This is a detailed empirical study of how small business owners finance their enterprises, which compares the experiences of women with those of men. The author redresses an over-reliance on subjective and anecdotal evidence of discrimination in this area with a controlled study of 40 matched pairs of male/female owners and their strategies for raising finances. The research reveals the importance of adopting a theoretical framework in which the role of gender in the financing of small businesses is considered and the practical implications for female entrepreneurs, banks and policy makers.