Still So Few Women. Why?

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As the first viable female candidate for president barnstorms across the country, Del Jones of USA Today takes a look at the entrepreneurial landscape and wonders where the women are.

"Few fledgling businesses founded by men or women ever grow into giant corporations, but with women launching twice as many businesses as men, some meaningful percentage of the new giants might be expected to have a woman as keystone," Jones writes.

And yet there's no female equivalent of an entrepreneurial prodigy like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Jones notes—let alone a legend akin to Larry Ellison or Bill Gates. Why?

The article doesn't get very close to solving the puzzle, offering the same old unsatisfying answers—lack of access to capital and a desire for controlled growth so that a woman can run a business while still being an active mother. Somehow, this feels to me like only half the picture.

I'd also argue that Jones gives short shrift to companies founded by couples, even though many of the most entrepreneurial women I have met over the years were half of a spousal team.

What I really like about this piece, however, is that Jones identifies and interviews as many of the nation's leading businesswomen as can be found: Marion Sandler of Golden West Financial, Gayle Francis of AMN Healthcare, Carol Ammon of Endo Pharmaceuticals, etc. With statistics that show that few women run gazelle-like companies, Jones's efforts to gather a bunch of them all in one place constitutes a meaningful journalistic exercise.

Mike Hofman was previously editor of Inc.com and a deputy editor at Inc. magazine, which he joined in 1996. The site was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Digital Media in 2010, and was named the best business website by Folio Magazine. In 2006, Hofman was part of a team of writers nominated for a Webby Award for best business blog. He lives in New York City. @mikehofman