Women-only Access Policy

Last updated 9 July 2026

Women4Business is provided as a women-only platform. This policy explains the legal basis on which we restrict participation and how we verify it.

Legal basis

Single-sex service (Equality Act 2010, Schedule 3) — providing a service only to women is lawful where it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, such as protecting safety, privacy and dignity in a peer-to-peer trading and community environment.
Positive action (Equality Act 2010, sections 158 & 159) — women remain under-represented and disadvantaged in business ownership, property investment and access to capital. Women4Business is a proportionate measure intended to address that disadvantage by giving women a dedicated space to trade, list, promote and collaborate.

How verification works

Browsing is open to all visitors.
Account creation requires a photo ID uploaded privately at signup. Eligibility is confirmed through identity verification rather than a self-declaration of sex or gender.
Marketplace, Directory and Community are available to members whose account has been created through this process.
Property listings additionally require identity verification via Stripe Identity (a regulated identity verification provider), which checks the government-issued ID against a live selfie and returns a decision to our review team.
Ad-hoc checks may be triggered at any time if your account is reported or behaviour suggests further verification is needed.

Proportionality

We collect the minimum data needed to confirm eligibility. ID documents are stored in a private bucket, accessible only to admins via short-lived signed URLs, and are deleted on account closure subject to any legal retention duty.

Appeals

If your account is declined, suspended or terminated on eligibility grounds, you may appeal by emailing hello@women4business.com. We will respond within 14 days and may request further information.