Just 8% of working women are self-employed, which equates to 973,000 female contractors. This compares to 15.5% of working men, or 2.58 million.
Procorre relationship manager Lisa Mangan told HR magazine women are traditionally more concerned about financial security and career prospects, contributing to their desire for full-time employment. Despite this, attitudes are starting to change.
"Women are looking at men taking on self-employment and seeing that it is possible to make it work," she said. "Many business leaders have told me they actually prefer to work with female contractors as they have a better professional relationship with them and find they work harder."
A separate survey of more than 160 contractors by professional employment provider Giant Group found that 79% cite good HR support as a key factor when choosing an umbrella company to work for.
Mangan believes that the desire for support is particularly pronounced among female contractors and support frameworks are a good way of increasing the number of women taking contract work.
"HR is always there as a support structure," she said. "Outside of work, events and online groups are important so that self-employed women can build up contacts and help each other create networking structures."
