17% of female bosses at UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or 307,900 firms with fewer than 250 employees, believe they have had an application for finance denied because of their gender.
The latest Aldermore Future Attitudes study, which surveyed more than 1,000 business decision-makers across the UK, found that a further 18% of female business leaders felt their applications had been denied because of personal opinion.
15% felt they struggled to be taken seriously, with 18% saying they had pushed themselves too hard because of their gender.
Overall, 46% of female business leaders admitted to experiencing some form of discrimination, compared to 30% of their male counterparts. While men were most likely to face discrimination due to age (12% versus 10%), women were more likely than men to face discrimination due to mental health, sexual orientation, and parental leave and five times as likely to suffer sexual harassment.
The impacts of discrimination can spread into personal lives, with 56% of female SME leaders feeling pressure to work over the holiday periods, compared to 48% of men.
More broadly, a range of challenges present themselves for both men and women.
Top five challenges faced by business leaders:
| Business issues | % of SME leaders |
| Balancing family and business life | 24 |
| Pushing yourself too hard | 18 |
| Struggling to be taken seriously | 15 |
| Confidence / coping with a fear of failure | 14 |
| Being treated equally / equal opportunities | 13 |
Carl D’Ammassa, group managing director, business finance at Aldermore, said: “SMEs play an absolutely critical role in the UK economy, and by not creating an environment where businesses have equal opportunities to succeed, we are robbing ourselves of their potential. The finance industry should be empowering people to innovate and generate wealth and discrimination of any form is detrimental to this. SMEs employ 60% of the UK economy and provide 52% of the UK’s private sector turnover.
“When choosing companies we want to support and work with, we look at what’s important to us. Does the founder have a vision we believe in? Does the business share our values? It’s about getting to know a business and judging their case on merit. At Aldermore we take pride in getting to know our customers and supporting the ambitions of SMEs across the country.”