Executive summary
Tasmania's economy has a meaningful base of sole traders and locally focused micro-businesses, but the state records Australia's lowest classified female ACN-company rate. Women lead 41.5% of classified sole traders and 13.1% of classified ACN companies. Women-led businesses that reach scale can be established and enduring, yet too few progress far enough to join that group. Hospitality, arts and retail are notable areas of female representation and portfolio strength.
Key findings
- Women lead 41.5% of classified sole traders and 13.1% of classified ACN companies. The ACN result is 2.1 percentage points below the national benchmark and the lowest jurisdictional rate.
- The women-led share falls by 28.4 percentage points between sole traders and ACN companies. The entry-stage rate is 3.2 times the incorporated rate.
- Micro-businesses form 83.0% of the women-led portfolio, compared with 75.7% of the male-led portfolio. Small, medium and large companies collectively represent 15.7% of women-led companies, versus 23.0% of male-led companies.
- Women lead 14.8% of companies producing $50,000-$100,000 per employee, 14.2% in the $100,000-$250,000 band and 13.0% in the $250,000-$500,000 band.
- Companies aged up to five years represent 34.1% of the women-led portfolio, compared with 30.8% of the male-led portfolio. Companies aged 20 years or more account for 19.1% of women-led companies and 22.8% of male-led companies.
- Women lead 17.3% of classified Accommodation and Food Services companies, 16.3% of Arts and Recreation Services companies and 16.2% of Retail Trade companies. Retail accounts for 10.4% of the women-led portfolio, compared with 7.5% of the male-led portfolio.
Methodology context
The report examines active businesses across ABN sole traders and ACN registered companies. Where leadership gender can be reliably classified, entities are identified as women-led, gender-equal-led or male-led, with analysis across geography, industry, company size, business age, leadership generation and productivity. Percentages refer to entities for which leadership gender could be reliably classified.