Western States Appear to Inspire More Women
Eight of the top 10 states for self-employed women are west of the Mississippi, according to a report by the Center for Women in Business, which is part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Oregon is No. 1, with women accounting for 45.4 percent of its self-employed population. Texas, Washington, Utah and Nevada round out the top five.
The number of women-owned businesses is growing at 1.5 times the rate of men-owned businesses, but 90 percent of women-owned businesses have no employees. That compares with 82 percent for businesses as a whole. Only 2 percent of women-owned businesses have 10 or more employees vs. 4 percent for businesses overall. “This discrepancy suggest that we can and must do more to support women in their efforts to build businesses, create jobs and grow our economy,” the study concludes.
Women may be breaking through the glass ceiling at corporations, but “few have made similar strides in breaking out laterally — through what might be called the ‘glass walls’ to start their own high-growth firms,” the study states.
Women often are excluded from networks in science, technology and business services, and historically have had less access to traditional forms of business capital, the study found.
Support services and programs specifically geared to women are needed “to propel women-owned businesses beyond the microenterprise stage,” according to the study.
The report highlights programs that have been successful in fostering female entrepreneurship, ranging from the National Center for Women & Information Technology to Pittsburgh’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Center at Chatham University, which offers women business owners mentoring through its “MyBoard” program
Pittsburgh women-owned businesses up 19%
Pittsburgh’s women-owned businesses have steadily grown in number — 19 percent — and by sales — 18 percent — since 2002, though employment has slipped slightly, according to the American Express OPEN State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, released this year. The data is from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.
Nationally, Pittsburgh ranked 24th in the nation in terms of the growth of women-owned firms since 2002 and 23rd in terms of firm revenue growth, according to the study. Pennsylvania ranked 27th among states in terms of firm growth and 37th by firm revenue growth.
Here’s how Pittsburgh stacks up compared to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the U.S. in terms of women-owned businesses. Data is for 2014.
Total U.S. women-owned businesses:
Number of firms: 9,087,200
Employment: 7,854,200
Sales: $1.4 trillion
Pennsylvania women-owned businesses:
Number of firms: 297,700
Employment: 304,400
Sales: $52.4 billion
Pittsburgh women-owned businesses:
Number of firms: 52,800
Employment: 62,700
Sales: $9.5 billion
Philadelphia women-owned businesses:
Number of firms: 153,100
Employment: 138,900
Sales: $28.5 billion
Of the 25 most populous metropolitan areas, the cities with the highest combined economic clout for women-owned firms during 2002-2014 were San Antonio, Texas; Atlanta; Baltimore; Houston and Portland, Ore. Those ranked lowest were Miami, Boston and Pittsburgh, while San Francisco and St. Louis tied for 25th place.
