Even today, in times of modernity and globalization, for some it is surprising that certain women run large companies or hold distinguished management positions, possibly they have forgotten that we are half of the population, but they also assume that nature, for endowing us with qualities such as tenderness, beauty and the possibility of bringing life into the world, with pettiness would have deliberately limited our brain capacity. Brave women from remote, violent, and complicated times fought great battles in search of achieving basic rights and that over time became what today seems almost normal to us as the possibility of being owners of our destinies, free to choose, create and undertake, although that dreamed balance of genders has not yet been achieved, progress has been made with certainty and some lucky woman more than others enjoy the pleasures of change, gradually, but without pause.
Clearly, in some geographies far from the American reality, female entrepreneurship is almost an odyssey, cultural lags, ignorance, and lack of opportunities condemn the few who dare to shipwreck in the choppy sea of business. It is common to hear comments such as “What is a woman doing this” or “If she is prepared to do it”, “It is that men are good for business”. At least that was my experience and possibly that is the same path that most Latin American women who have tried to launch themselves into the difficult business world have traveled.
However, returning to the local context in the USA, official figures revealed by the United States Census Bureau indicate that in 2018 the number of women-owned businesses increased by 0.6% according to the Bureau’s Annual Survey from the US Census Bureau in its Annual Business Survey (ABS). Women-owned businesses in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector increased by 10.5%, from 22,219 in 2017 to 24,542 in 2018. The 10 sectors shown in the chart below are also experiencing growth in women-owned businesses.
According to the article Overcoming Some Of The Barriers To Women Entrepreneurship published by Forbes magazine in September 2021, more women than men started their small businesses during 2020, unfortunately, the pandemic hit these businesses hard due to prolonged closures in businesses and the need to take care of the children to which they were forced, due to the implementation of virtual education in response to the seriousness of the health situation. The article also highlights that the main barriers faced by women entrepreneurs are lack of financing, gender bias, inequity at work, and lack of support.
But not everything is negative, there are currently several initiatives that have contributed to the increase in female entrepreneurship, as well as institutional initiatives that seek to strengthen entrepreneurship led by women and give them the necessary tools to achieve success. Some of them are the Small Business Administration (SBA), Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) and Women’s Opportunity Resource Center (WORC) among others.
It is also important to highlight organizations such as The Welcoming Center in Philadelphia and its entrepreneurship program, which has been working with a representative group of entrepreneurs offering them technical assistance, workshops, and training that allow them to better guide their businesses and make them more competitive. Likewise, Widener University in Chester has been developing programs aimed at small businesses and women, such as its Ella Emprende program, which is aimed at Latina entrepreneurs, with the purpose of offering tools that help them model their businesses, strengthen their leadership, create connections between them and guide them in their creation and growth.
Entrepreneurial women have understood that the first to believe in their projects should be themselves and that despite the difficulties they have all the skills, creativity, and motivation to achieve success. They also know that their steps are a source of inspiration for others who have not yet decided or who have greater limitations in accessing financial, educational, and technological resources that will allow them to turn their business ideas into a real source of income. We have the opportunity to transform our reality and the power to continue building more spaces for the women of today and the future.