On 18 November 2025, the UK Parliament took a significant step toward confronting one of the most persistent failures in the country’s financial system. In the House of Commons, Sonia Kumar, Member of Parliament for Dudley, introduced the Access to Finance for Women in Business Bill, using a Ten-Minute Rule Motion to challenge the systemic barriers that continue to restrict women’s access to equity capital.
Her intervention marked a shift in tone. Rather than repeating long-standing calls for voluntary reform, Kumar placed the issue squarely within the realm of legislative accountability. The Bill directly addresses the structural imbalance that has left female-led businesses consistently underfunded, particularly when it comes to growth-stage equity investment.
At its core, the Bill reframes access to finance for women not as a niche equality issue, but as a national economic concern.
Despite the UK’s reputation as a global centre for innovation and entrepreneurship, women-led businesses remain significantly less likely to receive equity investment than those led by men. This gap widens further at later funding stages, precisely where capital is most critical for scaling, innovation, and international expansion.
Kumar highlighted that the problem is not a lack of ambition, capability, or commercial viability among female founders. Instead, it is a systemic failure in capital allocation, where investment continues to flow disproportionately through male-dominated networks.
The Bill is designed to confront this imbalance directly by examining how equity capital is distributed and why female led firms are so often excluded from it.
A central pillar of Kumar’s argument is economic, not symbolic.
During her address, she emphasised that the exclusion of women from equity markets represents a self-inflicted constraint on UK growth. Research frequently cited in policy discussions suggests that if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, it could add up to £250 billion to the UK economy.
Kumar framed the Bill as a response to this lost potential, stating:
“The Bill seeks to confront the long-standing and systemic barriers that prevent women from reaching their full entrepreneurial potential. It is not just about fairness; it is about the health of our national economy.”
From this perspective, unequal access to finance is not merely unjust it is economically inefficient. The UK economy, she argued, is operating below capacity because equity capital is not reaching all viable sources of growth.
Rather than prescribing quotas or interventionist funding mandates, the Bill focuses on data transparency as a catalyst for change.
A key provision would require the Secretary of State to report on access to finance for women in business, including the gender breakdown of equity investment. This approach seeks to move the financial sector away from voluntary reporting frameworks that have delivered limited progress.
Kumar argued that without public data, bias whether conscious or structural remains unchallenged:
“We cannot fix what we cannot see. By mandating the publication of data, we hold the mirror up to the financial sector and ask why it continues to overlook the talent and potential of half our population.”
By making investment patterns visible, the Bill aims to create a “comply or explain” culture, where firms must either demonstrate progress or publicly account for disparities.
As MP for Dudley, Kumar brought a crucial regional lens to the debate.
Access to equity capital in the UK is heavily concentrated in London and the South East, creating an additional barrier for women founders based in other regions. In areas such as the West Midlands, networks of venture capitalists and angel investors are smaller, more insular, and harder to access particularly for those without established connections.
Kumar highlighted that geography compounds existing inequality:
“For too many women, particularly those in regions like my own in Dudley, the path to securing investment is not a level playing field. It is a steep uphill climb against a tide of institutional bias.”
This regional imbalance means that even strong, scalable businesses can struggle to attract equity simply because they operate outside traditional financial hubs.
The Bill also acknowledges that access to finance is not uniform among women themselves.
Traditional pathways to equity including elite university networks, prior exit experience, and informal investor relationships are less accessible to many female founders. These barriers are often intensified for women from underrepresented backgrounds or regions.
By focusing on systemic transparency rather than individual behaviour, the Bill seeks to address the structures that perpetuate exclusion, rather than placing the burden on women to “fit” existing funding models.
Equity capital is the engine that allows businesses to scale rapidly. It enables hiring, research and development, and entry into international markets. Without it, businesses are forced to grow slowly or remain vulnerable to economic shocks.
Kumar directly linked the equity gap to national underperformance, arguing:
“The untapped potential of female entrepreneurs is one of the greatest missed opportunities for UK growth. This Bill is a necessary step to ensure that capital flows to where the talent is, regardless of gender.”
The absence of equity funding does not reflect weaker businesses it reflects a financial system that consistently undervalues them.
The introduction of the Bill marks a decisive move away from decades of encouragement and voluntary reform. Kumar’s motion reflects frustration with incrementalism and a belief that meaningful progress requires statutory oversight.
In her closing remarks, she made clear that the objective is generational change:
“This is about creating a future where the next generation of female founders does not have to fight twice as hard for half the support. It is time to turn rhetoric into reality.”
The Bill positions Parliament as an active participant in reshaping access to finance, rather than a passive observer.
The first reading of the Access to Finance for Women in Business Bill has provided a clear framework for reform. By centring transparency, regional equity, and economic necessity, Sonia Kumar has reframed access to equity capital as a matter of national interest.
Too often, the challenges facing women in business are mischaracterised as issues of confidence, mentoring, or aspiration. This Bill correctly identifies the real issue: a systemic failure in how capital is allocated.
Until the financial sector’s invisible barriers are exposed and addressed through the reporting mechanisms proposed, the UK will continue to forgo billions in growth. As Kumar’s arguments make clear, access to equity for women is not a peripheral concern it is a national economic imperative requiring legislative action.
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