Women Accessing Finance

Latest research from the COGS survey for 2011 on the surface suggests that women in the UK have a harder time of it accessing finance when compared to their fellow Female business owners in other parts of Europe.

The data notes that fewer UK women actually receive the amounts of finance that they asked for in comparison to non-UK women. The initial reaction is to cite the oft repeated mantra that 'Banks don't lend to women.' But this it appears, would be incorrect. Banks do lend to women, especially those who run businesses in non UK- European countries. The COGS data shows that 12% of UK based women received less finance than they wanted, when only 7% of non-UK European women received less than they wanted.

So are UK women discriminated against, according to these figures? Well, no as the explanation lies in the sectors which UK women tend to be over-represented. The sectors such as retailing, business support and business services and other lifestyle businesses are very common ones for UK women to be in. And it is these sectors which are more likely to suffer when times get tough.

Lenders know this and tend to lend less to any business which is in these sectors as they are more likely to be volatile, expending rapidly in boom times and being more likely to find it tough in a recession. So lenders give out less to those sectors, which just so happens to have more women owners. No bias at all. Just numbers.