Women’s Enterprise Day is here again. Around the country women will be encouraged to “go for it” and start their own business. It appears to be working. For the first time more than 1m women in the UK work for themselves and the numbers of self-employed women are slowly growing, against a broader trend of male stagnation and decline in enterprise.

Scratch the surface, though, and you can start to feel uneasy. The growth in new businesses owned by women is not being sustained. There is strong evidence that women’s businesses are not surviving as long as those of their male counterparts and not making it through to the next level. There are brilliant success stories but also tales of human misery and dashed dreams.

New research* from Prowess finds that exposure to enterprise through promotional campaigns and role models could actually be deepening fear of failure and feelings of anxiety rather than generating entrepreneurial dynamism. National policy is driving short, sharp, quick-fix business support by public agencies and one-off conferences and workshops. Women are told they are “naturally risk averse”, drenched with inspiration then left to get on with it. Is it any wonder so many are confused or giving up?

Yet the gender gap in enterprise accounts for a significant proportion of the productivity gap between the UK and the US. Women are also the most significant group when it comes to market failure in business support services. So the public sector has an important role in driving change and it is too important to get wrong.

Sensible solutions abound: the UK is regarded by the rest of the world as a leader in best practice in women’s enterprise development and we have top academics and researchers in this area. UK business support delivery should reflect the fact that women start businesses at a more gradual pace and are more likely to use and value business training, mentoring and networking. There are often problems with confidence, self-esteem and obtaining finance. Supportive relationships are essential, whether that is business counselling, mentoring or peer support circles, so that when confidence and experience grow, women can be supported to take the next step to start or expand their business.

So why the resistance to changing the model of business support? Lack of budget? I do not think so. The government is serious about changing enterprise culture and has poured hundreds of millions of pounds into enterprise in schools, young enterprise, disadvantaged areas and so on. Discomfort about promoting women in such a male-dominated arena? More likely. Sadly this agenda has usually progressed under the leadership of only female ministers, who come along rarely in key business and Treasury roles. But there are also male champions who see this as the economic issue that it is. Remember, we used to have a school system, based on facts and exams, that worked better for boys.

Male and female learning styles are different and we are wasting huge amounts of latent productivity by refusing to support enterprise development that enables women to set up and expand businesses in their own way. Regional development agencies and other partners are working hard to ensure that women are included in mainstream support programmes. For many women that service is more than adequate. But others want a more holistic approach, which integrates specialist advice with an understanding that when you start a business you are also changing your life and relationships, and which stays with you along the journey.

The government is consulting on a new strategy for enterprise fit for the changing global economy. It is an economy where possessing female att­ributes increasingly provides a competitive advantage. In a fast-moving, highly networked, niche-focused business world, women are innovative and adaptive, empathetic and responsive, great communicators and jugglers. As social responsibility, ethical reputation and environmental concern become es­sential, Prowess’s report also finds that women are more likely to have social and ethical aims for their businesses.

Women are leading the way in the way they do business. If government policy and systems of support could catch up – now that truly would be inspirational.

The writer is executive director of Prowess, the UK alliance supporting the growth of women’s business ownership

*State of Women’s Enterprise in the UK, November 2007