It may come as a surprise to some, but the average female entrepreneur's annual income is £382,000 – 16.8 percent higher than the average of £327,000 for men!

But whilst women are creating more wealth than ever before, there's a question mark over whether they're passing their expertise and, perhaps more importantly, their investment on to the next generation.

In 2013, women made up only five percent of the angel community; in November 2014 this figure rose to 12 percent. A significant increase, sure, but the fact remains: female angels account for a very small part of the community.

Perhaps the biggest factor is the difference between the number of men and women in business in general –  according to Prowess, men are twice as likely to be entrepreneurially active than women. But still, even taking this discrepancy into account, the current 12 percent figure seems fairly low.

Another factor is the difference in background between male and female entrepreneurs. For example, female entrepreneurs are less likely to have a successful entrepreneurial history than males  – with only 41 percent of female entrepreneurs having previously acted as CEO of an SME compared to 61 percent of males.

Similarly, successful female entrepreneurs are less likely to have benefited from angel investment themselves, meaning that they may not be familiar with the angel community and thus may fail to engage with it.

But the biggest factor may simply be time. Of the 12 percent of female entrepreneurs who did participate in angel investment, the average made their first investment five years ago – as oppose to ten years ago for men.

So, can we expect to see this figure increase over time, or is there some other factor deterring female entrepreneurs from investing? What is your view on female entrepreneurship? Email us your thoughts.