Men Head Many “Woman-Owned” Firms The U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce says male chief executive officers headed nearly half of the woman-owned firms listed as the leading government contractors in 2007, raising questions about whether contract dollars going to women are being overstated. According to the Chamber’s research, 24 of the top 50 woman-owned firms had male CEOs. Eight more were listed as jointly owned by a husband and wife. Chamber President Margo Dorfman said, “I am appalled by the lack of accountability shown by this administration and the sheer gall of erroneously designating billions of dollars in contracts as going to women-owned businesses when it is obvious that firms with male CEOs are not women-owned.” Federal law requires a firm to be at least 51% owned by one or more women in order to be classified as woman-owned for procurement purposes. Companies are allowed to self-certify their eligibility. “To date, no action has been taken by the Small Business Administration to authenticate the validity of ‘women-owned status’ for firms being counted as ‘women-owned’ for the purpose of small business goaling reports,” the Chamber said. The Chamber said its analysis of Federal Procurement Data System information also showed “a tendency by some agencies to cluster their purchasing with just a few women-owned firms, thereby ‘making their numbers’ without opening the doors wide to a broad representation of women-owned firms.” The report said in nine agencies, just 10 different companies received more than half the dollars going to woman-owned businesses.