I thought this update on the status of female entrepreneurship was very interesting:
Women-owned Firms Increase Nearly 20 Percent
Women-owned firms increased nearly 20 percent over the latest period studied, according to a report released last week by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Between 1997 and 2002, women-owned firms grew by 19.8 percent while all US firms grew by seven percent. A significant portion of those firms were in professional, scientific, and technical services, and in health care and social assistance. Women in Business: A Demographic Review of Women?s Business Ownership, using newly released Census and other data, also finds that:
In 2002, women owned 6.5 million (28.2 percent) nonfarm US firms with 7.1 million employees and $173.7 billion in annual payroll.
Women-owned firms accounted for 6.5 percent of total employment in U.S. firms in 2002 and 4.2 percent of total receipts.
Of all women business owners in 2002, 85.95 percent were White, 8.43 percent African American, 8.33 percent of Hispanic heritage, 5.25 percent Asian, 1.23 percent American Indian and Alaska Native, and 0.18 percent Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (total does not add to 100 due to some double counting across ethnic groups).
Women in Business: A Demographic Review of Women?s Business Ownership, written by Office of Advocacy senior economist Dr. Ying Lowrey, is available at http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs280tot.pdf.