Businesses owned by women are less risky, more financially sound, and less likely to fail than those run by men, according to new figures published today.
Less than a quarter of female entrepreneurs have had a business fail. Some 34 per cent of male entrepreneurs, however, have seen a business go under.
This discrepancy in failure rates seems to be directly linked to men and women’s relative attitudes to risk. Some 50 per cent of male business owners consider themselves to have a “risk confident” attitude to business, while just 30 per cent of women would describe themselves in the same terms.
This has an impact on insurance claims, with male entrepreneurs costing insurers around 60 per cent more on average than female business owners.
Simply Business is launching a campaign to encourage insurers to reduce premiums for female-owned businesses. Similar practices already exist in car insurance, with female drivers routinely paying less for their cover.
Simply Business wants to see the cost of business insurance brought down for female entrepreneurs, in a way that reflects the lower risks posed by this group.
A legal challenge to two-tier car insurance was dismissed by the European courts, which found that insurers are legally entitled to consider gender when determining premiums.
