Introduction to the Special Issue: Towards Building Cumulative Knowledge on Women's Entrepreneurship‪.‬

Why Study Women's Entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurship is a burgeoning area of research worldwide. Women are majority owners of 30% (6.7 million) of all privately held firms in the United States and own at least a 50% share of 46% (10.1 million) of such enterprises. These firms boast $1.2 trillion in revenues and employ 19.1 million employees (Center for Women's Business Research, 2004). The trends in the United States are similar to those in other countries. Women worldwide are actively launching and managing entrepreneurial ventures. While the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project shows that women in most countries are starting ventures at a lower rate than men, women's entrepreneurial activity is greater than 30% in many countries (Minitti, Arenius, & Langowitz, 2005). Other research has shown that the percent of women-owned businesses is more than 30% in Canada, Denmark, Finland, and New Zealand (Brush, Carter, Gatewood, Greene, & Hart, 2006).