Women play an important role in the American economy, with 9.1 million women in this country owning a business, a consultant said during a business forum May 7.

EVB, a Tappahannock-based community bank, hosted the POWER event aimed at training female business owners at the Main Street Conference & Event Center in Gloucester.

Women are making strides in business ownership, said Zee Worstell, chief executive officer of AccelerateHER. “We are doing it.” However, she said that 80 percent of women who own businesses in the United States earn less than $50,000 per year—substantially less, on average, than their male counterparts.

Another problem many women face is establishing lines of credit for their businesses, but times are better than when women needed to have a spouse or other male sign on a loan for them until about 40 years ago, Worstell said.

Women must identify problems a consumer might face in targeting clientele. “We try to target everybody,”...