Yorkshire Researchers Close $250B Gender Gap in Business

When Lyndsay Mitcheson needed a walking stick after losing her leg to an MRSA infection in 2010, she faced two problems. The only options available were "grey or flowery," and nobody saw her anymore, just her disability.

So she made her own: a clear acrylic stick that stopped strangers in their tracks. The conversation shifted from pity to curiosity, and Mitcheson felt seen again for the first time since her amputation.

Today, her company Neo Walk ships custom walking sticks in every color imaginable to customers worldwide, including celebrities Selma Blair and Christina Applegate. But it took nearly a decade to hire her first employee.

The journey wasn't just hard work. Mitcheson faced condescending attitudes and struggled to approach banks for funding because she didn't think anyone would take a disabled woman entrepreneur seriously.

She's not alone. Across York and North Yorkshire, women are nearly half as likely as men to work for themselves, creating a gap of 23,000 fewer self-employed women. Female-led organizations in the region raised just £62,000 in equity last year, while male-led ones raised £3.8 million.

These numbers come from groundbreaking new research led by University of York's Enterprise Works. The difference: researchers interviewed local female entrepreneurs directly to understand what's actually stopping them.

Professor Kiran Trehan and her team partnered with the Federation of Small Businesses, regional support providers, and national banks to tackle the problem. Andrea Morrison, regional FSB chair and entrepreneur, helped spark the collaboration after dropping a stunning statistic into a local authority meeting.

If women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, the UK could generate £250 billion in new revenue. The room went silent.

"You could literally hear a pin drop," Morrison says. "I could see the power of research, of data, of showing them the figures. Data is kryptonite to stereotypes."

The Ripple Effect

Closing Yorkshire's gender gap alone could create 165,000 jobs and add £2.6 billion in economic value to the region. That's thousands of families with better financial security, communities with stronger local businesses, and innovations like Mitcheson's that might never have existed.

The research team is now publishing a 10-point action plan based on what female entrepreneurs actually need: better access to mentorship, fairer funding opportunities, and recognition that running a business while managing everyday life requires different support structures.

Scores of local business leaders and entrepreneurs have backed the findings, including Jennifer Wood, chair of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority's business board. The collective momentum is building toward systemic change, not just individual success stories.

For Mitcheson, being part of the research meant her challenges finally counted as data instead of just complaints. Her voice helped shape solutions that will make the path easier for the next woman with an idea worth pursuing.

The grey and flowery options are about to get a lot more colorful.