By: Jana Kasperkevic

The US may have the first female presidential nominee of a major political party in Hillary Clinton, but the glass ceiling for American women is far from shattered. According to a new survey, three in four female business owners believe women and minorities face almost insurmountable barriers to the top jobs.

A Bank of America survey of 1,000 small business owners found that 77% of female business owners believe women and minorities receive fewer advancement opportunities, and 46% of female business owners felt limited by the glass ceiling. Small business owners were defined as having a revenue between $1m-$5m and fewer than 100 employees.

“Until recently, within lifetimes of many people in this room, women really were not allowed to open businesses on their own,” Maisha Walker, president-elect of New York’s chapter of National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), said.

“That’s why NAWBO was founded because in 1973 – three women tried to join the Chamber of Commerce and they were not allowed to,” Walker said. “It’s so shocking to think that that was so recent. They couldn’t sign for business loans without a man.”

Over the past 40 years, women had a lot of catching up to do, she added.

“There are lot of industries where men are just entrenched and that’s just the way things are,” Walker said. “That doesn’t mean they aren’t changing and that we can’t make that better. It is what it is and it’s important to recognize the environment that we are operating in.”

One of the main reasons women start a business is to be their own boss. However, being the boss is not always all it is cracked up to be. While about half the respondents said that being a female small business owner made them feel empowered and successful, about one in three also said it made them feel stressed.

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