Opinion: Bush Administration Fails Women Entrepreneurs
Bush Administration Fails Women Entrepreneurs
By Sen. John F. Kennedy
Special to the Worcester Business Journal
Here in Massachusetts, women business owners are a linchpin of our economy, employing 177,000 people and generating $30 billion in sales. Nationally, there are 10 million women entrepreneurs responsible for $1.9 trillion in sales. Over the last decade, women-owned firms grew twice as fast as other businesses. Today, women own one-third of all businesses and generate one-fifth of all sales. Yet when it comes to winning federal contracts, Washington is leaving women entrepreneurs behind.
Although women entrepreneurs have proven to be an excellent investment for the government, they receive just 3.4 percent of federal contract dollars. Faced with such an obvious injustice, we cannot sit on the sidelines.
To remedy this unacceptable situation, congress passed a pair of laws to help level the playing field for women seeking to do business with the federal government. First, we mandated that five percent of federal contract dollars go to women. Then, in 2000, we gave the government an additional tool: the ability to set aside federal contracts for women to address their severe under representation in the federal contracting process.
Unfortunately, over the last seven years, the Bush administration has failed to implement the program we created. Their inaction has cost women an estimated $6 billion in lost potential revenue last year.
Too Little, Too Late
Finally, last December, the Bush administration took action and proposed a rule to implement the program. Unfortunately, the measure did more harm than good. Despite a study that shows women do not receive a fair share of contracts in up to 87 percent of all industries, the Bush Administration improbably concluded that women are only underrepresented in four categories out of more than 140 studied. They say kitchen cabinet making, engraving, motor vehicles and national security are the only categories where women don't receive a fair share of contracts. The numbers just don't add up.
What's more, the Bush administration's rule says that federal agencies must go an extra step and find themselves guilty of discrimination against women before they can begin setting aside contracts for women entrepreneurs. It took seven years of empty promises for the Bush Administration to even propose this extremely disappointing rule. I hardly believe any agency will admit to discrimination.
Earlier this month, I chaired a hearing and pressed the administration to reverse course. I called on the Bush administration to throw out its counterproductive rule and go back to the drawing board. They need to put forward a realistic, workable strategy that this congress can get behind. The head of the Small Business Administration, Steven Preston, said he would work with congress in a bipartisan way to address our concerns, and I will hold him to his word.
Our sisters, daughters, wives, and mothers deserve to compete on a truly level playing field. That's why I will continue to lead efforts in congress to make sure that Washington delivers on its promises.
Kerry represents Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate. He is chairman of the committee on small business and entrepreneurship.
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