Bill to Support Entrepreneurship by Women Scientists Clears House

On March 22, the House approved, 383-4, H.R. 4742, the Promoting Women Entrepreneurship Act, sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT).

The measure finds that while women make up 50 percent of the workforce, they constitute only 25 percent of the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions. The bill would authorize the National Science Foundation to “encourage its entrepreneurial programs to recruit and support women to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and into the commercial world.”