subject: Sticks and Stones [print this page] Sticks and Stones Sticks and Stones
Women in Business Are Not Equal Yet
Setting the Record Straight #1 -- A Response to a Blog post by Mark Henricks titled "Why it's time to Stop Giving Women Entrepreneurs Special Help.
What can you do when you read a biased article about women in business? Email me, susan@susantspencer.com with a link to any article that distorts the truth about women-owned businesses and I will set the record straight. This blog is the first in a series of blogs titled "Sticks and Stones."
Setting the Record Straight #1
Blog post by Mark Henricks titled "Why it's time to Stop Giving Women Entrepreneurs Special Help."(bnet.com/blog/business-myths/why-it-8217s-time-to-stop-giving-women-entre)
Here are the real facts that every woman needs to know:
1. Women-owned firms grew approximately 40% from 1997-2006
2. As of 2007, only 1 of 8 women -owned companies had employees
3. As of 2007, the average revenue of male-owned firms was 3.5 times greater than women-owned firms
4. As of 2010,women -owned businesses received 14% of US backed SBA loan dollarsall other firms received 86%
5. Although women own nearly 30% of all private businesses in the U.S. they only secure 3.4% of all federal contracting dollars.
Mark Henricks statement that "Women have, it appears, achieved equity in business ownership, or something much like it" is a conclusion that cannot be drawn from the statistics. In fact, after a careful review of all the pertinent data, one will conclude quite the opposite. Mark's blog is not only misleading but patently false.
Keep your eyes wide open and call out falsehoods when you see them. You have 12 natural talents that help you overcome the bumps in the road (which are spelled out in my book, Briefcase Essentials), keep pushing and together we will turn these numbers around to make "equality" of women owned businesses a reality.
