Women are good for business, insists Gwen Young, CEO of the Women Business Collaborative (WBC), a coalition of 87 organizations dedicated to advancing women in business. The movement aims at achieving equal pay, position and power for all women in business.
Women, Young adds, drive businesses forward.
Recently, however, the role of women in the workforce has been questioned, Young says, even though business leaders have agreed for decades that it is important that more women be represented in businesses. The organization, therefore, is determined to set the record straight. The data that they have collected are impressive. They come from a variety of sources and underline the power of women in business.
Here are some of the facts and figures that the organization cites to boost its argument:
• More than 14 million women owned businesses in the U.S. in 2024, according to a report by Wells Fargo bank. That number represented almost 40% of all businesses in the country. The women owners employed 12.16 million people. In addition, they generated $2.7 trillion in income.
Between 2019 and 2023 women-owned businesses added $579.6 billion in income and contributed 1.4 million jobs to the economy, the report says.
The report notes that women bring a distinct outlook to the businesses that they launch and grow. The reason is that they usually add vital services, including senior services, child care and special needs aid as well as other educational, social, and healthcare services.
The reason that women launch these types of business is that they are passionate about providing such services and products. Another reason is that they can launch these businesses without the need for a large amount of money to do so.
The report notes, however, that as more women become entrepreneurs they also are moving into other fields that include insurance, finance, warehousing, and transportation.
The report points out that the pandemic hit many businesses owned by women especially hard. Paycheck Protection Program dollars and other cash aids were hard to obtain when they were first distributed. By 2021, however, when women did receive federal stimulus cash and dollars from benevolent organizations, they moved rapidly to adapt their businesses. They developed new services and products using technology, made use of digital marketing, or provided services and products that were necessary to safeguard people from the ravages of COVID.
Women who were laid off during the pandemic used the time to launch their own businesses, the report continues. A reason was that they were in need of the income. Another was that they desired to work for themselves. Stimulus money provided by the government was a source of cash. Some could draw on their savings or could access home equity loans. In these ways they acquired the money to start their own new businesses. As a result, the number of new women-owned businesses rocketed.
• In a new report, McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm, found that a company’s finances improve when more women are included on company boards. Such businesses are 27% more likely to perform better than other companies when it comes to profitability, according to the report.
• Income from women-owned businesses assisted in driving growth in the economy over the four years since 2020, notes the Small Business Administration in its Capital Impact Report for 2024. A total of 15,500 loans were granted to businesses that are owned by women—double the number granted four years ago, the SBA report says.
• In a special report, Boston Consulting Group found that businesses that have diverse management teams are much more likely to be innovative.
In addition, those companies that include more than average diversity in their management teams reported income resulting from innovation that was almost 20% higher than those companies that have less-than-average diversity in their leadership.
Almost half the income of businesses with more diverse leadership derives from services and products that were launched in the previous three years. In a continually changing business climate, innovation of this sort means that these businesses can adapt quickly to changes in consumer demand.
More diverse organizations also reported financial results that were above average, the report says.
• Women business enterprises produced $67 billion in income in 2023, according to a report from the National Minority Supplier Development Council. They generated 221,000 jobs in the United States and contributed $19.5 billion in the form of wages to the economy.
Not there yet
In spite of these significant gains being made by women in the workforce, the WBC says advances still need to be made. The organization points out that:
• Women comprise 57% of the workforce, but fill less than 9% of CEO spots and under 30% of seats on company boards.
• Women who seek to establish their own companies obtain only 2% in funding from venture capitalists.
• Women earn only 84 cents to the dollar. Women of color earn less than that amount.
These are not only gaps, says Young, head of the WBC. They represent failures to identify a business advantage that cannot be denied. The time for the closing of these gaps is not tomorrow; it is now, Young says. She calls on business leaders to accept that support of women in business is not only the correct thing to do; it is the wisest decision a business can take.
In its report, Wells Fargo underlines these comments. In spite of considerable gains, the disparities suffered by women-owned businesses persist and need to be ended, the report suggests. Doing so will create jobs, grow the economy, encourage innovation, and make the US more competitive. Not only women but also their families and the communities in which they live will flourish. The potential of women-owned businesses can be realized if childcare is made affordable, women are granted improved access to start-up money, and more programs are designed to meet the needs of businesses owned by women. Doing so could be worth trillions in dollars and millions in jobs thereby boosting the economy in a big way, the bank’s report says.
