Unlike our usual quarterly e-newsletters, in which we provide you with womenabling news and updates in a variety of areas, in this issue we are focusing on a single, important landmark in women's enterprise development - the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988. The law, also affectionately known as H.R. (House Resolution) 5050, was signed into law on October 25, 1988. It ushered in a true renaissance of growth and progress for women's enterprise development. Womenablers often refer to the
WBO Act of 1988 as the 'big bang" of women's entrepreneurship.
There were four main tenets of the law:
Capital: The law extended the gender equality of access to credit provided in the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 to include business credit. Just think, prior to 1988 women business owners could not get business credit in their own name! - Capitol: The Act also established the National Women's Business Council, which provides the women's business community with a seat at the table in the US Capitol and in federal policy circles. The NWBC is comprised of individual
women business owners and representatives of women's business organizations, and must submit an annual report to the President, the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Small Business Administration each year. Read past annual reports HERE to learn what recommendations the NWBC has made to federal policymakers. - Counseling: The law also launched a "demonstration project" of entrepreneurial education and counseling
focused on female clients. From four initial pilot programs in 1989 has grown over 100 women's business centers today, providing technical assistance, education, coaching and counseling, group and peer-to-peer mentoring, and ongoing support to both would-be and existing women (and men) business owners. Many former clients come back and teach and mentor. Do you have a skill or a story to share with budding entrepreneurs? Find a women's business center near you and volunteer! - Counting: Finally, the law directed the U.S. Census Bureau
to include ALL women-owned businesses in their next quinquennial census. Up until that time, the census did not include all industries or all legal forms of business organization. Upon the publication of the 1992 Census in 1995, when C corporations were included for the first time, the number of women-owned firms increased by just 9%, but employment jumped by 111% and revenues generated by women-owned firms skyrocketed by 145%. Women-owned firms were finally on the map!
Take a moment and think about how much easier it is for women starting businesses now than it was for our foremothers prior to 1988 - when there were no women's business centers, no complete accounting of the number and economic clout of women-owned businesses, no National Women's Business Council, and no ability to access business credit without a male co-signer.
Some folks are already taking note of the impending anniversary. Click on the following links to read a
blogpost from CAMEO (the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity), an
op-ed piece from Connecticut WDBC director (and NWBC council member) Fran Pastore, and
an article from WIPP co-founder Barbara Kasoff. And check out what we had to say five years ago at the 20th anniversary during a
panel discussion at an academic conference!
And stay tuned - women's enterprise leaders are talking now about gathering en masse next Spring to celebrate the accomplishments of the past 25 years and talk more seriously about what the movement - and women business owners - need going forward.
In the meantime, we'd like to start a social media conversation about the past 25 years of women's entrepreneurship. Tweet and post your thoughts about the progress we've made, and the work that's yet to be done. Use the hashtag
#WBOAct@25. What are your thoughts, reflections, calls to action? Ready, set, go!
