Support Women-Owned Businesses this Holiday Season

After a flurry of special shopping days like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, it is time to support women-owned businesses. The first Wednesday after Thanksgiving is marked as WomenWednesday and is meant to promote women-owned and women-led businesses and causes.

Launched on December 3, 2014, by Women Entrepreneurship Day (WED), WomenWednesday is a social media campaign that strives to shine the spotlight on entrepreneurial women. The cause is promoted globally via #WomenWOW.

According to The 2015 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report (Commissioned by American Express OPEN):

1. As of 2015, there are over 9.4 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating nearly $1.5 trillion in revenues and providing employment to over 7.9 million individuals.
2. Between 1997 and 2015, there has been a 51 percent increase in the number of businesses in the U.S.; the number of women-owned firms increased by 74 percent, 1-1 ½ times the national average.
3. The job growth in privately-owned companies has largely been among women-owned businesses; they added approximately 340,000 jobs since 2007. Employment rate has decreased in men-owned or equally men- and women-owned firms.
4. The daily rate of net new women-owned start-up firms has increased: 602 in 2011-12, 744 in 2012-2013, 1,288 in 2013-2014 and 887 in 2014- 2015, which is higher than the 554 average for 2007-2015.
5. Almost 500 of the 887 women-owned firms established in 2014-2015 are owned by minority women with 223 by African American women, 168 by Latinas and 105 by Asian Americans.
6. The states showing a steady rise in women-owned firms since 1997 include Georgia, Texas, North Dakota and New York.
7. Women-owned firms are visible in all sectors but are more popular in health care and social assistance (17 percent), auto and appliance repair, beauty salons and pet-sitting services (16 percent), professional, scientific and technical services (13 percent), administrative support and waste management (11 percent), retail trade (10 percent). These sectors comprise two-thirds of all women-owned firms in the country.

Despite these positive factors, women-owned businesses still employ a meager 6 percent of the nation’s workforce and generate only 4 percent of the revenue; unfortunately, these numbers have not changed much since 1997. This is where we can pitch in to help women-owned business make a mark in the national and global economies.