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Why self-employment is working for women

13 December 2022

A new study by IPSE has found that self-employment is increasingly attracting women that want more control over their work-life balance.

New research conducted by the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) has found that the total number of self-employed women now stands at 1,577,000 - 46% of the freelance workforce.

While the COVID pandemic has triggered a drop in the number of freelancers overall, the findings reveal that the number of female self-employed workers has only fallen by 3% since 2020, compared to 7% for male freelancers. In fact, since 2008, the number of solo self-employed women in the UK has increased by 59%.

Self-employment is proving to be a long-lasting career solution for many women, with 46% having worked for themselves for over six years and 44% having been in self-employment for over nine years.

The pros and cons of self-employment for women

Women report that they enter self-employment to get more control over working hours (63%), choice of where to work (56%) and a better work-life balance (55%). Interestingly, becoming a mother is more likely to trigger a move into self-employment than becoming a father; and 15% of freelancers are working mums. However, key obstacles include inadequate Maternity Allowance for working mothers, the gender pay gap and a reduced accessibility to training.

The flexibility and freedom afforded by self-employment is invaluable for many women, particularly when it comes to having a family.

Whilst the average age of women in self-employment is 47 years-old, the largest age groups for self-employed females are 50-59 years (424,000) and 40-49 years (379,000). However, the age group that has seen the largest increase amongst the female self-employed population is the 30-39 age band, which has seen an increase of 8% since 2020.

Vicks Rodwell, head of partnerships at IPSE, said: "It is really encouraging to see so many women making the decision to become self-employed. The flexibility and freedom afforded by self-employment is invaluable for many women, particularly when it comes to having a family, but it is essential that the government now works with the female freelance workforce to improve issues such as Maternity Allowance, access to low-cost childcare and the gender pay gap to foster a more positive environment for women to work in."

Case study: Laura Wallis

Laura Wallis is a self-employed mother of one whose career has focused on expert training design and delivery in the youth and mental health landscapes. She is now working as a freelance writer and speaker with expertise in women's healthcare, neurodiversity and mental health.

"Self-employment has enabled me to explore my passions in a way that traditional employment never did and I have really valued the ability to work on projects that I care deeply about. I have also found that self-employment has enabled me to pursue projects across different specialist areas more easily than I think I would have managed in traditional employment.

"My husband is a shift worker, so for us, my being self-employed makes sense. I do a lot of work around his shift patterns, meaning that we always have someone at home with our little one and we don't need to pay expensive childcare fees. I also really value that, as someone with a chronic illness, I am better able to manage my time and energy and do lots of my work at times that I know I can be more productive, or to take things a little slower if my health requires it."

Written by Rachel Miller.

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