Women Entrepreneurs: Can we remove the Barriers?

Entrepreneurial activity among women continues to attract attention world wide. However, despite obvious gains, women lag behind men in business ownership and economic independence on every continent. This paper will review the research on entrepreneurship as a career choice for women, the motivations and career paths followed by women entrepreneurs, the attitudes and behaviors associated with successful ventures, the problems that persist and policies that conspire to keep womens businesses few and small. A discussion of legislation and practices that have helped and hindered womens entrepreneurship will follow, with suggestions for reframing the issues and reforming policies.

Women are changing the face of modern business. They are in the forefront of the service sector, the fastest growing sector of the economy. Women entrepreneurs have created organizations that serve their constituents and their employees. They have instituted innovative systems and schedules. Yet the business world is still a mans domain. In 2002, women owned less than a third of independently owned businesses in the U.S., generating $1.15 trillion in sales. These small businesses employed 9.2 million people, more people than the entire Fortune 500 list of Americas largest companies combined. According to the Center for Womens Business Research, in 1996 women in the U.S. owned 7.95 million businesses. Despite the fact that women-owned startups continued to outpace that of all privately-held firms, there were only 6.2 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. in 2002. Few of the largest or most profitable corporations in the U.S. today are run or were started by a woman entrepreneur. Women entrepreneurs have made substantial progress in terms of business education, corporate experience, and technical expertise. More and more are starting businesses in rapidly growing industries including financial services, biotechnology and software. Still, womenowned businesses tend to be smaller than those owned by men whether measured by size, by the number of employees, or the amount of revenues. In 2004, women were majority shareholders of 30 percent of all privately owned businesses in the United States and they claimed a 50 percent share in another 18 percent. Yet they received only five percent of all venture capital investments. (Brush, Carter, Gatewood, Greene, and Hart, 2004) Women in other western countries show similar patterns. In the U.K., women account for 26 percent of business owners, remaining in traditional sectors such as service and retailing (Shaw, Carter, and Brierton, 2001). In transition economies, women still lag behind men in the number of independent ventures, despite the near-parity in employment under communism. Romania, Croatia, and Poland lead the rest with self-employment as a percentage of total employment of 32.6%, 25.9%, and 23.3%, respectively, for men, and 17.4%, 14.4%, and 18.4%, respectively, for women. Self-employment in Lithuania and the Czech Republic follow close behind, with 19.2% and 18.8% of men and 12.7% and 9.0% of women, respectively (RuminskaZimney, 2002). These data indicate similar patterns of men outpacing women in new business creation by roughly two to one, despite the fact that women absorbed a disproportionately large share of employment cuts and suffered from less access to job opportunities in the private sector during the initial post-communist privatization (Ruminska-Zimney, 2002). 2005, Joan Winn, University of Denver, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal,1(3): 381-397, September 2005.

Interestingly, in transition countries with low levels of entrepreneurial activity in general, such as Moldova, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the numbers of women-owned businesses in 2001 approached parity with men (45%-48%) (Erdem, 2004). In Romania, Croatia, and Poland, countries with the highest level of self-employment among former Communist countries, women owned 31.8%, 29.9%, and 36.4% of independent businesses, respectively, in 2001. Between 1993 and 2000, the growth of women-owned businesses outpaced men-owned businesses in Croatia, Latvia, Slovakia, and the Russian Federation (Ruminska-Zimney, 2002). Women in the Czech Republic account for over 27% of business owners, unchanged from 1993 through 2000 (UNECE, 2003). Policymakers have been concerned about the barriers faced by women who wish to start their own companies, since womens participation in the global economy and a democratic society is necessary for a countrys economic advancement (MONEE, 1999; Jalbert, 2000; Schlgl, 2004). As an increasing number of families with children are headed by single mothers (US Census Bureau, 2003), womens economic status becomes not only an economic concern, but a social concern as well. This paper will review the research on entrepreneurship as a career choice for women, the motivations and career paths followed by women entrepreneurs, the attitudes and behaviors associated with successful ventures, and the problems that persist in keeping womens businesses few and small. A discussion of legislation and practices that have helped and hindered womens entrepreneurship will follow, with suggestions for reframing the issues and reforming policies.