It's been said that Women will be one of the forces that guides the recovery from this recession, and allows for continued economic growth afterwards. The reason is that most of the men in this country are already working (unemployment aside) while there are still some women that can create money by going to work, or better, creating it with their minds by starting a business or investing regimen.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2002 73% of the male population over age 15 worked full time, while only 58.6% of the same female population worked full time. There appears to be room for growth. The obvious reaction is that the women are staying home with the kids, which I think is a very necessary, admirable, and probably harder job than most of the paying ones.

I'm not writing this post because I think all the stay at home Moms should shun their Mommy beliefs and begin using daycare. For some, by the time you factor in the work wardrobe and daycare expense, it's hardly worth working out of the home. Not to mention that women with similar work experience still have an earnings ratio of .77 compared to men in similar jobs (U.S. Census Bureau). Why go back to that? This is more about realizing what a force Women are and can grow to be, should the ones that haven't done so begin creating money on their own terms. We truly are an untapped resource.

Currently, I can think of two new Moms, both of them amazing women that have big hearts, masters degrees, and crazy skills. In both cases when they found out they were pregnant, they stopped working and began taking care of their bodies and homes as a full time job. The sacrifice is very admirable and probably better for all involved, at least over the short term. But what about the long term?

Is it truly better to resign oneself to 20 years of financial dependency, 20 years of postponed personal challenge in the adult world, 20 years of creative insights and professional ah-hahs put off for another day, simply because it's not in alignment with being a full time Mom? That's a lot of unfinished business to contend with. I find it hard to believe that self confidence levels and emotionally based defensive behaviors are not influenced by this set up. Perhaps rather than choosing between full time stay at home and full time work, Women can now choose to become solo-preneurs, women-preneurs, online marketers, savvy investors or MLM empire builders.

There are some great business models out there that allow women to work on their own terms and still be there for family. Perhaps even be there more than if they didn't have the business because of the great behaviors they model for the kids that say, "you can do anything!" and the financial freeing effect of another income. Whether they are product, internet, service or network based, many of these newer business models play to women's strengths. They require adaptability, collaboration and care, the feminine energy.

It's takes a village to raise a child. It also takes a village to create a successful business venture. And speaking of villages, did you know that micro-loans, given to spur entrepreneurship in impoverished areas, are commonly given to women rather than men. In the absence of collateral, women have lower default rates than men do, and tend to band together to make payments and take care of the children, lifting all of them rather than just one.

Myself, I went a long time without caring about investing, taxes, mortgages or money markets. I valued relationships, people, learning, and other things that I saw as infinitely superior to all the greedy stuff money people cared about. It wasn't until about 6 years ago that I realized I wasn't superior, I was doing myself a huge disservice and the society to which I belong is missing out as well on whatever value I could bring to it.

The world doesn't need more people that don't care about the economy, it needs more caring people to fully play in it, and win! Once I reconciled that, I'm now okay with saying, "yes! I want more", and " yes! I am happy to create it". There's no such thing as taking from anyone else with your own successes when you've put an economic driver where one didn't exist before. Given that the media claims it's our greedy Wall Street nature that got us into this downturn, perhaps Women are best suited to caringly and collaboratively compete and lead the village out. Building businesses and investing within our family framework and always, on our terms.