The statistics are in: Women are starting two times the number of new businesses that men are. While men sit at bars drinking beer and watching football, Women are creating jobs, products and wealth in countries all over the world. Yet Women entrepreneurs still face a number of unique hardships when compared to their male counterparts.

Women, on average, continue to earn less income then males, making it more difficult for them to save the income required to start their own business. Women are also still discriminated in many male-dominated industries, such as engineering and technology, making it difficult for them to obtain promotions and negotiate deals.

Recently, female technology entrepreneurs have begun to emerge in large numbers though. These confident, capable and strong women are forging the way for future generations, showing the world that woman are just as capable as men.

Leading the group of successful female entrepreneurs is Anousheh_Ansari, founder of Telecom Technologies Inc and Prodea Systems. Anousheh sold her first company, TTI Inc, for ~$550 Million USD to Sonus Network Inc. in 2000. If being one of the richest women in the world wasn't enough, Anousheh Ansari was also the first female Muslim to ever enter space, and is also the founder of the "X Prize", a science and technology contest dedicated to encouraging the development of private space exploration.

Then there is Abigail Johnson, who runs Fidelity investments, which has helped her amass a fortune of over twelve Billion. Or Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler, whose German Ball Bearing business is now worth well over six billion dollars.

Women have also been very successful in new media. Everyone is familiar with Oprah, the daytime talk show host who has built a one billion dollar media empire. Martha Stewart, the homemaker extraordinaire, has also built a billion dollar empire with her Martha Stewart living brand – that is when she's not spending time in the slammer for insider trading.

But the real exciting growth of female entrepreneurship is in medium to small sized businesses. For example, online marketing firm Henderson bas (an interactive advertising agency in Canada) was founded by Dawna Henderson, a female technology entrepreneur and one of Canadian Business Magazine's Top Women Entrepreneurs of 2007 ( henderson bas was acquired by MDC Partners in 2004).

Finally, we cannot forget the many women who are also starting part-time businesses from their homes as they raise their children. "Netrepreneurs" like Joanna Bilmes of Chicago, IL have used ebay to build solid secondary incomes for their households, turning one person's trash into another's treasure. Others, like Diana Kates of San Francisco, California, have used their family baking skills to entice the taste buds of full cities.

Although they come in many different form, there is one overriding theme which can be stated about female entrepreneurs: they are a growing force, and they are here to stay!