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A CAREER CHOICE The decision to start a business is a complicated process that incorporates ones personality and interests, upbringing and role models, skills and opportunities. Sonnenfeld and Kotter's (1982) career life cycle model emphasizes the evolution of people, their families and their careers over a lifetime. Bowen and Hisrich (1986) included education, work history and family history in their career development model. A persons career choice, according to these models, depends on adult development, the family and life-style, as well as the particular stage of ones career. Career outcomes are the result of the interactions of occupational, personal, and family factors throughout a lifetime. For men, career choice is assumed to be an integral part of their lives, while many women view personal goals as separate from career goals (Fernandez, 1981). It is not uncommon for a young woman to talk about the choice between career and family, rather than to envision a career path that incorporates family life, or vice versa. Independent business ownership appears to have all the ingredients for women who wish to have both a career and a family. Women seek entrepreneurship for flexibility and autonomy, satisfaction and personal growth, and income and prestige (Goffee and Scase, 1985; Scott 1986; Orhan and Scott, 2001; Winn, 2004). Like their male counterparts, some women start a business because of an idea or innovation. Others choose to start their own business because of employment experiences that have been unsatisfying. Many women report frustration with demanding and inflexible work environments (Hewlett, 2002), failure to break through the glass ceiling to higher-paid managerial positions (Glaser and Smalley, 1999; Weiler and Bernasek, 2001), or the belief that working for a large corporation will not accommodate their personal situations or satisfy their professional goals (Moore and Buttner, 1997). Some women initiate or join partnerships (Still and Timms, 2000), starting their businesses either as part of a team or as
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part of a family business. Business ownership sometimes results from a forced unemployment, either from a layoff or lack of marketable skills, or a family-business crisis that leaves the woman in charge of a business she didnt startor wantherself (Goffee and Scase, 1985; Shannon, 2003). Career choice models that focus specifically on new venture creation emphasize vision and intentionality as primary factors. New venture initiation is viewed as a conscious decision, implemented by individuals with precursor attitudes and characteristics. This intentionality is present in Greenberger and Sextons model of venture initiation which depicts the decision to initiate a new venture as arising from the interactions of a number of factors, including personality, situational variables, self-perceptions, and social support (1988: 2). Greenberger and Sexton see personality, vision (a new way of viewing the environment), and desire for control as necessary conditions for initiating an independent business. Entrepreneurs are typically defined as organization creators; however most new ventures are not creatively inspired (Brockhaus, 1987), even though there are numerous examples of tinkering in garagesor laboratoriesto create new products. New product creation (in and of itself) is not generally viewed as an entrepreneurial activity. In fact, most new ventures are virtual carbon-copies of existing enterprises, with few expectations for growth. Brockhaus found that as many as 60 percent of entrepreneurs decide to start a business before they know what type of business they want to undertake (1987: 4), thereby casting doubt on the role of creative inspiration or vision as motivating new venture creation. An admitted limitation of most career models is the fact that they rely on male subjects, thereby weakening the models applicability to women. While most career models account for the influence of family support and self-perceptions, self-report surveys reveal marked differences between the values held by men and women concerning family and achievement. Stevenson (1986) acknowledges that men and women come to entrepreneurship from very different educational and business experience backgrounds. For men, the decision to start a business seems to follow a logical progression. Men typically replicate a business in which they have prior knowledge. Most women gain their first management experience in their own business, having prior work experience in traditional fields such as teaching, nursing, and clerical work. While formal education, per se, has not been shown to be an essential ingredient for owning a business, there is some evidence that the type of education, e.g. technical or managerial skills over liberal arts, positively affects business success (Menzies, Diochon and Gasse, 2004). Most self-report surveys (e.g. Brenner, Pringle, and Greenhaus, 1991; Neider, 1987) show that mens career decisions focus on income, risk-taking, and control; while women desire work that provides personal satisfaction, intellectual growth, and independence. Women, unlike men, typically rate their family higher in importance than their career (Konrad and Langton, 1991). Moore (1990) asserts that many modern women, like men, are career focused, rather than family focused. Like men, women want to make money, to be independent, to achieve, to use their skills and talents, and to enhance their job satisfaction. While women entrepreneurs allegedly seek self-fulfillment (Moore and Buttner, 1997), men claim to start their own companies because they believe that by doing so they can increase their income. For women, however, the choice of self-employment often results in lower economic status (Weiler and Bernasek, 2001). Working for an organization is perceived by men as providing mundane outcomes: job security, leisure time, clearly defined rules and procedures and regular, but not necessarily higher, income. Women report that operating their own business provides more opportunity to take risks and develop their own methods of doing work (Brenner, et al., 1991).
