Inspired by Roxana’s post on women entrepreneurs and the study Trinity University conducted for The Women’s Foundation about how to support them, I couldn’t help but click when I came across an article in the Jacksonville Times-Union called "Women mean business: $18 billion worth."
The article cited a study that showed how women-owned businesses in northeast Florida had made an $18.8 billion impact on the local economy and created more than 200,000 jobs.
The study was done similarly to the way that Trinity had done theirs in our area, and revealed some of the same findings. Including how women just feel that they can do better on their own, rather than working for someone else.
The article states, "For some reason, [women] think they can do better on their own than somewhere else," said Gwen Martin, managing director of research at the Center for Women’s Business Research. "From these numbers, I’d say they’re right."
It all got me thinking more about the local statistics about women-owned businesses, and the power of investing in women entrepreneurs–and in programs that build their skills and help them step out on their own.
Programs like those found in the directory of women’s small business development that Roxana created with her students.
It got me to thinking about the status of women-owned businesses in our area. From the Center for Women’s Business Research I learned that as of 2006:
- In D.C.: There are an estimated 21,706 privately-held, 50% or more women-owned firms, generating $5.4 billion in sales and employing 20,667 people. Between 1997 and 2006, the number of these firms in the District of Columbia increased by 52.3 percent and sales increased by 48.7 percent.
- In Virginia: There are an estimated 243,756 privately-held, 50% or more women-owned firms, generating more than $42 billion in sales and employing 320,198 people. These firms account for 40.2 percent of all privately-held firms in the state.
- In Maryland: There are an estimated 210,751 privately-held, 50% or more women-owned firms, generating more than $32 billion in sales and employing 223,760 people. These firms account for 41.2 percent of all privately-held firms in the state.
Not too shabby, particularly when you consider the challenges that women face in developing a small business, and particularly low-income women like those featured in the Trinity study. The challenges cited include access to start-up funding, credit issues, lack of business knowledge and training, time constraints, family commitments, health insurance and a fear of failure.
Given that, it would make sense then that one of the study’s most important questions would be why a woman, and particularly a single, low-income woman without another breadwinner in the home, would even attempt it.
The study found the following answer, "…As minority low-income single mothers, they are more likely to have experienced difficulties and disadvantages in the labor market. Inadequate income, lack of opportunities to build wealth and assets, insecure jobs, little opportunity for advancement, poor working conditions, and conflicts with supervisors appeared to encourage these women to consider self-employment as a more desirable option than their existing wage employment…"
Trends that sound similar to those expressed in a recent DC Women’s Agenda post on the challenges facing women wage earners in Washington, D.C.
Then there are the Portrait Project‘s findings that throughout our region, women earn less than their male counterparts with the same level of education, due largely to the fact that women are crowded into fields that offer lower wages and fewer benefits. Nationally, for instance, 23 percent of women are in administrative support roles (compared to 5.4 percent of men) and 17 percent of women are in service jobs (compared to 11 percent of men). When women do hold professional or managerial jobs, they earn from $12,000 to $16,000 less than their male counterparts.
So it may be that women are feeling that they can do better on their own because, by and large, they can–particularly for low-income women looking at jobs that don’t provide stability, security, insurance or paid leave.
The risk of starting a business may seem small in light of the potential reward of succeeding.
And given the statistics about women-owned businesses in our area, it certainly seems as though investing in their success has a similar risk/reward ratio and is highly likely to pay off.
As the Times-Union article stated, "We can reduce that stress so they can get on with the rest of their lives, whatever their dreams might be."
Learn more about how our Stepping Stones initiative is helping women in our area fulfill their dreams–from owning their own business to advancing in a secure career. And how you can get involved!
