More women are opening their own businesses

Posted 8:12AM on Monday 18th March 2002 ( 23 years ago )

YORK, Pa. - With about 13 years experience in the accounting business at the time, Beth Lutz and two of her friends decided to start a knitting shop 2½ years ago. Lutz, Kathy Yost and Karen Stabley own Uncommon Threads on Beaver Street in York. Business is good. The shop provides an outlet for their shared interest and a second job to keep them busy -- Yost is a respiratory therapist and Stabley is an art therapist. More women are owning their own business. In 1997, more than 5 million women-owned businesses operated in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau also reported that: In 1997, women-owned businesses generated $819 billion in revenues; the poverty rate among single mothers declined in 2000 from the previous year; and in 2000, women closed the gap in higher education. More women are receiving an education and are in the workplace than in past years, but some still fight to be recognized. None of the Uncommon Threads owners experienced gender-based discrimination in the work force because they were women, they said. "When I started working in the hospital setting, all of the top positions were held by men," Yost said. "It definitely has changed. I think women have gained confidence." Lutz said if women want to start a business, confidence is key. After the shop opened, Lutz needed a more flexible schedule than a structured office management position. So she left the stability of a good job with benefits to create Abacus Accounting & Tax Services. It was frightening, but she's happier now, Lutz said. In 2000, 24 percent of women age 25 and older held bachelor's degrees compared to 17.6 percent in 1990. The enrollment breakdown at Penn State York does not reflect that of the country, said Registrar Frank Miller, but the women who are enrolled are seeking higher degrees. Of the 941 women enrolled in 2001, 319 were seeking a bachelor's degree compared to 221 in 1991, a 44 percent increase. For the graduate degree program, 176 women were enrolled in 2001 compared to 131 a decade earlier. During the same time, women were less interested in non-degree programs with 201 registered for fall of 2001 compared to 320 for the fall of 1991. Women concentrate their studies in the areas of business, education and liberal arts, Miller said. Though their numbers aren't as strong as the men's in science, engineering and technology, more women are interested in those fields than previous years, Miller said. For women in the professional sector, prospects for employment and advancement are more prevalent, said Lori Ginzberg, Associate Professor of History and Women's Studies at Penn State in State College. Regardless, many things have not changed in 150 years, she said. For women in an industrial area, Ginzberg said, they could protect their well-being by keeping their jobs and joining or forming unions to address their concerns. "In general, a woman's ability to take her children, leave a man and not starve is better than 100 years ago," she said. "But that's not the standard we want to live by." In 2000, the poverty rate for single-mom families fell to a record low 24.7 percent compared to 27.8 percent in 1999. When Dick Boyd, co-chairman of the Central Management Labor Council, started his first job in 1947, women primarily sat behind desks, took notes or got coffee. Now, more women have upper management positions, but some men haven't changed their attitudes. "They are still questioned more than some man would be in a position of authority," Boyd said.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/3/197267