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In order for career models to be of use in understanding or facilitating new venture creation for prospective entrepreneurs or policy makers, they must not only differentiate between the factors that drive certain individuals to compete in the corporate world and those that compel others to strike out on their own, but they must also differentiate between the priorities and pulls that differently affect men and women. So far, researchers have failed to find significant differences between managers and entrepreneurs in personality characteristics, achievement motivation, locus of control, or risk taking (Brockhaus, 1987; Masters and Meier, 1998; Scott, 1986; Waddell, 1983), all of which contribute to both the propensity to start a business as well as the success and longevity of the enterprise. While research on women entrepreneurs has yielded some significant differences, both on career stages and on intentionality to initiate their own businesses, evidence points heavily to situational (and societal) factors as playing pivotal roles.

ENTREPRENEURIAL ATTITUDES, BEHAVIORS AND COMPETENCIES Entrepreneurship encompasses a broad range of activities, including the identification of opportunities (Penrose, 1959; Kirzner, 1973, 1979; Stevenson and Jarillo, 1990), the creation of organizations (Gartner, 1988), the carrying out of new combinations of methods, products, supplies, or markets (Schumpeter, 1934), and the bearing of uncertainty (Knight, 1921). An entrepreneur, then, is not someone who is narrowly specialized or wedded to one way of doing things. Wheelen and Hunger identify an entrepreneur as someone who has (1) the ability to identify potential venture opportunities better than most people, (2) a sense of urgency that makes them actionoriented, (3) a detailed knowledge of the keys to success in the industry, and the physical stamina to make their work their lives, and (4) access to outside help to supplement their skills, knowledge, and abilities (2002: 312-313). Other studies of entrepreneurs tout achievement motivation, inner strength (locus of control), the propensity to take risks, and boldness to challenge the status quo as critical for entrepreneurial success (Brenner, et al., 1991; Brockhaus, 1987; Scott, 1986; Waddell, 1983). Levander and Raccuia (2001) suggest that successful entrepreneurs are impulsive, reacting to environmental stimuli and deriving satisfaction from engaging in stimulating tasks. However, entrepreneurs often perceive themselves as risk avoiders (Hyatt, 1992), who engage in strategic thinking and challenge themselves to excel (Hyatt, 2004). Women who achieve success as business owners stress the importance of tenacity and determination to weather the stress of owning a business (Moore, 2003). Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart. Business ownership often requires long hours, without regard to ones family needs or personal preferences. Entrepreneurs must be willing to change course when the environment dictates. This means not only the recognition of the need for change, but the humility to abandon a pet project that is doomed to fail. Brodsky (1993) found entrepreneurs to be less trusting and to have higher control needs than managers. Entrepreneurs see themselves as in need of control and intolerant of limits imposed by others, and seek to define their own work environments and parameters. Although managers view corporate environments as safe and supportive, entrepreneurs consider them confining (Brodsky, 1993: 341). Most entrepreneurs are sales people, whose passion comes through when selling their ideas, their business, themselves. Unless they can show competence and confidence, others will not seek out their business. Self-employment coach Karyn Greenstreet (2004) thinks that too many women rely on passion, rather than planning, mistaking business for a hobby and
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neglecting to ascertain whether their business idea is viable and potentially profitable. While all businesses are vulnerable to environmental change, management and finance skills are particularly crucial in young enterprises (Thornhill and Amit, 2003). Hart, Stevenson and Dial (1995) found industry experience to be an important ingredient in an entrepreneurs ability to identify the full range of capabilities and potential contributions of partners and alliances. Experienced entrepreneurs are able to locate resource suppliers quickly and assess the relative value of available resources. However, few entrepreneurs claim a detailed knowledge of their industry (Hyatt, 1992). Brenner, et al., (1991) point out that most business schools offer courses or programs that deal with corporate management, not start-ups. This may convey the attitude that starting ones own business does not require formal training, or that entrepreneurial skills cannot be taught. While it is true that one does not need credentials to start a business, many would-be entrepreneurs fail as a result of skill deficiencies, despite their motivation, ingenuity or creativity (Menzies, et al, 2004). While men and women alike cite financial, marketing, and management skills as essential ingredients for business success, the business owner does not need to have such skills herself. Rather, its the mix of skills within an organization that matters, not the skill set of any one person.

