Zonta International is a global organization of individuals dedicated to building a better world for women and girls. The Zonta USA Advocacy Action Center is a tool for our members in the United States and other individuals who share our commitment to gender equality to take action to improve the lives of women and girls. With your help, we can make a difference. In addition to the actions below, click here to support our joint efforts with UNICEF USA to end child marriage in the United States.
Established in 1979, the Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise (ICWBE) is a U.S. government entity that coordinates federal resources to help women-owned businesses grow and succeed. It was maintained during both Democratic and Republican administrations but became inactive in 2000. Since then, no other federal agency has had the authority to help coordinate federal support and resources for female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses.
Last October, the bipartisan Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise Act, H.R. 6058, was reintroduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Representatives Grace Meng (D-NY) and Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL).
“As a former member of the House Small Business Committee and the daughter of small business owners in Queens, I know firsthand the importance of empowering entrepreneurs,” said Rep Meng, “and how that not only helps our local communities, but our national economy.”
Reintroducing this bipartisan bill and appointing a chairperson would help increase the ability of the federal government to provide targeted assistance to women entrepreneurs as they start and grow their businesses. The ICWBE Act would update the mission to identify the barriers women business owners and women entrepreneurs face in starting and growing a business, and appoint a chairperson to guide the mission.
“Women deserve a seat at the table,” said Rep. Salazar. “I am proud to co-sponsor this bill to ensure that the Women’s Business Enterprise has a chairperson to operate and lead the panel. Women have made monumental steps as business owners and entrepreneurs, and we must remove all barriers so that women continue to succeed.”
If revived, the ICWBE would look at the behavior of federal agencies in how they support, expand, and strengthen resources and programs for women-owned businesses – ultimately making sure that the federal government is doing all it can to support female entrepreneurs.
Please use our pre-drafted letters to urge your senators and representatives to co-sponsor and support the Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise Act H.R. 6058. If they have already sponsored or co-sponsored the bill, you can send a message of thanks.