British women yearn to start their own business

Flexibility, being your own boss, or turning a hobby into a business are just a few reasons why British women dream of leaving their jobs to become self-employed, a study finds.

Some 56 per cent (or 7,504,000) of British women dream about the last day of following the office rules, according to new research conducted on behalf of the government-backed Start Up Loans Company.

The survey looks at all aspects of self-employment, including the top business sectors. Creative, arts and entertainment come out on top, followed by food and retail services, and beating technology and building services.

A closer look at the figures also reveals that most UK employed women would be satisfied with an average salary of £25,132 in their first year of being self employed.

The majority of survey respondents (40 per cent) say they had started thinking about becoming self-employed within the last few years.

A quarter state that being unhappy in their current role is a major trigger, while 16 per cent say they’d dreamt their business dream since childhood.

Start Up Loans CEO, Tim Sawyer says, ‘This growing surge in ambition among the country’s female population is brilliant for UK trade, and shows that the gender divide in business is quickly narrowing.

‘But sadly, the majority of women are still unconfident about making the break. We need to take more action to change these attitudes and demonstrate to more women that they can realise their business dreams.’

Further reading on women and business

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel

Ben Lobel was the editor of SmallBusiness.co.uk from 2010 to 2018. He specialises in writing for start-up and scale-up companies in the areas of finance, marketing and HR.

Related Topics

Women In Business