ROADBLOCKS ALONG THE PATH Two of the biggest hurdles women face in starting and running a company revolve around funding and family support. Despite a womans level of education, corporate experience, and technical expertise, private equity lenders and venture capitalists still harbor lingering concerns about womens commitment to their enterprises, their qualifications for leadership of high growth businesses, and their ability to garner crucial resources. Lack of capital, which has proven to be invaluable in the expansion and development of high potential companies, has starved many promising ventures (Carter and Anderson, 2001; Thornhill and Amit, 2003). Bankers tend to hold women to higher standards than men in assessing loan requests (Fay and Williams, 1993; Hisrich and Ozturk, 1999). In 2004, women were majority shareholders of 30 percent of all privately owned businesses in the United States and they claimed a 50 percent share in another 18 percent. Yet they received only five percent of all venture capital investments. Brush, et al. (2004) believe that this funding gap represents a major market failure and prevents women from attaining the highest level of entrepreneurial achievement. Although most women approach entrepreneurship with objectivity and open-mindedness, they still suffer from gender specific barriers. Weiler and Bernasek (2001) observed that discrimination from male-dominated supplier systems, such as preferential treatment in timing and delivery of orders, may have particularly damaging impacts on the relative competitiveness and profitability of women-owned enterprises. Hart, et al. (1995) found that being known was as important as knowing in enabling an entrepreneur to attract and assemble resources efficiently and economically. On the other hand, long-term persistence of perceived networkbased advantages may make women-owned businesses less successful in a competitive market place (Moore and Buttner, 1997). Women entrepreneurs are often excluded from trade and business associations and informal old-boys networks, which has a negative impact on their access to information, credit, training opportunities, business partners and new market entry. In transition economies, gender-biased privatization resulted in the redistribution of public assets in favor of men, leaving
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women with less collateral to use in obtaining financial resources. The traditional perception about womens role in society creates a less favorable social climate towards women entrepreneurs, discriminatory treatment by the state administration and/or limited access to bank loans (Erdem, 2002; Carr and Chen, 2004). Family structure in the context of the particular role played by the entrepreneur, e.g., husband or wife, father or mother, exposes critical familial and societal variables that may explain the different forces that are exerted on women and men to form independent organizations. Women in transition economies have suffered from traditional perceptions about womens role in society, and these attitudes persist (Erdem, 2002; Hovet, 2004). In the early 1900s, work became differentiated from housework, with women excluded from the ranks of productive enterprise and confined to supportive domestic roles for the male head-of-household. And still today, among students and professionals alike, when given a forced choice of advancing their own careers or following their husbands (or would-be husbands), women will usually subjugate their own careers to that of their spouse, rather than the other way around (Fernandez, 1981), despite the fact that on selfreport questionnaires women in professional schools or in early stages of their careers will expound on their independence and the importance of their career. While career opportunities for women have changed, family role models typically have not. While the percentage of stay-at-home dads has soared, their numbers are still few. Most young men and women see their mother doing the lions share of home chores. The fathers job is still seen as more important in terms of both money and prestige. Women are not prepared for business-related pressures that impinge on their role in the family (the role that they were taught to play). White, Cox, and Cooper found that even among those who were career-oriented from an early age, many successful women undergo role conflicts which may lead to an extended period of identity diffusion and missed opportunities (1997: 31). Women burdened with family responsibilities have less time for learning and/or exploring business prospects. Even in the most liberal of households, boys and girls are presented with different views of the world. From an early age men expect to work to support themselves or their families and are encouraged to achieve; women have been socialized to nurture and to find someone to support them. Two-career households reinforce these stereotypes when the mother attends to mundane household duties after workthe second shiftas the father either relaxes or attends to more important matters, such as finances or home improvement projects (Shellenbarger, 1991). Even in the 2000s, few men buy their childrens clothes or school supplies or volunteer at their childrens school. In two-career families, the mans job is still viewed as more important or prestigious. For married women, especially those with children, business ownership takes its toll in stress and, in many cases, divorce (Winn, 2004). Even with a stable marital relationship to mitigate risk and provide