Female entrepreneurs already make a huge contribution to our economy and society. The businesses that they run create jobs and drive growth in every part of the country.
But we must also take a long look at the fact that here in the UK women are less than half as likely to start, run or grow a business than men, and what that then means for our economy. The Rose Review, prompted by the Telegraph’s Women Mean Business campaign, found that if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men they could add £250 million in value to the UK economy.
If we truly are to “build back better”, then the Government and private sector must work together to unlock the vast untapped potential of more than a million hidden female entrepreneurs.
That is why, at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Women and Enterprise, we have been looking at what needs to be done to empower a new generation of women entrepreneurs. In our new report, we have found that the barriers that women and girls face begin as early as school, which can then go on to shape the choices that they make for years to come.
From an early age, when girls are asked about their future careers, they are far less likely to express an interest in becoming a scientist or an engineer than boys. Then, as they continue through their education, they are far less likely to study STEM subjects at A-Level or university. The research is clear that these subjects play an important role in giving young people the skills they need to become entrepreneurs, but gendered stereotypes are holding back a generation of girls from these opportunities.
And, beyond these individual subjects, we are not taking advantage of our education system to give children not just the skills to become entrepreneurs, but also the understanding that this is actually a career path open to them.
To help address these imbalances, our report calls for the Government to review the role of applied education in schools and to build on the work that has already been done to embed careers advice. We recommend that entrepreneurs engage directly with schools when they are designing and delivering careers advice and call for a regional network of Women’s Business Centres, modelled on those in the US – which has had a specific Women’s Business Act for more than 30 years – to support female business leaders in every part of the country.
Female entrepreneurs already make a huge contribution to our economy and society. The businesses that they run create jobs and drive growth in every part of the country.
But we must also take a long look at the fact that here in the UK women are less than half as likely to start, run or grow a business than men, and what that then means for our economy. The Rose Review, prompted by the Telegraph’s Women Mean Business campaign, found that if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men they could add £250 million in value to the UK economy.
If we truly are to “build back better”, then the Government and private sector must work together to unlock the vast untapped potential of more than a million hidden female entrepreneurs.
That is why, at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Women and Enterprise, we have been looking at what needs to be done to empower a new generation of women entrepreneurs. In our new report, we have found that the barriers that women and girls face begin as early as school, which can then go on to shape the choices that they make for years to come.
From an early age, when girls are asked about their future careers, they are far less likely to express an interest in becoming a scientist or an engineer than boys. Then, as they continue through their education, they are far less likely to study STEM subjects at A-Level or university. The research is clear that these subjects play an important role in giving young people the skills they need to become entrepreneurs, but gendered stereotypes are holding back a generation of girls from these opportunities.
And, beyond these individual subjects, we are not taking advantage of our education system to give children not just the skills to become entrepreneurs, but also the understanding that this is actually a career path open to them.
To help address these imbalances, our report calls for the Government to review the role of applied education in schools and to build on the work that has already been done to embed careers advice. We recommend that entrepreneurs engage directly with schools when they are designing and delivering careers advice and call for a regional network of Women’s Business Centres, modelled on those in the US – which has had a specific Women’s Business Act for more than 30 years – to support female business leaders in every part of the country.