A lack of women entrepreneurs is holding the UK economy back, a report released today has found.
The white paper Observed Characteristics of Outstanding Women in Business found that while businesses run by women contribute £70bn to the UK economy and employ more than a million, there would be 750,000 more female-led start-ups if rates matched those in the US.
The results, published by the National Business Awards, noted that while 42% of the country’s workforce are women, only 15% of that figure are actively economic.
"The poor economic participation rating of women in the UK puts us almost halfway down the league of top-80 nations,” said the report’s author Philip Forrest.
There is huge commercial potential of more women taking up entrepreneurial roles and it is vital that the issue is addressed to enable the UK to complete, he added.
"The government - and other support organisations - are making some efforts in this direction. But the question is raised about whether the effort is enough or is properly focused on the right targets necessary to address some of the underlying issues that appear to affect the ability and capability of women to play a more productive role in achieving the ambitions of future success for UK plc.”
It is important to note the emphasis is on mutual understanding – women are not being depicted as in competition with men; instead, a partnership approach is being promoted.
“Men can learn from women, women from men,” says Gillian MacAulay, managing director of Strathclyde University Incubator Ltd. “We should encourage everyone to succeed”.
She voices the concern that “women are their own worst enemies”, lacking in self confidence and a difficulty in forming working female-female bonds that is detrimental to business success.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2007
