NASE Members: The deadline for applications to join the Women's Advisory Council has passed. New WAC Members will be named and posted to the Web site by April 15, 2004. Be sure to check back for updates.

About the Women's Advisory Council

Coming out of its first formal conference in Washington, D.C., the NASE Women’s Advisory Council (WAC) is quickly establishing momentum, fueling new strategies and targeting programs to support self-employed women.

The 10-member advisory group convened in October 2003 to outline priorities for strengthened support of self-employed women.

Increasingly, women are charged with covering multiple roles: business owner, wife, mother and community member. The NASE is aggressively looking to the perspectives and experiences of women as it advances its programs, benefits and other resources for this high-growth segment of the micro-business community.

Among the priorities established at the conference, the group identified advocacy on key national legislative issues such as access to affordable health care as a major area of emphasis. The WAC plans to develop a comprehensive education and outreach program to support federal legislation for tax reform that would end unfair taxation on health-care premiums unique to the self-employed.

The group will also examine ways to enhance NASE member benefits to bring additional value to women as business owners, individuals and parents.

In addition, pilot networking and mentoring programs are being explored to help women build important relationships and develop areas of skill and expertise that will benefit their businesses.

“The importance of women in the entrepreneurial workforce and on the economy as a whole is tremendous and will become even more profound as women gain more economic power in the marketplace,” says NASE President Robert Hughes. “The WAC will enable our association to tap into the insights and skills of entrepreneurial women as the best resource for understanding and responding to the needs of female business owners.”

Hughes notes that although the group is a new resource, its members anticipate a quick turn-around in launching initiatives with substantial and immediate benefits for women business owners.

New WAC members will be named and posted to the Web site by April 15, 2004.