Females impact the Tri-parish business scene

There was a day when the idea of a woman working outside the home was unheard of n anywhere.

Even by the middle of the 20th century women who had actual careers n including waitresses and store clerks n were commonly viewed either as oddities, daughters who inherited businesses from their late daddies, targets of pity because they did not have a man to completely take care of them financially, or, if part of a two-income household, of a lesser social status in most middle-class communities.

By 1971, Helen Reddy was singing “I am Woman” and the feminist movement was demanding equality in the workplace as well as everyplace else.

In turn, women across America said they wanted more career selection than being teachers, nurses or office assistants in business settings.

A decade later, women were emerging from the secretarial pool and gaining a foothold as lawyers, bankers and middle managers.

About that time another phrase entered the American vernacular. It was called the glass ceiling, and although women in business were making in-roads, they were still controlled in corporate circles by suspicious decisions made among the boys upstairs that left the girls unable to advance above a given professional level.

By the late 1980s, women had increased entry into executive positions, but far too often they were depicted as being either a symbol of tokenism to prevent discrimination lawsuits, or assumed as all having the interpersonal skills of real estate tycoon n nicknamed “Queen of Mean” n Leona Helmsley. She was the image of a tough corporate woman of the time who was known for proclaiming that, “Only the little people pay taxes.” Helmsley was also convicted of federal income tax evasion in 1989.

Attitudes in society changed significantly during the high-tech boom of the 1990s as more women either advanced in existing corporations or set out on their own as entrepreneurs.

By 1999, eBay CEO Meg Whitman demonstrated how women could have a grasp of complicated technological matters and prove capable of innovative marketing and money making concepts.

According to a survey sponsored by Ernst and Young, and reported by Fortune Magazine, women held 14.4 percent of executive office positions among Fortune 500 companies and represented 7.6 percent of top earner positions in 2010.

During both 2009 and 2010, more than 75 percent of companies listed had at least one woman executive officer.

While the level of female representation at top career positions might still seem small, keep in mind that the percentage of female business managers among U.S. corporations climbed from 18 percent in 1972 to 45 percent in 2000, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Today, it is almost as likely to find a woman at the top as a man, and in most circles a feminine name on the office directory is no longer a surprise.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that female-owned businesses, which now account for 16 percent of all American places of employment, will be creating approximately 33 percent n an estimated 5 million n of all new jobs by 2018.

In the Tri-parish region women in business are nothing new anymore, and those leading businesses have become more common in south Louisiana than many other parts of the nation.

From economic development and promotional information careers, to environmental concerns and real estate, legal representation and financial institutions, to offshore oilfield services and commercial fishing, women of the region have gained increased influence to the degree that it now is difficult to list where the influence of a woman has not been experienced.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010, more than 51 percent of the newly established businesses were either women-owned or majority-owned by women. Rather than being the exception, women at business meetings, luncheons and dinners have become common in numbers and influence.

Gentlemen, the simple fact is that the ladies are now one of the guys.