubio Bañón, Alicia & Chabrak, Nihel & Brush, Candida & Baumer, Ben & Heavlow, René & (GERA), the. (2021). Women’s Entrepreneurship 2020/21. Thriving Through Crisis. https://www.gemconsortium.org/report/gem-202021-womens-entrepreneurship-report-thriving-through-crisis
GEM Women’s Report 2018/2019 (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor)
Elam, A. B., Brush, C. G., Greene, P. G., Baumer, B. S., Dean, M., & Heavlow, R. (2019). GEM Women’s Report 2018/2019 (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor). Babson College, Smith College, Korean Entrepreneurship Foundation. https://www.gemconsortium.org/report/gem-20182019-womens-entrepreneurship-report
Building the evidence base for women’s entrepreneurship in the energy sectorShankar, A., A. Elam, and A. Glinksi (2018), Building the evidence base for women’s entrepreneurship in the energy sector (Gender and Energy Research Project). ENERGIA, International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy. https://www.energia.org/research/gender-energy-research-programme/building-the-evidence-base-for-womens-empowerment-and-entrepreneurship/
Understanding Structural Barriers & Hidden Bias in Access to Credit for Women-Led Businesses
Elam, A. B. (2017). Understanding Structural Barriers & Hidden Bias in Access to Credit for Women-Led Businesses. Oxfam America, Babson College, Value for Women. https://policy-practice.oxfamamerica.org/static/media/files/REPORT_OXFAM_GUATEMALA_3-web_gMpm7nD.pdf
Mary Gentile, Director, Giving Voice to Values, and Senior Research Scholar, author of Giving Voice to Values: How To Speak Your Mind When You Know What’s Right (Yale University Press, 2010) http://www.givingvoicetovaluesthebook.com/
Candida Brush, Chair, Entrepreneurship Division, Director, Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship and Franklin W. Olin Distinguished Professor in Entrepreneurship

Co-author, Saparito, P., Bruch, C., and Elam, “Perceptions of Bank-Firm Relationships: Does Gender Similarity Matter?” Entrepreneurship and Practice April 2012
Julie Levinson, Associate Professor of Film, The American Success Myth on Film (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-american-success-myth-on-film-julie-levinson/1108361554?ean=9780230363366
Danna Greenberg, Associate Professor of Management, co-author, D.L. Greenberg and E. Landry, “Negotiating a flexible work arrangement: How Women Navigate the influence of power and context,” Journal of Organizational Behavior 32 (8), 2011, 1163-88.
Wendy Murphy, Assistant Professor of Management, co-author, Murphy, W.M. and E.H. Volpe, “Married Professional Women’s Career Exit: Integrating Identity and Social Networks,” Gender In Management: International Journal 2011 26 (1): 57-83.
Nan Langowitz, Chair, Management Division, and Professor of Management, co-author with Elaine Allen, “Understanding the Gender Entrepreneurship Gap: A Multi-Country Examination,” in M. Minniti, ed., The Dynamics of Entrepreneurship: Theory and Evidence, Oxford University Press, 2011
Toni Lester, Professor of Law, Culture and Society, editor of Gender Nonconformity, Race, and Sexuality: Charting the Connections (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003)

Author, “Talking about Sexual Orientation, Teaching about Homophobia Negotiating the Divide Between Religious Belief and Tolerance For LGBT Rights in the Classroom” Duke Law School Journal of Gender and the Law 15 (1) 2008, 388-418

Author “Machismo at the Crossroads - Recent Developments in Latin America Gay Rights Law: The Case of Costa Rica,” Michigan State International Law Journal (Spring 2012)
Vol. 20, Issue 2, 2012 (pp.
Jon Hodge, Full Time Lecturer, Arts and Humanities, author of “Villette’s Compulsory Education,” Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 45: 4 (Autumn 2005).
Mary Godwyn, Associate Professor of Sociology, co-author with Judy Hoffer Gittell, Sociology of Organizations: Structures and Relationships (Pine Forge Press/Sage Publications, 2012), http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book235506

Co-author, with Donna Stoddard, Minority Women Entrepreneurs: How Outsider Status can Lead to Better Business Practices (Greenleaf Publishing, 2011)
Patricia Greene, Paul T. Babson Chair in Entrepreneurship, co-author, Gatewood, E.J., Brush, C.G., Carter, N.M., Greene, P.G., & Hart, M.M. 2009. “Diana: A symbol of women entrepreneurs’ hunt for knowledge, money, and the rewards of entrepreneurship,” Small Business Economics 32 (2): 129-144
Marjorie Feld, Associate Professor of History, author of Lillian Wald: A Biography. http://www.amazon.com/Lillian-Wald-Biography-Marjorie-Feld/dp/B005UW2HO0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345571532&sr=8-2&keywords=lillian+wald
Beth Wynstra, Visiting Assistant Professor of English, author of "Critical Lens: A Rhetorical Approach to O'Neill's Early Wife Characters" (forthcoming in Critical Insights: Eugene, EBSCO Publishing Incorporated, September, 2012), http://www.amazon.com/Eugene-Oneill-Critical-Insights-Steven/dp/1429837276/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346415377&sr=8-1&keywords=Critical+insights+eugene+o%27neill.