
Publications
2023 Igniting Capabilities of Women Export Entrepreneurs

All types
Igniting Capabilities of Women Export Entrepreneurs
2023
Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
Key findings:
‘Female capital’, which describes the gendered nature of social capital, can be a useful framework to understanding the gendered experiences of women entrepreneurs.
Trust, co-operation, and reciprocity were the core values of the women’s networks (of mostly other women, with male allies also present).
The women reported possessing (feminine capital in the form of) qualities of audacity and innate inner confidence that enabled them to identify, create and develop entrepreneurial opportunities.
Gendered structural barriers associated with the masculinisation of entrepreneurship continue to constrain women e.g., negative perceptions of some funders regarding women entrepreneurs.
Women expressed a strong preference for organic business growth supported by debt finance, bootstrapping or self-funding.
Policy implications:
Women’s clear preference for developing double/triple bottom line businesses should be supported and encouraged.
Diversity amongst and between women entrepreneurs should be recognised and accommodated.
Information regarding angel and venture capital funding should be made available to ensure women understand how such systems operate, providing them with expanded growth financing options.
Expanding their businesses into export markets offers women opportunities to empower themselves financially and personally, with significant potential for wider positive impacts.
Deficiency discourses should be avoided where women entrepreneurs’ behaviour deviates from the unacknowledged male norm e.g., reluctance to utilise angel or venture capital funding etc.
Policy should be designed to support women in ways meaningful to them (rather than ‘fix’ assumed gendered entrepreneurial deficiencies).
- BibTex Key
- Authors Anna Guenther | Dr Susan Nemec | Jess Chilcott | Professor Christine Woods
- Tags Aotearoa reports | Journal
Women as Entrepreneurs: Lessons Unlearned?

All types
Women as Entrepreneurs: Lessons Unlearned?
2022
Enterprise Research Council
Key findings:
The support landscape for women’s entrepreneurship continues to fail to provide women with required flexible, tailored, best-practice, gender-aware support.
Women entrepreneurs are important, distinct and diverse communities within the wider entrepreneurial population.
Too many women entrepreneurs continue to report actual, or perceived, difficulties with financial intermediaries and wider business support initiatives.
Immediate action must be taken to prevent similarly gendered atrophy of women’s businesses post-Covid as was seen during and after the 2008 Global Economic Crisis.
Policy implications:
Policies and programmes to encourage and support entrepreneurs must recognise their diversity and embed this within their approaches.
A national strategy is required to achieve ratios of UK women owned businesses comparable to ‘best-in-class’ countries.
A clearer route to policy should be developed to translate research evidence into policy action e.g., through an annual Female Entrepreneurship Research and Policy Conference.
Sustained, substantial government support is needed to develop a robust and accessible women’s entrepreneurship support network, locally, regionally and nationally, across all four nations in the UK.
A national framework of support must be developed, built around existing, local, focused, trusted, quality providers.
Gender-disaggregated, annual HM Treasury reporting is essential to ensure that commitments made to provide targeted support result in measurable and impactful outcomes.
- BibTex Key
- Authors
- Tags Global | Journal | Mainstream enterprise
The Alison Rose review of female entrepreneurship: Progress report 2022

All types
The Alison Rose review of female entrepreneurship: Progress report
2022
Alison Rose
Key findings:
The major barriers for women entrepreneurs continue to be inequitable access to, and awareness of funding, inequitable caring responsibilities, lack of enabling entrepreneurship support ecosystems for women.
Caring responsibilities: Women entrepreneurs continue to suffer from the inequitable division of caring work, a situation exacerbated by the Covid pandemic. Women entrepreneurs reported spending 6-10 hours more per week on caring work than men entrepreneurs during the pandemic. Women entrepreneurs were 62% less likely than men to report post-pandemic recovery in their businesses. 44% of women entrepreneurs reported the urgent need for additional childcare support (versus 34% for men).
Enabling entrepreneurship: 68% rise in signatories to HM Treasury’s Investing in Women Code, which requires signatories to a) adopt best practice in supporting female business owners, and b) collect and publish gender disaggregated data to enhance transparency.
Policy implications:
Government should consider how best to support the development of targeted support for women entrepreneurs through public/private partnership working, designated policy support, ministerial buy-in and policy promotion, pan-government and public institution support, transparent funding, outcome measurement and reporting.
- BibTex Key
- Authors
- Tags Global | Journal | Mainstream enterprise
Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine Women’s Employment Action Plan

