[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 24 (Tuesday, March 10, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H919]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

  (Ms. NORTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I choose today, International Women's Day, 
to call to the attention of this body that women business owners are 
proving to be a major factor in the most robust economy since World War 
II. Women business owners are showing remarkable staying power. Three-
quarters of the women businesses that were in existence in 1991 are 
still in existence, compared to the overall American average of two-
thirds of all firms.
  What does this signify? What does it tell us about women? What we 
have already known: that the stability and hard work for which women 
have been known in the home, they are bringing now not only to the 
workplace but to owning businesses themselves.
  The bipartisan Women's Caucus has put special emphasis on women-owned 
business. I salute the bipartisan team leaders in our caucus, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) and the 
gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Kelly) for their leadership on women-
owned business issues. They have introduced House Resolution 313, which 
I invite all Members to sign on. The Federal Government has a goal of 5 
percent women-owned businesses. We are only at 2 percent.

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