Analysing 1,055 female- and 2,207 male-owned businesses in Germany, the authors found that the former underperformed compared with the latter in terms of employment growth and firm innovativeness. Controlling for endogeneity, ie feedback effects between employment growth and innovation, it was demonstrated that the lower employment growth in women-owned businesses was mainly due to women's lower commitment to product and process innovations, a phenomenon that is referred to in this study as the ‘female–male innovation gap’. The female–male innovation gap apparently goes back to occupational sex segregation, with women populating occupations and choosing fields of study or apprenticeship training that are less technical or technology-oriented and thus less likely to provide them with important resources (eg technical know-how) and favourable conditions needed for the development and implementation of product and process innovations.