Recently in the Policies Affecting Women Category

   In order to participate in federal procurement contracting, a business must be registered on the Federal Government's database, the CCR.   Although there are almost half a million small businesses currently registered on it, less than 60,000 are women-owned businesses.   To get our fair share of contracts, each business woman needs to registered and counted.   It is fast and easy.   The government buys every type of service - so why not participate?

   Why is it so important?

The good news:

1. Women business owners  account for 48% of small businesses in America.   We are recognized as the engine of the American economy, generating $1.9 trillion in annual sales and employing almost 13 million people.

The non-so-good news

1. In 2000 Congress set a goal that 5% of contracts issued should be set aside for women, but so far, almost eight years later, we have not exceeded 3.3%
2. On December 27, 2007, the SBA issued a proposed ruling that stated that women business owners are not under-represented, and do not need the advantage of any contracts that could be set aside.   They based this ruling on the fact that 55,000 women were registered on the CCR..
3. The government awards more than $400 BILLION in contracts each year, and women business owners get ONLY $11 billion of that money.

These sad statistics will not change unless we are counted - and to be counted - each of us must register on the CCR.   WIPP is launching a major campaign to get every business woman registered.   Join us.   Get more information by calling 1-888-488-WIPP, or email us at ccr@wipp.org.

It's no secret that an increasing number of Americans are financially unprepared for their retirement.  A recent report released by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that workers' confidence about their prospects of retiring comfortably fell from 27 percent in January 2007 to 18 percent in January 2008. And with 77 million baby boomers set to retire over the next few years, retirement security will become an increasingly important issue for policy makers to address. For women, the challenge to be able to have a financially secure retirement is even steeper.

The causes for the increasing financial security challenges Americans face are varied.   For one thing Americans are living longer than ever before and a lot longer than many projected when they were planning for retirement. Making things more challenging is the fact that less than half of Americans have any type of employer-sponsored retirement plan.  Lastly, Social Security and personal savings as sources of retirement income are not enough. On average, Social Security provides just 38 percent of pre-retirement earnings and America's personal savings rate stands at a negative.

As the president of WIPP, I have seen firsthand the unique challenges that women business owners face when it comes to saving for retirement.  Women spend an average of 12 years less than men in the workforce, which translates into fewer years saving or participating in an employer-sponsored retirement plan.  Women also earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.  Consider that a typical 25-year-old woman with a college degree will make about $523,000 less in wages over her lifetime than her male counterpart.  This amount, or even a portion of it, with accumulated interest, could itself represent a comfortable retirement next egg.

And women will need to do more with less, as their life expectancy is 80 years from birth, compared to just 74 for men.  Women who are living alone face a much greater risk of declining living standards or poverty in old age. One way to address this retirement challenge is to encourage the "annuitization" of savings.  Lifetime annuities are the only retirement vehicle besides Social Security and pensions that can deliver retirees a steady stream of income for life - a "paycheck" for life.  Lifetime annuities greatly ease the challenges of retirement planning and take the guesswork out of estimating the necessary level of savings and rate of consumption.  Annuities are a particularly useful retirement tool for women entrepreneurs and small business owners, who typically do not have access to traditional retirement vehicles such as pensions or 401(k)s.

A large bipartisan group of Members of Congress have recognized the importance of savings annuitization through the introduction and support for the bipartisan Retirement Security for Life Act (S, 1010/HR 2205).  The legislation would provide a tax incentive that would exempt from income taxes 50 percent of the retirement income received from an annuity. For an average taxpayer, this would yield an average of $5,000 in savings. Most importantly, it provides an incentive to save outside of an employer-sponsored plan, thus providing greater flexibility and helping to level the playing field for women saving for retirement.  It's a small but important step toward ensuring retirement security for all Americans.

I urge you to contact your Congressional delegation asking them for their support of this legislation.  We've made it easy to do.  Go to our website and click on Take Action.  You will see an action alert where you can ask your Congressional delegation to support The Retirement Security for Life Act.  It will only take a minute but your voice will be heard.

   I read an interesting article in the Washington Post, Many Potential Leaders of Tomorrow Reject the Role, which both encourages me and offers me concern.   The article talks about a poll that was commissioned last year by the Girl Scout Research Institute.   It shows that the majority of U.S. girls and boys don't want to be leaders, and those that do, tend to be from the minority community - African Americans, Hispanics, or female Asians.  

