I was recently inspired by an episode from The Economist’s Gamechangers series, which shared the fascinating story of the invention of the wheeled suitcase. The story piqued my interest because this revolutionary idea, initially invented by a woman, had previously flopped simply because it was perceived as a product for women. It wasn’t until decades later, when a male inventor took up the concept, that the wheeled suitcase became the global staple we know today.
I went out and bought the book Mother of Invention by Katrine Marçal, which delves deeper into this history and uncovers the gender biases that shaped our innovation models. What struck me was how a simple, yet profound, example like the wheeled suitcase could highlight the barriers that women face in entrepreneurship — barriers that are often invisible but have a massive impact on the trajectory of their ideas and businesses.
Even though more women are starting businesses than ever before, they continue to be significantly underrepresented and disproportionately restricted from funding opportunities compared to their male counterparts. This leaves a gender gap in entrepreneurship, not due to a lack of ambition or ideas, but because these systems are not designed with women in mind.
The landscape of entrepreneurship has become more accessible than a decade ago, yet women remain structurally underrepresented, halting their career progression and stifling their potential. As Katrine Marçal argues in her thought-provoking book, our innovation models have historically been male-centric, often overlooking ideas shaped by women’s unique experiences and needs.
So, what needs to change to truly empower a new generation of inclusive founders? In this blog, we’ll explore the systematic factors behind the gender gap in entrepreneurship, the barriers women face in business, and how we can create a more equitable landscape for women to thrive.
Key Takeaways
- All-female founding teams receive less than 2% of UK venture capital funding, a rate that has remained unchanged for five years.
- Media and societal norms continue to associate entrepreneurship with men, which limits funding, visibility, and support for female-led businesses.
- Research suggests that inclusive economic systems can support broader innovation and may contribute to stronger overall growth, particularly when they address underrepresented needs.
Understanding the gender gap in entrepreneurship
In the UK, women launch fewer startups than men, raise less funding, and are less likely to scale. Women have the same entrepreneurial potential as men; the issue lies in an exclusive system that’s not designed for women-led ventures.
Despite having the same entrepreneurial potential as men, women in the UK start fewer businesses, secure significantly less funding, and face greater challenges in scaling their ventures.
This isn’t due to a lack of capability or ambition; it’s the result of deeply rooted structural barriers within an entrepreneurial ecosystem that was not built with women in mind.
From limited access to investors to unconscious bias and a lack of representation, the system remains largely exclusive, making it harder for women-led startups to thrive. Addressing these disparities is key to unlocking the full potential of female entrepreneurship.
High-growth sectors still exclude women
Excluding women from capital and networks may restrict innovation, especially in underserved sectors like health and education.
For example, women-founded FemTech companies (solving critical issues around fertility and menstrual health) remain vastly underfunded. Galen Growth’s research shows that FemTech business growth has more than tripled in the last 10 years. Still, this sector’s share of global funding dropped by over seven percentage points between 2020 and early 2025.
Overall, FemTech investment lags behind mainstream healthcare investments. A staggering 70% of FemTech startups under six years old remain in the seed funding stage. This funding disparity is concerning, particularly because these businesses address critical, often overlooked health needs that affect women globally.
As Katrine Marçal notes in Mother of Invention, this happens because we mistakenly define innovation through a male-coded lens. She says:
We’ve built entire industries around trying to understand what men want and need. Yet we still don’t fund women solving the problems they personally experience every day.
The non-financial barriers holding female entrepreneurs back
Beyond funding, visibility is another primary reason for the gender gap in entrepreneurship. Male-led scale-ups often dominate headlines thanks to bigger capital raises. Meanwhile, thousands of women-led enterprises remain invisible to mainstream media and investors.
Women are also significantly underrepresented in leadership roles. According to Grant Thornton, women held 34% of the UK’s C-suite roles in 2024. While this number has increased over the last 20 years, progress is still slow.
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These challenges represent a missed economic opportunity. Addressing them could support innovation and lead to a more equitable business landscape.
Who is recognised as an entrepreneur?
What comes to mind when you picture an entrepreneur? Is it a 30-something male in a sharp suit, confidently pitching to investors?
Media and cultural narratives continue to portray entrepreneurship as predominantly male, shaping perceptions that directly affect who is given opportunities, funding, and mentorship. This bias is more than just an image problem; it creates real barriers for entrepreneurs who don’t fit this narrow stereotype.
When society consistently presents the same type of person as a “successful entrepreneur,” it becomes harder for women and other underrepresented groups to break through and secure the support they deserve. As a result, innovative ideas and ventures led by diverse founders are often overlooked, stifling broader economic growth and innovation.
Challenging this stereotype is crucial. By broadening our understanding of what an entrepreneur looks like and celebrating diverse examples of entrepreneurial success, we can dismantle these biases and build an ecosystem where talent and ambition, not gender, define entrepreneurial recognition and support.
Highlighting overlooked innovations
In the opening chapter of Mother of Invention, Katrine Marçal presents a striking anecdote about the rolling suitcase. She illustrates how society managed to put a man on the moon before it thought to put wheels on luggage. The reason? Rolling suitcases simply didn’t fit into a masculine ideal of strength, efficiency, or independence.
Marçal provocatively asks, “Why did it take so long to put wheels on a suitcase? Because men couldn’t imagine pulling their luggage.”
This anecdote highlights a powerful truth: countless innovations may have been delayed or overlooked, not because of their value, but simply because gender biases shaped what society deemed practical or necessary.
