Small & Woman-Owned Business Reports

The primary goal of this report is to place gender in a broader perspective. Business ownership no longer can be analyzed simply on the basis of the owner’s gender; businesses owned by women and men more and more share the same general development patterns. Moreover, the strong growth of publicly held firms, which cannot be identified by the demographic characteristics of their many owners, has led to the need to focus on both privately owned and publicly held firms.

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In February 2011, BPW Foundation initiated a survey to research the use of high speed Internet (broadband) technology among four diverse groups of women: those employed by others, those self employed, those retired, and women seeking employment. The purpose was to explore women’’s use of technology in both their business and personal lives, as a measure of advancement and overall impact on quality of life and personal/professional success.

In a surprise to everyone except WCOE members, women-owned construction companies have increased by a whopping 41% in the past 8 years. In addition, it is one of only two industries in which economic clout of women-owned firms (meaning not only the growth in the number of firms but in the employment and revenues as well) has outpaced industry-level growth. The other industry was another non-traditional venture for women – mining.

Small businesses are key to the nation’s well-being. They account for a significant share of the U.S. economic production and hiring. This profile from the Office of Advocacy uses the latest available data to illustrate the status of small business and their contributions to the U.S. economy. (Note that a small business is defined as one with fewer than 500 employees.)