A Boom in Women-Owned Firms
Mure and more women arc starting
their own businesses
Statistics compiled by the U S Small
Business Adminisiralion show that
women owned small firms arc increas
mg three times as fast as the number of
male owned companies Other gosern
ment statistics show that one in every
lour sole proprietorships in the country
today is headed by a woman and that
receipts of women owned businesses
have increased II? percent in recent
years
been increasing at an annual rate of 10
percent or more in seven major types
of businesses The chan below tells this
story
female Operated Businesses with Annual
Growth Kates ol 10 Percent or More.
1977 1982
Type ol
Business
Annual Rale of
Growth (Percent)
Business Services
Management and Public Relations
Services to Buildings
SB A officials cite three tailors as io n
tribuling to the sharp increase in
women owned firms
Because more anil more women arc
entering the nation's woik lo n e ,
women are acquiring skills ami cv
pcnence that can he translated into
entrepreneurship
Because of business and academic
education, women are pisitioning
themselves lor business opportunities in
expanding fields, such as aerospace,
telecommunications, electronics and
biomedical engineering
Because ol the nation's overall
growth, more opportunities are
available lor new business startups,
especially in service industries Almost
halt o f women owned small firms are
in the service sector
Medical and Health
22 t
|8 3
Services
Miscellaneous Medical and
Health Services
Nursing and Personal ( are
facilities
12.0
|7 q
Professional Services
le g a l Services
Accounting. Auditing.
ami Bookkeeping
27 I
|5.5
finance. Insurance and Krai fstate
Security Brokers and Dealers
78 3
Commodity Contract Brokers and
P»change Services
21 9
Insurance Agents Brokers and
Services
21 0
M anufacturing
Apparel and Other textile
Production
23 9
( onstruction
President Reagan’s Annual R ep'rt on
the Stale of Small Business prepared
by SB A s Office of Advocacv. shows
that women owned businesses have
General Building Contractors
39 3
Agriculture Services
Animal Services Except I ivest.xk
13 b