Women and Equalities Committee to hear evidence on barriers to female entrepreneurship
28 March 2025
The Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) will hear from business experts and academics during the first evidence session of its female entrepreneurship inquiry in Parliament on Wednesday, 2 April.
- Wednesday, 2 April 2.20pm
- Inquiry: Female entrepreneurship
- Venue: Committee Room 6, Palace of Westminster
- Watch live: Visit parliamentlive.tv
- Women and Equalities Committee
MPs on the cross-party committee chaired by Labour MP Sarah Owen will discuss the current state of female entrepreneurship in the UK, the key barriers to women seeking to start, sustain and grow their businesses, the sectors in which these barriers are greatest, and how they can be overcome.
The first part of the session will largely focus on trends in female entrepreneurship and access to and provision of finance. The second part will additionally focus on other obstacles to women successfully starting and sustaining a business.
Witnesses
Panel one (hybrid)
at 2.20pm
- Jill Pay, Chair of The Gender Index [in person]
- Debbie Wosskow, Co-Chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce and entrepreneur [virtual]
- Stephen Welton, Chair of Board, British Business Bank [in person]
Panel two
from 3.20pm
- Professor Ute Stephan, Professor of Entrepreneurship, King’s College London [in person]
- Dr Lorna Treanor, Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Nottingham [in person]
- Dr Sarah Marks, Lecturer in Human Resources Management and Organisational Behaviour, Swansea University, and entrepreneur [in person]