Saturday, January 26, 2013

Women Business Owners Fight for Government Contracts

With federal spending cuts, women entrepreneurs are feeling the pinch.  U.S. government contracts to women- owned small businesses dropped for the second consecutive year, declining at a faster rate than awards to their male counterparts.
The women’s contracts slid 5.5 percent to about $16.4 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 from $17.3 billion in fiscal 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Awards to small firms owned by men fell 4.1 percent to $80.9 billion.  
What's causing the decline?
The gender gap may reflect stiffer competition over a shrinking pool of contract revenue as well as the bureaucratic burdens associated with a new effort to reserve awards for women-owned firms, according to former procurement officials and small business advocates. 
Read the entire article here.

Are you experiencing this challenge?  If so, we welcome hearing from you.

Illustration credit:  BloombergBusinessweek

No comments: