According to the Small Business Administration, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), Forbes, and other key reporting sources, women are currently outpacing men in starting new businesses by 49%, up from approximately 21% five years ago. Among minority-owned small business owners, the average annual revenues vary widely with Asian American women averaging $216,000; Hispanic Americans averaging $108; and African Americans at only $59,000.

Men-owned businesses are still more sustainable and profitable—for all the persistent reasons. Both women and men across all ethnic groups cite access to funding as a challenge in the current entrepreneurial landscape (with the impact of tariffs, higher prices, higher interest rates, and geopolitical issues). Let us look behind the curtain on the persistent challenge of women owners—whether in good and bad economic times.

Women have always had less access to funding than men—not just during current economic unrest. We have always been the caregivers, lagging behind men in career opportunities and wealth accumulation, and victims of the systemic disparity in income therefore, less likely to get approved for funding. Banks still think women are not savvy enough in money matters and deem us too risky for loan or lines of credit.

  • Generally, women do not have as long a credit history as men. We are gaining in this area, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; women currently make up 47% of the workforce but still struggle for parity in pay and more representation at executive positions.
  • The disparity in median annual income growth has narrowed a bit; in 2022, it was 6.5% and fell to 4% in 2024.
  • The older the woman, the wider the gap in income. Ninety percent of women between 16-24 years-old earn as much as their counterparts in the same age group. Women at the highest stage of earning potential (35-54 years-old) the gap widens to 81%; from 55—64, women earn only 76% of men in the same age group. Therefore, loan officers and other decision makers in financial institutions—mostly male—are in a time warp, adhering to a long-standing bias against middle-aged women as responsible in fiscal matters and far less attractive as low-risk borrowers. It would seem that we are turning the corner with younger women fitting the profile of model borrowers.

In summary, we still have a long way to go in order to overcome the challenge of accessing adequate funding as well as reaping the benefits of mentoring and networking with both other women owners and successful men entrepreneurs and becoming more skillful about the numbers side of our ventures.