Recent Census Bureau reports point to an unprecedented expansion of entrepreneurship by women over the last 15 years. The Census of Women-Owned Businesses shows that females owned 2.9 million businesses in 1982, 4.1 million in 1987 and 5.9 million in 1992, an overall increase of 103 percent. In addition, in 1987 women-owned businesses accounted for 25 percent of all the businesses in the United States and grew to 34 percent by 1992. The National Foundation for Women Business Owners found in 1996 women owned an estimated eight million businesses, an increase of 78 percent over 1987 and roughly twice the rate of increase for all U.S. businesses. In 1996 the National Foundation for Women Business Owners also found that minority women did especially well, increasing their business ownership by 153 percent between 1987 and 1996, and number of employees by 276 percent.
Women give a variety of reasons for becoming business owners.
Many cite frustrations with sexual discrimination in the workplace, while others crave a desire to set their own hours in order to accommodate family and other responsibilities. But a majority Say they are simply motivated by entrepreneurship, a belief they can do better on their own. Those starting their own businesses frequently migrate from large corporations that stifled their creativity, independence and flexibility. Also, the growth of new industries such as biotechnology has aided the growth of women-owned businesses, by opening up opportunities in new fields which reward innovation regardless of the age, race, or gender of the creator. The inescapable conclusion is that women are leading an entrepreneurial revolution that forms businesses and creates jobs at a rate at which the rest of the world may look to for leadership.