    It is so distressing to see that a majority of our youth have little or not interest in assuming leadership roles.   What they tell us, instead, is that they would prefer to to fit in, make a lot of money, and help animals or the environment.   Girls not only don't want to be leaders, but don't believe that they have the qualities of a leader, "..such as being outgoing, hardworking and responsble."  The research further told us that they worried about what their peers would think of them if they stood up as a leader

  This is so sad - particularly in this election year, when we may witness the first woman, or the first African American, as President of the United States.   How shocking that this still, apparently, does not inspire young women to pursue leadership roles. 

   The silver lining is that 53% of Black girls, 50% of Hispanic girls, and 59% of Asian girls do in fact want to be a leader.   The research showed that they are less likely to worry about their capabilities.   They are active and engaged at church and youth serving organizations, so are more comfortable in assuming responsibility.    This represents a great opportunity for the minority communities to capitalize on, and a great opportunity to use this enthusiasm to nurture these future leaders.   For caucasian girls, only 34% expressed the desire to be a leader - and this should send out a warning shot to this community.

   WIPP members are concerned about this data and will seek opportunities to use this information to foster programs and relationships to help young girls recognize their abilities and seize opportunities to make a difference in their communities and this country. 

Business women have made huge gains in the past 30 years but we seem to be at a stand still.
According to an article in Portfolio.com "key indicators such as pay, board seats
and corporate-officer posts all reflect a leveling off or drop in recent years."

Why? What's happened?

Part of the problem is that as a result of the gains women have made and the social awareness around gender issues, sexism has become more subtle and therefore harder to recognize.  For example, often when corporate governance thinks about diversity they think about racial diversity not gender diversity-'because women are equal... aren't they?'

Well we certainly are not equally represented in the boardroom or in the corner office.  So, what do we do now? Norway has come up with a novel idea to solve this problem.

In an article recently released, the International Herald Tribune discussed a 2003 law passed in Norway requiring companies to fill 40 percent of corporate board seats with women by 2008.

When the law was first proposed in 2002, executives were up in arms. They were quoted as saying "that it was a completely ridiculous law and it would never happen." They suggested instead that organic growth was the better option-however if that were the chosen path it would have taken 100 years before there was a significant number of women on executive boards.

In spite of the protests Norway passed the law. And guess what!? It's working! The general consensus is that this diversity is good. In fact, Spain is now considering a similar law. Perhaps the US should jump on the bandwagon? It would certainly bring the issue of sexism in the work place to the fore!

Last week I attended my first meeting as a member of the National Women's Business Council.   WIPP has always held a seat on the Council; initially, Terry Neese, co-founder and past-president held the position, and now, along with me, several WIPP members, including Ann Blackburn, Rebecca Boenigk, Kathy Eshelman, Rebecca Herwick, Beverly Inman-Ebel, Ceil McCloy and Leslie Saunders also hold places on the Council.

The Council is a bi-partisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and policy recommendations to the President, Congress and the U. S. Small Business Administration on economic issues important to women business owners.   The Council's mission is to promote bold initiatives, policies and programs designed to support women's business enterprises at all states of development in the public and private sector marketplaces - from startup to success to significance.  There is no doubt that there is still much to be accomplished on behalf of women business owners and if this meeting was any indication, there is a team of women that are ready to move forward.   The primary issue discussed at this meeting was the proposed rule, issued by the SBA in response to the 5% set-aside.  Grave concern was expressed, and all felt that nothing less than full withdrawal of the rule would be acceptable.   However, the attendees also expressed a strong commitment to expanding opportunities for outreach and education to ensure that each and every woman business owner that wishes to participate in federal contracting can do so and that she would have the tools and knowledge necessary to succeed.   
      
The meeting, held just outside Columbus, OH, at the home of Longaberger Baskets. Tami Longaberger, President and CEO of Longaberger Baskets, and current chair of the National Women's Business Council hosted the Council for its meeting at Longaberger's corporate headquarters (it looks just like a basket-check out the pictures from the meeting! and later had us all to her home for lunch.  The day prior to the Council Meeting, the Council hosted a Town Hall.   There were more than 150 attendees from greater Columbus for the afternoon event which included several policy sessions facilitated by Council members.   I facilitated a focus group on taxes and other sessions included procurement, access to capital and civil engagement.  Two more Town Halls are scheduled for this year - Houston Texas, April 3 and Boca Raton, Florida, May 14.
      
I am so proud to serve in this capacity together with our other WIPP members and the terrific Council members.  If you would like to work with us and provide us input - please do not hesitate to contact any of us.