Lipstick entrepreneur: A good phrase to describe female business owners?

New research has been released today which claims that the recession has acted as a catalyst to exponential growth in female-owned start-up businesses.

According to the report by Avon and the Federation of Small Businesses, female entrepreneurship in 2009 has reached a tipping point with 100% more women-owned businesses predicted in the next decade. Interesting stuff but one element which caught my eye is the title: 'The rise of lipstick entrepreneurs'. I posted the point on Twitter and the reaction was pretty vocal!

A small selection of comments admittedly but are they ones that would be echoed by many women on reading the phrase 'lipstick entrepreneur'.

Now, the facts are clear; if the same number of UK-based women started their own business as in the US we'd have thousands and thousands more companies so anything which helps that to happen is a good thing.

But does using words like 'lipstick' when describing successful businesswomen actually perpetuate inequalities and discrimination? And does it paint a picture to some that all women don't start a business to make a profit and drive the economy but actually do it as a part-time hobby and for lifestyle reasons?

Some criticis also say the same of female-specific business initiatives (an issue we discussed last year). Do they encourage division which they were actually set up to remove? Let me know your thoughts.