Until 1988, women couldn't get business loans without a man.

Byline: Todd Nelson

As members of the Minnesota chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners bestow yearly awards next week, they'll also celebrate passage of a 30-year-old federal law that has enabled countless women to start or expand their own businesses.

Today's NAWBO members are surprised to learn that the law eliminated state laws requiring women to have a male relative or husband co-sign a business loan, said Mary Quist-Newins, a NAWBO-MN past president and president and founder of Moneyweave, a Minneapolis-based independent financial planning company.

They're also surprised, Quist-Newins said, that the change didn't come about until 1988, when President Ronald Reagan signed the Women's Business Ownership Act, or H.R. 5050, into law.

The legislation came about from the efforts of NAWBO members and other women business owners "who saw disparities and inequities with regards to loans, access to loans and being able to achieve a loan without having a male co-signer, even a minor son," Quist-Newins said. "Nineteen eighty-eight is not that far back."

Minnesota chapter founder Marlene Johnson, a former state lieutenant governor, was among those pushing for the change, said Mary Nutting, the current president of NAWBO-MN. NAWBO was founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., and has produced an H.R. 5050 white paper. The Minnesota chapter, the first and today the largest with 130 members, was founded in 1977.

Despite the law's passage, women business owners still face hurdles in seeking capital, Quist-Newins said. Just 14 percent of U.S. Small Business Administration Loans went to women-owned businesses, representing only 4 percent of the money lent, she said. The numbers are similar for conventional bank loans and only 2 percent of venture capital dollars go to women business owners.

"Access to capital still remains a barrier," Quist-Newins said, noting that women are majority owners of 10 million to 13 million U.S. businesses.

The Women's Business Ownership Act also created the National Women's Business Council, which researches policies to expand and improve opportunities for women business owners, Quist-Newins said.

Nutting, owner and president of CorTalent, a Minnetonka-based recruitment and retention consulting company, said the chapter this year created the Marlene Johnson Award to celebrate the 30th anniversary of H.R. 5050's passage.

"It's a great time to reflect on where the organization has come from and where we are...