Journal Article
Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine Women’s Employment Action Plan
2022
Ministry for Women, National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women, and New Zealand Government
Key findings:
Inequitable access to funding, training, mentoring and networks, inequitable division of unpaid domestic labour and childcare.
Policy implications:
Gender lens in policy-making is required to ensure equitable outcomes for women entrepreneurs.
Intersectional (cumulative) disadvantages need to be explored e.g. provision for non-White, differently abled, refugee etc. entrepreneurs.
Social procurement policies should be established to support women entrepreneurs’ businesses.
- BibTex Key
- Authors
- Tags Aotearoa reports | Journal | Mainstream enterprise
The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs: How targeted support for women-led business can unlock sustainable economic growth

Journal Article
The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs: How targeted support for women-led business can unlock sustainable economic growth
2022
Mastercard
Key findings:
Women entrepreneurs suffer from: inequitable access to funding and business training; negative gender stereotypes; the inequitable division of unpaid domestic labour and childcare.
(Aotearoa specific): There exists a lack of affordable childcare, which disproportionately affects women
Policy implications:
Gender lens in policy-making is required to ensure equitable outcomes for women entrepreneurs.
Explore the effects of policy in action (are policy intentions resulting in equitable results outcomes?).
Explore why almost four times as many women as men are ‘pushed’ into (necessity) entrepreneurship.
More funding required for good quality, locally-based childcare.
- BibTex Key
- Authors
- Tags Global | Journal | Mainstream enterprise
Women, Business and the Law 2022

Journal Article
Women, Business and the Law 2022
2022
World Bank Group
Key findings:
Inequitable access to finance and training, negative gendered stereotypes, gendered sectoral segregation e.g., health and social care versus construction, inequitable division of unpaid domestic labour and childcare.
Policy implications:
Implement and enforce gender equality laws.
Support greater legal equality for women.
Developed economies should focus on systemic and structural barriers that result in ongoing inequalities for women.
- BibTex Key
- Authors
- Tags Global | Journal | Mainstream enterprise
Women entrepreneurs: Catalyzing growth, innovation, and equality

Journal Article
Women entrepreneurs: Catalyzing growth, innovation, and equality
2022
Citi GPS
Key findings:
Inequitable access to finance (especially Venture Capital), international markets, mentoring, networks, training, cumulative disadvantage for some women e.g., non-Whites, differently abled, refugee women, gendered sectoral segregation e.g., health and social care versus construction, inequitable division of unpaid domestic labour and childcare.
Policy implications:
Legislate for gender equality;
Tackle systemic and structural barriers/biases that lead to inequitable outcomes for women.
Collect gender disaggregated, internationally comparable data on women entrepreneurs.
Introduce gender-aware procurement policies and practices.
Invest in accessible, gender-aware business training support for women.
Facilitate public policy, private sector, and legislative collaborations to support women’s entrepreneurship.
- BibTex Key
- Authors
- Tags Global | Journal | Mainstream enterprise
Pacific women and men in business

Journal Article
Pacific women and men in business
2021
Ministry for Women Manatū Wāhine, and Ministry for Pacific Peoples Te Manatū mō Ngā Iwi o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa
Key findings:
There is a lack of visible Pacific Peoples entrepreneurial role models.
Pacific entrepreneurs in Aotearoa lack of access to culturally appropriate (safe and aware) business training and growth finance.
Policy implications:
Enhance support for Pacific Peoples’ entrepreneurial growth activities.
Provide growth readiness training and access to growth finance to facilitate scaling-up.
- BibTex Key
- Authors
- Tags Aotearoa reports | Journal | Mainstream enterprise
Raising Capital in Aotearoa New Zealand: Insights from women entrepreneurs

Journal Article
Raising Capital in Aotearoa New Zealand: Insights from women entrepreneurs
2021
Dr Janine Swail, University of Auckland
Key findings:
Women entrepreneurs suffer from: the lack of diversity (age, gender, ethnicity etc.) in the finance sector; negative gendered stereotypes, gender bias and gender-based discrimination; the inequitable division of unpaid domestic labour and childcare.
Policy implications:
Improve women entrepreneurs’ knowledge and perception of Angel/VC funding.
Address gender stereotypes and bias in the Angel/VC domain.
Support access to, and development of, funding networks for women entrepreneurs.
Challenge and address inequitable gender role expectations.
- BibTex Key
- Authors
- Tags Aotearoa reports | Journal | Mainstream enterprise
2021 Gender and entrepreneurship: Research frameworks, barriers and opportunities for women entrepreneurship worldwide.
All types
Gender and entrepreneurship: Research frameworks, barriers and opportunities for women entrepreneurship worldwide.
Joyce A. Strawser, Diana M. Hechavarría and Katia Passerini
2021
- BibTex Key
- Authors Diana M. Hechavarría | Joyce A. Strawser | Katia Passerini
- Tags
Subscribe to our newsletter
Receive the latest news, events and articles in your inbox