a financial safety net and moral support, child-rearing responsibilities can interfere with the best of intentions. Children do not plan their illnesses or school schedules with their parents needs in mind. While it is often permissible to miss a day at the office to tend to family problems, small businesses have less slack than large companies and small business owners have less flexibility than their employees. Owners of new businesses find that they have more time constraints and less discretion than they anticipated in the planning stages of their business. For women, this is particularly troublesome. While many mothers become successful business-owners, the difficulties of balancing their families with their business obligations cannot be overemphasized. While self-employed women may put in fewer hours per week at their jobs than the average full-time worker (OECD, 1991), women too often underestimate the extent to which their own business will interfere with their
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family (Longstreth, Stafford, and Mauldin, 1987), or to the extent that their family will encumber the business (Winn, 2004). Women have been criticized for limiting the growth of their businesses (Armstrong, 2002; Carter, et al., 2003; Brush, et al., 2004) but the combination of undercapitalization and family obligations conspire to keep their businesses small. Entrepreneurship requires complex and acute demands on ones time, and men and women prioritize their time differently. Research by Flinders University of South Australia (1996) acknowledges that women with dependent children are typically the primary caregivers, regardless of their professional status. Even in Western Europe, only two percent of men take on household responsibilities such as washing and cleaning (Armstrong, 2002). In transition countries, in particular, household chores are seen as humiliating (Markov, 1999). In many countries, part-time work is rarely available, and childcare and domestic services are scarce and expensive (Open Society Institute, 2002; Marksov-Tominov, 2003). Women who choose self-employment or entrepreneurship forego healthcare benefits, maternity leave, and pension plans (Ruminska-Zimney, 2002). Family obligations do not always lessen as children get older. Day-care is easier to find for young children. Older children pose more logistical problems, and when left to their own devices are not always trustworthy. Even when husbands are willing to share in the household and childrearing duties, women tend to suffer tremendous guilt and anxiety when their businesses require long hours away from home. The businesses of women who lack non-financial help from their husbands or significant others, are often doomed to failure (Winn, 2004). Work-home conflict is evident even for women who do not have children. Like the women in the study by Stoner, Hartman, and Arora (1990), Winn (2004) found that the demands of their business affected their ability to relax at home, causing marital unhappiness and work-home conflict. Even women who are encouraged by their husbands report that the time and stress of the businesses strained their marriages. Goffee and Scase (1985) point out that while the wives of small businessmen are often subordinated to the needs of their husbands, the reverse is seldom true (1985: 5). Even entrepreneurial couples, husband-wife teams who work closely together, are often trapped by a gender-based division of responsibilities and authority typically resulting in the wife acquiescing to [the husbands] benevolent authority (Marschak, 1998: 169). Being older, being male, and being married are positive correlates to the propensity to start ones own business (OECD, 1991). For men, work and family are complementary; for women, work and family present a dilemma. It should be no surprise that overall birthrates have been falling in transition countries where women strive to better themselves economically (Paukert, 1991). Too often a business affords flexible time only when the children leave home, either to go off to school or to set up their own households as adults. For some women, this is a time of reevaluating their role in the business as well as their role at home (McKay, 2001; Winn, 2004). The corporate world contains professional as well as social contacts. Starting an independent business can be isolating (Winn, 2004). Single women often remain single, reporting that they have no discretionary time or emotional reserves beyond the demands of their business. In stark contrast to their male peers, successful, upwardly-mobile women in Fortune 500 companies tend to be single (55%), without children at home (80%) (Stroh, Brett, and Reilly, 1992). Brodskys study of women corporate managers and entrepreneurs found that more women managers were married, while more entrepreneurs were divorced (1993: 366). No one will dispute the fact that young children thrive best in loving two-parent families with a stay-at-home parent. But one cannot deny that single-parent homes exist. When self-employment adds to the isolation and stress of the caregivers, many women opt for low-wage jobs that provide the safety of regular hours and benefits, despite long hours and unfulfilling work. As one would expect, female
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employment rates are high, yet entrepreneurship is low, in countries such as Austria, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, where childcare and social support systems cater to full-time wage earners (OECD, 1991).

