According to the Equity in Contracting for Women Act

Businesses owned by women are supposed to be awarded 5 percent of all federal government goods and services contracts. It turns out that over the past few years, women-owned businesses have received only 3.4 percent of awards.

Because of the size of the federal government, a difference of 1.6 percentage points adds up to $5 billion per year; and with huge federal economic stimulus spending expected over the next few years, the difference could easily reach $8 billion by 2010.

Needless to say, federal contracting is a huge opportunity for women-owned businesses. For more information on how to be a part of policy change visit http://www.wipp.org/