By Brian Groom

The recession is accelerating growth of a new generation of “lipstick entrepreneurs” who will reshape society and change the way people work, according to a report published today. It forecasts that the number of female enterprises could double over the next 10 years, taking the number of self-employed women running businesses - from single-person ventures to more substantial ones - to more than 2m.

“We will see more female board members and millionaires. The pay gap and glass ceiling will become obsolete and the workplace will become more female-friendly than ever before,” argues the report by the Future Laboratory for Avon, the direct seller of beauty products, and the Federation of Small Businesses. The number of self-employed women has already risen by 17 percent to more than 1m since 2000, the report, entitled “The Rise of Lipstick Entrepreneurs”, says. Now the trend is reaching a tipping point for women who “through desire and necessity” decide to set up enterprises.

Redundancies have led many to conclude that self-employment no longer offers significantly less job security than full-time employment, and could in fact offer more, it says. Often the move has been spurred not by a woman’s redundancy but that of her partner, since unemployment has risen faster among men than among women. That can lead to women taking an extra job or starting a business and becoming the sole breadwinner.

It also points to the rise of strong role models who have founded businesses such as Michelle Mone, of the Ultimo lingerie brand, Natalie Massenet of Net-a-Porter, the online fashion retailer, Laura Tenison of JoJo Maman Bébé, the children’s clothing business, and Chrissie Rucker of The White Company, the luxury goods group. The Direct Selling Association said it had seen a year-on-year increase of 15 percent in its self-employed female representatives this year, which now total 312,000.

Jeremy Baker of ESCP Europe Business School, one of the report’s contributors, forecasts that in addition to the growth of female entrepreneurs, the number of female chief executives at FTSE 100 companies would increase from just five in 2008 to more than 50 over the next decade. He also forecast that the number of female MPs would double over the next 10 years from 126 to 252. Theresa May, shadow work and pensions secretary, another contributor, said: “We need to present far more positive role models to women so they think: ‘Yes, I can do that too’.”

The report describes a range of “lipstick entrepreneur”. They may have opted out of a successful career to strike out on their own, stepped up to protect their family’s finances, run a business in addition to a full-time job, worked from home to juggle career and family, or turned a hobby into a business. They range from self-employed school leavers to some who are beyond retirement age.

The internet has made it possible for women to set up micro-enterprises and work from home in a way that was not possible in the past, the report says. It adds that female enterprises will redefine when, where and how we work, and will “put an end to the part-time/full-time distinction, as work will become increasingly task-driven”.