REFRAMING THE ISSUES It should be no surprise that family structure and gender influence career choice and that men and women seek different paths. The fact that women are still underrepresented in top management or boards of directors of the largest companies may be as much a factor of choice as of opportunity. Among all privately held businesses in the U.S., nearly 46% of firms list majority ownership by women, 10.1 million businesses, (Center for Womens Business Research, 2004), and women are quite well represented among the independent self-employed (U.S. Census, 2003). Large publiclyheld corporations may erect barriers for womens advancement, but privately held businesses may not be so hostile. However, the reverse is true for Central and Eastern European transition countries, where employment practices, social services, lending and taxation policies have placed increasing burden on women who choose self-employment or venture creation (UNECE, 2003). Undercapitalization is recognized as a barrier to business growth and success, but the main drivers of entrepreneurshipfor women and menare motives, aspirations, and commitment (Carter, et al., 2003; Greene, 2004). Today, men and women business owners in the U.S. have comparable access to bank credit, and appear to be equally satisfied with the amount of credit available to them (Center for Womens Business Research, 2004). The range of sources to which men- and women-owned businesses are turning for capital is also very similar (Faulhaber, 1998). Moore (2003) observes that women face more difficulty than men in obtaining capital because they generally come to the table with fewer assets and unproven track records. In addition, women entrepreneurs tend to be more conservative than men when borrowing money (Weiler and Bernasek, 2001), so many women unwisely liquidate assets and go through their credit cards before approaching a bank for help. Subsidized financing programs and tax incentives, however, have resulted in dramatic increases in self-employment and new venture activity in the UK (OECD, 1991). Discussions about the differences between small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures stress growth and opportunism, but women who seek autonomy and flexible schedules are more apt to focus on internal matters than to look for growth or new market opportunities. This hesitance to look outward keeps small businesses small, with little plans for growth beyond the owners own managerial capabilities. Growth, especially if accompanied by ownership dilution, can be seen as relinquishing control; a change in business procedures can threaten ones idealism and values. It is too bold to suggest that gender can explain individual differences in personality and behaviors. However, as illustrated in Table 1, women entrepreneurs openly admit to family pressures and personal relationships undermining their business dreams.

TABLE I Perceptions and realities of entrepreneurship Perception Reality

Flexibility Autonomy Personal fulfillment Support Respect Teamwork Financial independence

Long hours Beck and call Gender-role conflict Family pressures Isolation Partner Conflicts Cash-flow difficulties

Data reflects comments about perceptions of business-ownership, from unstructured interviews with over 30 women entrepreneurs.

