Catalyst surveyed 1,251 women at the vice president level or higher. The most important issues for both women and men business owners are managing and maintaining business growth, finding and keeping qualified employees, keeping up with technology, and labor costs. Women earn 72 cents for every dollar men make today, a slight improvement from 1955 when women only made 65 cents for every dollar earned by men. Less than 11 percent of all women are housewives - defined as married women who are not in the labor force and who have children at home. Not surprisingly, more women then men reported that they experience work-family conflicts and feel pressured by time constraints.
Women own about one-third of all nonfarm sole proprietorships.
Nine out of 10 of these businesses are in the service, retail trade, finance, real estate or insurance industries. Only one-third of women who work full time hire household help. One out of every four households will have responsibilities for elder care, and two thirds of those caregivers work outside the home.