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ABSTRACT
The women's movement of the 1960s and 1970s has significantly changed the role of women in the business world. The purpose of this study is to determine if similar changes have occurred with women's involvement in the field of entrepreneurship. Analysis of U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS) data over the past 40 years indicates that significant changes have taken place in both the involvement of women in entrepreneurship and also the nature of the women themselves who are entrepreneurs. Not only have women become more involved in entrepreneurship, they now represent almost 35% of the self-employed in the USA in 2015 in contrast to 24% in 1975. Self-employed women have become more racially diverse, more ethnically diverse, and are better educated than their counterparts of 40 years ago and of the general population today. Some of the more surprising findings are that Black women, Hispanic women and single women have not entered the field of entrepreneurship as aggressively as other women.
Introduction
Changes in attitudes and laws regarding women in the workforce, which began in the 1960s and 1970s, have transformed the role of women in the business world. Whereas in the 1960s, it was the exception to find women in universities preparing for work in the business world, today's enrollment in business schools consists of at least one-half female students. These women, prepared for careers in the business, have entered the business world in surprising numbers and have transformed the basic character of the business community.
Although men dominate the field of entrepreneurship, women entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly more important in the United States. Despite the growth of female-owned businesses, ownership, growth and size of these firms is still significantly lower than male-owned firms (Neeley and Van Auken 2010). Radice (2103) points out that individuals who want to be independent, to be their own boss, to choose their own path, and to design a life they love by following their passion often choose to become entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship, long considered to be a significant factor in job creation and economic growth (Birley, 1989; Mukhtar, 2002; Davis, Haltiwanger, and Shuh, 1996, and Davidsson, Lindmark, and Olofsson, 1998), continues to thrive in the USA (Poefeldt, 2014).
Entrepreneurs have a variety of reasons for...