FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

SEC. 101. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. Section 2 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631) is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection: “(h) (1) With respect to the programs and activities authorized by this Act, the Congress finds that— “(A) women owned business has become a major contributor to the American economy by providing goods and services, revenues, and jobs; “(B) over the past two decades there have been substantial gains in the social and economic status of women as they have sought economic equality and independence; 102 STAT. 2690 “(C) despite such progress, women, as a group, are subjected to discrimination in entrepreneurial endeavors due to their gender; “(D) such discrimination takes many overt and subtle forms adversely impacting the ability to raise or secure capital, to acquire managerial talents, and to capture market opportunities; “(E) it is in the national interest to expeditiously remove discriminatory barriers to the creation and development of small business concerns owned and controlled by women; “(F) the removal of such barriers is essential to provide a fair opportunity for full participation in the free enterprise system by women and to further increase the economic vitality of the Nation; “(G) increased numbers of small business concerns owned and controlled by women will directly benefit the United States Government by expanding the potential number of suppliers of goods and services to the Government; and “(H) programs and activities designed to assist small business concerns owned and controlled by women must be implemented in such a way as to remove such discriminatory barriers while not adversely affecting the rights of socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. “(2) It is, therefore, the purpose of those programs and activities conducted under the authority of this Act that assist women entrepreneurs to— “(A) vigorously promote the legitimate interests of small business concerns owned and controlled by women; “(B) remove, insofar as possible, the discriminatory barriers that are encountered by women in accessing capital and other factors of production; and “(C) require that the Government engage in a systematic and sustained effort to identify, define and analyze those discriminatory barriers facing women and that such effort directly involve the participation of women business owners in the public/ private sector partnership.”.