It prompts an important question for all of us: What groundbreaking ideas and innovations are we still missing today, simply because women, or other underrepresented groups, are behind them?
Creativity, ideas, and innovations are already here, waiting to be recognised. But our existing business systems, funding models, and cultural biases often aren’t structured or even prepared to notice them.
To tap into innovation’s full potential, we must rethink our assumptions and actively challenge the invisible biases that prevent brilliant ideas from gaining the recognition and support they deserve.
The challenges female entrepreneurs still face
Despite rising entrepreneurial activity among women, barriers to women’s entrepreneurial success persist across all stages, from formation to funding to scaling. Here are some of the most common challenges female entrepreneurs face today:
Funding remains out of reach
As mentioned, women-led startups receive a disproportionately small share of investment. This disparity stems from both how pitch decks are evaluated and the biases around what constitutes a ‘serious’ business idea.
Confidence matters
Many women underestimate their preparedness or downplay ambition due to internalised biases and societal expectations. As a result, fewer women apply for external investment, and when they do, they receive significantly less than male founders.
Care duties limit scale
Carers UK reports that women are more likely than men to provide unpaid care, with females accounting for 60% of unpaid carers in England. These responsibilities affect their availability to network and scale.
Mentorships and networks are harder to access
Female founders have limited access to impactful networks, training, and mentorship. Initiatives like the Invest in Women Taskforce are a big step towards closing the gender gap in entrepreneurship. Still, more needs to be done to ensure women have the opportunities and tools to thrive in business.
Fostering inclusivity in business requires redesigning the startup ecosystem to serve diverse needs. As Marçal highlights, “Our economic systems were designed around a male worker with no caregiving duties.”
What inclusive entrepreneurship should look like
Inclusive entrepreneurship means building systems that fund and support diverse ideas and people. To foster inclusive entrepreneurship, we need to shift attitudes from exclusivity toward expanding opportunity and potential. That way, we can empower underrepresented entrepreneurs, unlock broader market potential, and support a more diverse range of business models.
Despite the work we’ve yet to do, we already see signs of inclusive entrepreneurship. FemTech is bridging gaps in female healthcare, the number of women starting businesses exceeds historic records, more funding schemes for female founders are emerging, and women-led climate ventures are driving community-based environmental change.
These progressions reinforce Marçal‘s comment: “When we design for women, we improve outcomes for everyone.”
What needs to change to close the gender gap in entrepreneurship?
Structural reforms in policy and investment practices are key to achieving gender equity in startup ecosystems. Here’s how we can significantly reduce the gender gap in entrepreneurship and create the conditions for lasting equity:
1. Investors must reframe what they see as ‘investable’
The British Business Bank and Diversity VC examined how a pitch deck’s source impacts investor decisions. One area they studied is how “warm introductions” (where a pitch deck comes in from a pre-existing relationship) impact investment committee (IC) decisions compared to cold introductions (with no prior relationship) and outbound sources (VC makes proactive contact).
Here’s what they found:
A bar chart illustrating that male entrepreneurs are more likely to secure venture capital funding than women
To close the gender gap in entrepreneurship, investors must remain impartial and challenge what they deem investable. They also need to widen their lens on traditionally female-led sectors like health, education, and family care – not just as social impact stories but as high-growth opportunities.
2. Policymakers need to focus on equity
Many government initiatives treat support as gender-neutral, assuming access and outcomes will be the same for all. However, without targeted measures, gender-neutral policies can perpetuate bias and maintain exclusion in entrepreneurship.
Instead, policymakers should commit to:
- Expanding targeted grant schemes specifically for women-led businesses
- Embedding gender-based impact assessments in startup and SME programmes (for example, evaluating how initiatives impact caregivers or single-parent founders)
- Reforming procurement frameworks to ensure diverse suppliers can access public contracts
- Supporting childcare infrastructure and parental leave schemes that make entrepreneurship more compatible with care responsibilities
3. Allyship in business is imperative
Genuine allyship involves actively redistributing power and access, and ensuring opportunities are open to everyone, not just a select few.
It’s crucial that founders, policymakers, investors, and media voices become active allies in building an inclusive entrepreneurial landscape. This means intentionally broadening their networks, challenging established norms, and using their platforms to amplify the voices of underrepresented entrepreneurs.
True inclusion happens when those who have always had a seat at the table actively create space for others to join.
Supporting female entrepreneurship isn’t about merely handing opportunities to a select group; it’s about empowering everyone with the resources, connections, and tools to collectively build something better. Real allyship means understanding that when we lift others, we all rise together.
Let’s work together to close the gap in entrepreneurship
Women are launching businesses at unprecedented rates, yet the gender gap in entrepreneurship persists. The underlying structures – funding channels, mentorship networks, and innovation frameworks – still aren’t fully designed with women in mind.
If we want to change it, we need to confront this reality head-on. Bridging the gap demands more than incremental shifts; it requires a fundamental reconstruction of our entrepreneurial ecosystem, from redefining what innovation looks like to transforming how we recognise, support, and reward new ideas.
By creating equal opportunities, we can unlock the full potential of diverse perspectives, richer ideas, and stronger economic and social impacts.
If you’re a female entrepreneur seeking funding opportunities, guidance, and ongoing support, 1st Formations is here to help. Explore our resources designed specifically to support inclusive entrepreneurship, from seamless company formation to comprehensive, long-term advice.
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