The Gender and Enterprise Network (GEN) and the Women’s Enterprise Policy Group (WPEG) welcome the Women and Equalities Committee’s Eighth Report on Female Entrepreneurship and strongly endorse its call for a national, state-backed Female Entrepreneurship Strategy. The report’s evidence resonates with over two decades of research and advocacy from our overlapping communities which has consistently highlighted how systemic bias, unequal access to finance, and gendered structures of support undermine women’s entrepreneurial potential. We are very pleased to see that evidence provided to the Committee from our members features strongly in the report.
We particularly commend the Committee’s recognition that current interventions are fragmented and insufficient, and that meaningful progress requires coordinated, large-scale policy leadership, including the call to establish a dedicated Office for Women’s Business Ownership. The proposed ringfencing of finance within the British Business Bank and Innovate UK, the launch of a Female Enterprise Investment scheme, as well as public procurement targets for female-led firms, are also necessary steps toward a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem that recognises growth and sustainability.
As the UK’s leading academic-policy-practitioner networks dedicated to gender and enterprise, GEN and WEPG also welcome the report’s attention to intersectionality and regional disparities, acknowledging the barriers faced by minoritised women and those outside the ‘Golden Triangle’. We urge Government to ensure that the new strategy embeds robust data monitoring, accountability, and research partnerships with networks such as ours to guide evidence-based policymaking.
Finally, we echo the report’s call for a cultural shift, from ‘fixing women’ to fixing the system, something our members have long advocated for. The economic and social case is undeniable; unlocking women’s entrepreneurial potential is not only a matter of equity but of national prosperity.
Dr Sally Jones and Professor Haya Al-Dajani
Co-Chairs, Gender and Enterprise Network (GEN)
Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE)
Dr Carol Ekinsmyth and Lorraine Acheson
Co-Chairs, Women and Enterprise Policy group (WEPG)