Lani Basa, The Business Women's Circle - Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN

At the Business Women’s Circle, we’ve been helping women grow their businesses and themselves through accountability, learning, and peer support. We have been in business for over 12 years and in that time I have seen the difficulty that small businesses face when it comes to supporting themselves or their employees for paid family or medical leave.

Depending on what you look at, a small business can be defined by the government as any entity with 250 to 1,500 or fewer employees. Small businesses represent 99.7% of all businesses in the US. Now consider the fact that Sole Proprietors represent 81% of all small businesses and the 2nd largest category are those businesses with 3-10 employees.

Unfortunately - benefits packages that offer paid family or medical leaves were created for much larger organizations. The options for the smallest businesses are little to none, resulting in outcomes like losing employees to larger companies, not taking leave or closing businesses.

Small businesses - especially women-owned businesses - need options for themselves and their employees. Women-owned businesses represent over 42% of all businesses which means they will be a key factor in economic recovery. But women are also the key caregivers in their families.

The government has an important role in promoting economic development. By establishing a paid family and medical leave program, we can help level the playing field for our smallest businesses, increase women’s participation in the workforce and business ownership as well as strengthen our economy.