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Jobs for the Girls: Two Years On

The whole pensions area is difficult and I will not commit to that on behalf of the Conservative party this afternoon. It is something that requires careful thought before any commitment can be made. Women are half as likely to be involved in start-up activities as men, as the hon. Member for Teignbridge (Richard Younger-Ross) said. Although the number of female entrepreneurs has risen 3 per cent. between 2003 and 2005, a report by the small business survey has found that the new female-run businesses are replacing rather than adding to the existing male-run stock. Indeed, in the words of the Home Secretary and former Deputy Minister for Women and Equality:"““If women started businesses at the same rate as men, we would have 150,000 extra start-ups each year.””" In addressing the issue it is interesting to look at what is going on in the rest of the world, as the hon. Member for Teignbridge did. At present, the UK has one of the lowest ratios for female-established business ownership compared with the rest of the G8. In contrast to the US, as the hon. Gentleman said, female entrepreneurs are twice as likely to run their own firm as their British counterparts. Other countries such as Canada, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy also boast a smaller gap between the number of female and male entrepreneurs. Even with the changes to the Equal Pay Act 1970 and the equality Bill, it is clear that the Government are not going far enough. I am sure that it will be a surprise to many that in the past three years the number of female councillors has fallen 16 per cent. and we have a lower proportion of women MPs, at 19.5 per cent., than Iraq, Afghanistan and Rwanda, where I was for two weeks in the summer.