The determination and drive needed to start a business can work against the patience and compromise needed to maintain harmonious partnership relationships, especially when the business is not going well. Women who see themselves as compassionate and understanding expect the same from others, and undergo psychological stress when partnership or employee relationships go awry. When partnerships work, they contribute to the diversity of thought and experience that enhances strategic planning. However, these very differences in points of view and personal style contribute to business failures (Winn, 2004). Entrepreneurship texts delineate the legalities of partnerships, but fail to emphasize the importance of delineating roles and responsibilities commensurate with ownership risk and reward. Feminists balk at the suggestion that women should act like men or engage in what they perceive to be a masculine style of management that is impersonal or insensitive (Cleveland, Stockdale and Murphy, 2002). Rather, women are advised to develop a style of management that suits their personality, yet is firm and unwavering in their beliefs and goals. For many women, this is a contradiction. There is a fine line between tenacity and stubbornness; a difficult middle ground between being firm and compassionate. Collaboration is not always the preferred course of action, nor is standing ones ground appropriate on all occasions. While trust in oneself is critical, since the startup process can be fraught with uncertainty, entrepreneurship cannot succeed without trusted advisors, colleagues, and employees. Trust in others, however, opens oneself to vulnerability (Brodsky, 1993). Entrepreneurs can mitigate this risk by setting up systems that monitor the results of everyones actions, and that allow for corrective action without recrimination or blame. These management skills can be taught, but fewer women than men obtain training or experience before they start their own business. Rather, women use networks for social support (Smeltzer and Fann, 1989) and seek advice when their businesses are already in trouble.
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In 2000, women accounted for only a third of full-time students in U.S. graduate business programs (Alsop, 2004), despite efforts on the part of university recruiters to target women. Women are not underrepresented in undergraduate classrooms, but many women choose to enroll in part time graduate programs to better accommodate either work or family obligations. On the other hand, a survey conducted by Catalyst and the University of Michigan (Hildebrandt, Miller, Edington and Bond, 1987) suggests that the main reason given for womens hesitancy to major in business is a fear of math, not business. The socialization of girls away from mathematics, science and technologyfrom parents, teachers and counselorsis well documented (Strauss, 1988; Rathgeber, 1995; Rakow, 1998; Hardman-Matoukov, 2004). As more business schools offer programs in entrepreneurship and small business development, prospective entrepreneurs may realize that launching a new company requires a broad range of skills. In addition to managerial and financial training, these programs would be well advised to address the life-style decisions that can impede or facilitate new venture success. Familial and societal variables differently impact women and men in starting and sustaining independent organizations. However, education labeled as feminist that focuses on the needs of women and families should be required for men and women alike, all of whom need to anticipate the emotional and economic impact that starting a business will have on all members of the family. School schedules, after-school activities, and childcare providers assume someone at home with discretionary time during the day. Household and childrearing chores are often invisible except to those who bear the burdens. Independent business ownership can accommodate family obligations if a woman chooses the right time, the right business, and the right partner. It falls on women themselves to anticipate the demands of business ownership so that they can embark on entrepreneurship with realistic expectations and requisite skills, and acknowledge the support systems that they will need if they are to succeed. Because the preponderance of women-owned businesses are initiated with unrealistic expectations, in volatile service or retailing industries, with insufficient financial and managerial training, it is a wonder that any succeed. Embarking on any profession or career without relevant training and experience creates hardships that need not exist. But we can only provide a better system of education and support if we understand and acknowledge the critical variables that affect the business-creation decision and the roles that family structure and spousal and societal support play as the business matures.

