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An 'accumulation of events' leads to women leaving their existing jobs to start up their own businesses, says new research.

Newcastle Business School has found that the uneven pay that women entrepreneurs tend to receive comapred to men or 'glass-ceiling' is not as significant as it once was and a number of factors contribute to the decision.

A desire for independence and personal circumstances are two of the reasons why women become entrepreneurs, says the research.

Nicola Patterson, a graduate teacher at the school, says she found women were often pushed into entrepreneurship by an event, or a series of events.

She says it was important that employers understand the pressures affecting women and 'should consider that a range of factors internally and externally to the organisation may lead to women's decision to leave a company'.

Caroline Theobald, founder of the marketing and networking company the Bridge Club, set up her business because of the influence of other business people within her family.

When she spotted a gap in the market she set up her firm and now claims to bring in £5.2 million for her clients.

Despite having experienced sexism in the 1980s, Theobald says that prejudice in the workplace is changing.

According to figures from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 6.7 per cent of women and 15.8 per cent of men own or manage their own business and female entrepreneurs make up 6.8 per cent of the UK working population.

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