8th March marks International Women’s Day, a moment to reflect and press for progress for gender equality. Therefore we take this opportunity to briefly look at how women are represented across the UK small business population.
SME numbers in the UK are at an all-time high, with government statistics from Q4 2017 putting the tally at 5.7m. Of this figure, women-led businesses accounted for 22% of SMEs with no employees, and 20% of SMEs with employees. In total, around 1.2 million SMEs are led by women.
Examining only SMEs with employees, women-led SMEs are under-represented in the information and communication sector (11% of businesses led by women). In the education sector, female-led businesses made up 45% of the total, while in the health services sector, women made up 56% of the total.
It is estimated that in the UK women-led SMEs contribute about £75 billion to economic output, according to a recent Parliament briefing paper.
If you are a female small business leader we’d love to hear your views – get in touch via our social channels below.