Women taking charge

FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS: A new study shows that businesses owned by women are playing an increasingly important role in the US economy. The Center for Women’s Business Research says that 28 per cent of the country’s businesses have female owners. This compares with just 15 per cent in Britain.

“Impressive,” says Gwen Martin, who is interim executive director of the research centre. “It was something many of us knew intuitively. For the first time, we said, ‘We’re going to figure out how to quantify it.’ I think everyone was pleasantly surprised by the results,” Martin told the International Herald Tribune.

In Britain, women-owned businesses contribute about £45 billion a year to the economy, according to the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs . In France, like the US, 28 per cent of businesses are run by women, according to statistics provided by the business federation Medef .

“As good as it is, it also points out how much better it could be,” Martin says. She adds that only 4.2 per cent of all business revenue in the US is produced by women-owned companies.

"As good as it is, it could be much better," says Gwen Martin.

The study was financed partly by the National Women’s Business Council. The council and other organizations will now be asking the government for more programmes and support for female entrepreneurs.

“It certainly strengthens our hand,” says the council’s executive director, Margaret Barton. The report shows that “women are doing much more than holding baby-sitting jobs or proofreading papers or knitting macramé wall hangings,” Barton says. Still, she notes that only 20 per cent of women-owned businesses have employees. “We see that as an area of great growth and opportunity.”

Nell Merlino would agree. Merlino is the founder of the non-profit organization Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence . “The reason most businesses don’t grow, but particularly women’s, is they try to do everything themselves,” Merlino comments. “Here you have this economic calamity — the most important thing to do is hire people.”