REFORMING POLICIES Women business owners in America, Western Europe, and European transition countries voice similar needs for their businesss development access to capital, access to education and training, access to networks and markets, and to be taken seriously. Internationally, women entrepreneurs key business concerns are a blend of day-to-day business management issues maintaining profits, finding good employees, managing cash flow; and external factors such as the economy, government, legal changes, and access to technology and capital. Policy-makers and educators who are interested in increasing the ranks of women entrepreneurs need to understand the biases and barriers that adversely affect women who start their own businesses, in order to provide proper guidance and enact appropriate legislation. Carr and Chen acknowledge that there is no single remedy or magic bullet that will adequately address the complex mix of factors of exclusion that keep women entrepreneurs behind
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men in access to capital, training, and social support (2004: 157). However, unless economic policies and legal structures recognize these barriers and biases, women-owned businesses will continue to fight an uphill battle for funding and recognition, and the current social biases will prevail. Arguably, until women are among those in positions of political leadership, it is unlikely that these issues will be addressed appropriately. Lawmakers need to be cognizant of the different worlds occupied by small and large enterprises, and the undue burden placed on small businesses by oncesize-fits-all labor codes and social services. Labor intensive service businesses are penalized for hiring workers. Equipment is an expense to be deducted; wages are accompanied by social security and employment taxes. In the U.S., businesses are expected to bear the brunt of health insurance costs, putting small businesses at a disadvantage, both in the expense and ability to provide attractive benefit packages. Entrepreneurs compete on an uneven playing field with large companies for skilled workers and knowledgeable advisors. In the corporate world the path to upper management has an established protocol for men and women alike. However, policies that appear to be gender-neutral fail to be gender-sensitive. The lack of appropriate mentors and the prevalence of traditional attitudes towards womens advancement is still the norm. Usually long hours demonstrating ambition and loyalty to the organization are prerequisites to promotion, adversely impacting anyone with household and/or family obligations. Men in management experience gender role congruence pressures as well, and may be more penalized in the workplace than women when they seek non-traditional schedules or assignments. Womens commitment is viewed with suspicion, but time spent devoted to family obligations can hinder mens advancement more than womens (Konrad and Cannings, 1997). However, as Hewlett points out, even a generous package of benefits cannot help employees strike a meaningful, sustainable balance between professional and personal life unless there is a fundamental change in the mind-set of managers (2002: 331). In transition countries, women were given equal representation in the workplace, but were clearly absent among decision-makers or political leaders (MONEE, 1999), thus perpetuating the subordination and dependence of women. What can be done? Policies that penalize women with children when they enter the workplace perpetuate a cycle of womens dependence. Programs that ignore women who are not employed by large enterprises discourage women from starting their own firms. Tax structures that cater to large capital-intensive corporations discourage business growth in labor-intensive industries. Lending practices geared to high-growth ventures cut off small and medium enterprise development and micro-enterprise. Legislation and policies that subordinate a married womans status to that of her husband, perpetuate the impression of women as second-class citizens. Devaluing lifestyle choices among those who choose to follow a non-traditional path not only denigrates their choices, but puts their children at an undue social and economic disadvantage. Relegating social services, such as health care and retirement benefits, to the private sectorthose who provide insurance benefitsperpetuates a class of underemployed and subtly disenfranchises smaller employers. The wage and wealth gap will continue to get wider with policies that close doors to those whose circumstances discourage individual initiative and risk. Under the right circumstances, initiating ones own business has the potential of creating an environment that accommodates individual needs and differences, and offers a proving ground for innovative business models. Women business owners have been at the forefront of providing alternative work arrangements and being sensitive to the family burdens faced by working mothers. Women business owners are more likely than their male counterparts to offer flex-time, tuition reimbursement and, even among small firms, profit sharing to their workers (Center for Womens
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Business Research, 2001). In the U.S., women business owners employ a roughly gender-balanced workforce (52% women and 48% men), in contrast to the men business owners who employ, on average, 38% women and 62% men (Small Business Administration, 2001). But it will take more than the determination of enterprising women themselves to lessen the current barriers to success. Biologically, women and men are not equal, and suffer unequally from legislation and social stereotypes. When women are expected to excel without relief, their families suffer. When women are expected to be primary caregivers, their businesses suffer. Educators need to understand and address the factors that are critical for independent business success and to present a more realistic picture of what starting a new business entails. Legislators and policymakers must be cognizant of the tax structures and social policies that, despite good intentions, work against women who wish to achieve financial independence. Women who desire self-actualization and economic advancement can succeed through independent business ownership, but not without great personal cost. Proactive policy changes are needed in order to erode genderbiased attitudes and practices so that women can choose a career path that doesnt require sacrificing their dreams, depriving their families, jeopardizing their health, or selling their souls.

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