International Women’s Day

Baroness Mone Excerpts

Tuesday 10th March 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Mone (Con)]

My Lords, I too thank the Minister for securing this important debate and I congratulate her on her new role. I am in slight awe of the knowledge and expertise in this House. It is such an honour to contribute to this debate. This is a chance to pause and reflect. Gender equality by 2030 still needs urgent action; there is lots to do, but also much to celebrate in how far we have come.

As others have mentioned, women’s equality and empowerment is one of the 17 sustainable development goals. It is also, arguably, vital to the success of all of them. Therefore, it is important that this year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Each for Equal”.

I want to focus my remarks on women and entrepreneurship. I draw attention to my interests as listed in the register and my previous role as start-up business tsar, leading the 2016 review entitled “Be the Boss” on boosting enterprise in more deprived communities.

I grew up in a one-bedroom tenement flat in the East End of Glasgow. Life was not easy at all. My brother died when he was a baby and my dad was confined to a wheelchair by the age of 38, so by the time I was 15 I decided to leave school and support my mum and dad. I always had a dream to start a business, and at the age of 24 I started my first one from my kitchen table. I went on to create one of the biggest brands in the world, with 17 world inventions. I have since sold it to one of the biggest intimate apparel companies in the world, employing 63,000 people. That is not bad for a wee girl from Glasgow.

I know how tough it can be to set up and run your own business, especially going back to work 48 hours after giving birth to my baby daughter, Bethany—but do not worry; she reminds me all the time when she wants something.

A truly modern and successful economy needs to be able to unleash the entrepreneurial energy and skills of everyone in society. Figures show that someone starts a new business in the UK every 75 seconds, yet only a third of entrepreneurs are women. We should not tolerate people being held back from achieving their dream of working for themselves and creating jobs for others simply because of their gender, where they are from or who they are.

I commend The Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, published this time last year. It highlighted that up to £250 billion of new value could be added to the UK economy if women started and scaled new businesses at the same rate as men. Why are women not taking the plunge? I will tell your Lordships why. One reason is that they have a lower level of access to finance. A woman’s average starting capital is 50% below that of a man. They also have a different risk appetite, with 55% more women than men citing the fear of starting a business alone as a really scary thing. In addition, there is a perceived lack of skills and experience; imbalanced childcare responsibilities, with women spending 60% more time on childcare than men; a lack of sponsorship; and a real lack of role models.

I was struck by how similar the findings were to those of my own review. There is still a need for all of us to take steps to help want-to-be female entrepreneurs. Action must be taken, but how? Building up a woman’s confidence is key, as is offering more income security, and building better business networks is vital. In response to the Rose review, the Government announced an ambition to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by 50% by 2030. That is nearly 600,000 additional female entrepreneurs. Can the Minister please update the House on where we are on implementing these recommendations?

As someone who has received guidance and is now a mentor myself, I can tell your Lordships how important it is to encourage women to take the plunge, work hard and follow their dreams, no matter who they are. I would not be here today without the support of the incredible Prince’s Trust. It knows that self-employment can be a vital route to success for many from disadvantaged areas who are trapped by poor qualifications and few job opportunities.

The World Economic Forum’s 2020 report found that the number of women in senior roles had increased in 2019. However, it stated that women’s participation in the labour market is “stalling”. We need to be more creative in business development and enterprise education, not just in the workplace but much earlier in the lives of our children. Building experiences of entrepreneurship into schools helps girls develop the skills and confidence they require so that eventually they can run their own businesses. Mary Anne Radmacher said:

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow’.”


As a Scot, I could not finish without offering your Lordships and all the female entrepreneurs out there—past, present and future—a shot of whisky. Slàinte!