ABSTRACT
Existing studies typically focus on women's business earnings in comparison with men's business earnings and sample a white, middleclass business population. This framework does not apply to many firsttime and minority women business owners. Women's businesses are often newer and smaller than men's businesses, and women frequently start businesses for non-economic reasons, with profit becoming a secondary or tertiary motive. In addition, women entrepreneurs can be disadvantaged in the resource mobilization process in ways not applicable to white, middle-class male entrepreneurs. 1 This is especially true for African American women and women in rural areas where resources are limited.