Women are good for business, insists Gwen Young, CEO of the Women Business Collaborative (WBC), a coalition of 87 organizations dedicated to advancing women in business. The movement aims at achieving equal pay, position and power for all women in business.
Women, Young adds, drive businesses forward.
Recently, however, the role of women in the workforce has been questioned, Young says, even though business leaders have agreed for decades that it is important that more women be represented in businesses. The organization, therefore, is determined to set the record straight. The data that they have collected are impressive. They come from a variety of sources and underline the power of women in business.
Here are some of the facts and figures that the organization cites to boost its argument:
• More than 14 million women owned businesses in the U.S. in 2024, according to a report by Wells Fargo bank. That number represented almost 40% of all businesses in the country. The women owners employed 12.16 million people. In addition, they generated $2.7 trillion in income.
Between 2019 and 2023 women-owned businesses added $579.6 billion in income and contributed 1.4 million jobs to the economy, the report says.
The report notes that women bring a distinct outlook to the businesses that they launch and grow. The reason is that they usually add vital services, including senior services, child care and special needs aid as well as other educational, social, and healthcare services.
The reason that women launch these types of business is that they are passionate about providing such services and products. Another reason is that they can launch these businesses without the need for a large amount of money to do so.
The report notes, however, that as more women become entrepreneurs they also are moving into other fields that include insurance, finance, warehousing, and transportation.
The report points out that the pandemic hit many businesses owned by women especially hard. Paycheck Protection Program dollars and other cash aids were hard to obtain when they were first distributed. By 2021, however, when women did receive federal stimulus cash and dollars from benevolent organizations, they moved rapidly to adapt their businesses. They developed new services and products using technology, made use of digital marketing, or provided services and products that were necessary to safeguard people from the ravages of COVID.
Women who were laid off during the pandemic used the time to launch their own businesses, the report continues. A reason was that they were in need of the income. Another was that they desired to work for themselves. Stimulus money provided by the government was a source of cash. Some could draw on their savings or could access home equity loans. In these ways they acquired the money to start their own new businesses. As a result, the number of new women-owned businesses rocketed.
• In a new report, McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm, found that a company’s finances improve when more women are included on company boards. Such businesses are 27% more likely to perform better than other companies when it comes to profitability, according to the report.
• Income from women-owned businesses assisted in driving growth in the economy over the four years since 2020, notes the Small Business Administration in its Capital Impact Report for 2024. A total of 15,500 loans were granted to businesses that are owned by women—double the number granted four years ago, the SBA report says.
• In a special report, Boston Consulting Group found that businesses that have diverse management teams are much more likely to be innovative.
In addition, those companies that include more than average diversity in their management teams reported income resulting from innovation that was almost 20% higher than those companies that have less-than-average diversity in their leadership.
Almost half the income of businesses with more diverse leadership derives from services and products that were launched in the previous three years. In a continually changing business climate, innovation of this sort means that these businesses can adapt quickly to changes in consumer demand.
More diverse organizations also reported financial results that were above average, the report says.
• Women business enterprises produced $67 billion in income in 2023, according to a report from the National Minority Supplier Development Council. They generated 221,000 jobs in the United States and contributed $19.5 billion in the form of wages to the economy.
Not there yet
In spite of these significant gains being made by women in the workforce, the WBC says advances still need to be made. The organization points out that:
• Women comprise 57% of the workforce, but fill less than 9% of CEO spots and under 30% of seats on company boards.
• Women who seek to establish their own companies obtain only 2% in funding from venture capitalists.
• Women earn only 84 cents to the dollar. Women of color earn less than that amount.
These are not only gaps, says Young, head of the WBC. They represent failures to identify a business advantage that cannot be denied. The time for the closing of these gaps is not tomorrow; it is now, Young says. She calls on business leaders to accept that support of women in business is not only the correct thing to do; it is the wisest decision a business can take.
In its report, Wells Fargo underlines these comments. In spite of considerable gains, the disparities suffered by women-owned businesses persist and need to be ended, the report suggests. Doing so will create jobs, grow the economy, encourage innovation, and make the US more competitive. Not only women but also their families and the communities in which they live will flourish. The potential of women-owned businesses can be realized if childcare is made affordable, women are granted improved access to start-up money, and more programs are designed to meet the needs of businesses owned by women. Doing so could be worth trillions in dollars and millions in jobs thereby boosting the economy in a big way, the bank’s report says.
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