'Women give birth to every taxpayer on the planet – we deserve a break,' says Baroness Karren Brady
7 March 2023, 20:25 | Updated: 8 March 2023, 12:32
Women give birth to every taxpayer on the planet – we deserve a break, Baroness Karren Brady has said.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The businesswoman called for affordable childcare to be made available to more women so they could continue to progress with their careers.
Speaking on Tonight with Andrew Marr, Baroness Brady said: "Undoubtedly, one of the biggest barriers and issues for women to progress their career is high-quality, affordable childcare. That is the gap that women have to take.
"As they say, on the basis that women give birth to every taxpayer on the planet, we deserve a bit of a break.
"Having high-quality, affordable childcare is an important one.
"I know you get 15 hours free childcare but it's simply not enough for people who want to be in full-time employment and want to open a business. The government could do more in that regard."
Read more: Emergency coal-fired power stations to be used to avoid blackouts on coldest night of the year
Baroness Karren Brady: 'Women give birth to every taxpayer they deserve a bit of a break'
Going one step further, Baroness Brady said free childcare for everyone should be "something the government should look at".
"If you look at the model in Sweden, high quality childcare is capped at a certain rate so everybody has access to as many hours as they want," she said.
"That’s a model that works very well. Whether that’s affordable or not is another matter."
It comes ahead of International Women's Day, which is celebrated as a focal point in the women's rights movement.
A new survey by one of the UK’s largest providers of small business insurance, Simply Business, revealed four in five women business owners (81%) say they have experienced sexism, gender inequality or unequal access to opportunities whilst running their own business.
"We’ve still got so far to go. It's important that we shine a light on what these challenges are so we can help people understand gender bias, we can help call it out when it’s happening and we change the path of women business owners going forward," The Apprentice star said.
Baroness Karren Brady CBE has partnered with Simply Business to offer exclusive mentoring to support the success of one lucky woman entrepreneur. Entries are open until 5th April and business owners can sign up here.
