SmallBusinessNewz

For whatever reason, it seems women weren't overly involved in new small businesses last year; the Kauffman Foundation put the percentage of women who started them at a 10-year low.

"[T]hree out of every 1,000 adults in the U.S. - 0.3% percent of the population - chose the entrepreneurial path each month and created a new business, up from 0.29%," according to Herman Wong.  "Men saw a big bump: Among their population, 0.41% started a business each month last year, up from 0.35% in 2006.  The entrepreneurial rate among women, however, dropped from 0.23% to 0.20%."

The big resulting gap is both startling and a bit worrisome.  Maybe women were just hanging back, waiting for the recession to start and then pass, but it looks like participation simply dropped.

The one other possibility is that this is only a temporary dip - again, like the stock market - even as the long-term outlook improves.

We'll have to see how 2008 turns out, it seems.  In the meantime, any ideas about the causes of (or fixes for) this phenomenon are welcome.