Although women have been gaining in achieving economic parity with men, the wage gap continues. Women make less for the same work, and occupations in which women are most of the workers pay less than jobs performed mostly by men. Many working women are employers, rather than employees. Women owned businesses are the fastest growing segment of the United States economy. By 1994 women owned 31 percent of all businesses and, if the trend continues, will account for half of all U.S. businesses by the year 2000.
Women are a powerful force in the American economy, both as workers and as employers.
Less than half of all West Virginia women work full or part-time. Two-thirds of the 61 million women who work outside of the home do not have a pension plan. Institute for Women's Policy Research, forthcoming, 1998. As Business Owners Following data from the National Foundation of Women Business Owners, Key Facts About Women-Owned Businesses, March 1997. Women-owned businesses provide employment for one out of every four U.S. company workers.