What is the Gender Index?
They map every active UK company – over 4.5 million in total – in real time, providing a clear picture of the UK company landscape analysed by gender, sector, investment type, ethnic minority leadership and more.
The Gender Index aims to spotlight the opportunities and challenges female-led companies face, driving a transformative agenda for women in enterprise.
How does the Gender Index work?
Produced through a unique combination of leading academic research, big data and cutting-edge technology, discover the latest trends in female entrepreneurship across the UK in 2023. Covering over 8.8 million officers from nearly five million active companies, the data has been segmented and analysed nationally; for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; and the English regions, for targeted decision-making.
This year, the scope of the report has widened to include access to investment capital and secured debt, plus import and export activity. This is in addition to analysis of ethnic minority-led companies, the generation of the leadership, sector, fast growth and more. In an election year, this data will be invaluable in shaping policy to address the gender imbalance in UK business – now and into the future.
Where can I read it?
The Gender Index Report for 2024 has now been published. You can read it here.
Headline Stats:
✨ In 2023, out of 4,954,534 active companies in the UK, 20.1% were led by women – maintaining their significant presence in the SME sector.
✨ News from Northern Ireland shows 13% of fast growth companies in Northern Ireland are female-led, higher than the UK average of 12.4%.
✨ In Scotland, the number of new female-led companies grew by 11%, compared to the UK figure of 7%.
✨ At 15.9%, Wales has the highest proportion of female-led fast growth companies, well above the UK rate.
✨The most notable drop of active ethnic minority female-led companies occurred in Northern Ireland, where this fell by 10.5%, although it remains the highest among the four nations with 23.9% in 2023. Wales was the only country amongst the home nations to increase its share – by 4% to 21.2%.
✨In 2023, there was a higher share of female leadership in England in terms of incorporations (21.2%) than in either Wales (20.7%), Scotland (20.3%) and Northern Ireland (19.3%).
✨ 20.1% of all active UK companies are female-led. This share remains the same as the previous year and means that only one in five active companies in the UK was female led.
Read the report to find out more of these incredible insights in our shared ambition to drive the growth of female entrepreneurship in the UK.
