How
women business
owners cracked
the glass
ceiling
BPT
oday there are nearly 12 million women-owned small
T
businesses in the United States that generate almost
$1.7 trillion in revenues. But 30 years ago, it wasn’t the
or even just refinance other debt.
That all changed with the passage of H.R. 5050, also
known as the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988.
This legislation is considered a landmark for women in
business, changing the landscape of business financing
for women in the United States forever.
H.R. 5050 went on to shape the future of women and
business in three critical ways:
It banned lenders from requiring a male cosigner.
One of the many witnesses to the H.R. 5050 hearings was
a woman who didn’t have a husband, father or brother
available - so she had to ask her 17-year-old son to cosign
a business loan for her, which sadly was not an unusual
story. By making this practice illegal, the bill helped level
the playing field for women in business.
same story - these business owners’ financial futures
could have been out of their hands due to sexist lending
practices, incomplete government data and limited It created the National Women’s Business Council.
advocacy on their behalf.
This council was established as an independent and
In 1988, women owned just 4.1 million businesses in the nonpartisan federal advisory council. Today, it advises on
U.S - which may have been partially because acquiring issues of impact and interest to women business owners
financing was so difficult. Up until 1988, lenders could by providing data and research to the White House,
require women business owners seeking financing to Congress, the Small Business Administration and the
have a male cosigner. This shocking and unfair practice public.
made it difficult for women business owners to get the
funding they needed to grow - limiting their ability to It required the U.S. census to track women-owned
do everything from open a new location to make payroll C-corporations when reporting data.
Kate Lester, owner of Kate Lester Interiors,
took out a small business loan through Funding Circle
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WINTER GARDEN MAGAZINE
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NOVEMBER 2018
continued on pg. 23