Over the past few decades, the percentage of businesses owned by women has shot up, from 4.6 percent in 1972 to nearly 29 percent in 2007. But loans and government contracts haven't kept pace, with women getting just $1 for every $23 of conventional small-business loans given: In terms of numbers of loans, businesses owned by women receive only 16 percent of all conventional small-business loans, and 17 percent of loans backed by the Small Business Administration.