The number of women owned businesses is growing globally. A testament to the resilience of women as many countries around the world are facing hard economic times. Despite the growing number of women owned businesses we still face tougher obstacles to growth than male owned businesses.
Lets start with the good news: In the U.K. women founded more businesses than ever before in 2022, despite uncertain economic times. In 2022, women launched 151, 603 companies!
Women now represent a 1/5th of all business owners in the U.K..
“It’s a testament to the resilience and entrepreneurialism of female
founders that they are creating more companies than ever before,”
Alison Rose
founders that they are creating more companies than ever before,”
Alison Rose
Now for the reality check: men are still three times more likely than women to start a business in the U.K. This was attributed to lack of funding opportunities, household duties and child/elderly caring responsibilities.
In the U.S., women own more businesses than ever before with 42% of all businesses in the U.S. being women owned. Women of colour account for an incredible 89% of new businesses started per day and account for 50% of all women owned businesses! In total women start 1800 new businesses every day in the U.S.!
Though there is lots to celebrate, women owned businesses are still in the minority and statistically do not grow as fast due to inequalities in funding opportunities.
Unfortunately, Canada does not share the same rate of growth as the U.K. and the U.S. as the number of women who are self employed has dropped since the start of the pandemic. It has been contributed to the effects of the pandemic on small businesses which the majority of women owned businesses are.
So what can we do to help women owned businesses grow faster and weather economic storms?
- Equal funding opportunities
- Greater gender diversity on funding decision panels
- Access to education and resources
- Recognition of unpaid domestic labour and unequal division of responsibilities around the house
- Access to affordable childcare
All of the above is the reason we started FEISTY. We know that more money and power in the hands of women will lead to a more equitable and diverse society. Our mission is to increase the market share of women owned businesses and get more money into the hands of women.
Are you a women owned business or are you thinking of starting one? What obstacles have you faced? What other factors do you think contribute to unequal growth between men and women owned businesses?
We would love to hear from you in the comments!
Talk soon,
Hannah
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