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Utah women win national acclaim

Published in Deseret Morning News

By Jenifer K. Nii

Of the five National Leadership Awards handed down by the National Association of Women Business Owners earlier this month, two went to Utah women.

And for the second year in a row, the national Center for Women's Business Research in its latest study named the Salt Lake-Ogden region the nation's top metropolitan area for percentage growth in women-owned businesses. More Utah women are working, and working for themselves, than ever before, according to advocates here. They're making a name for themselves on the national and international playing field.

But, they say, there is still much to be done.
"I think the statistics show that Utah is doing a fine job in providing a climate that allows women business owners to feel that they can branch out and begin their own businesses and maintain them over time," said Cindy Collins, president of the National Association of Women Business Owners' Salt Lake chapter. "But I don't think we should ever get complacent, because I think there's still a lot of literature that says that glass ceilings still exist and that we can always do better."

NAWBO's Salt Lake group has had a big month as two of its member-officers were recognized at the organization's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Janet Kay Hemming, owner of JKH Associates, received the BridgeBuilder Award for her ability to build alliances and coalitions. And Kathleen Reddy, co-owner of corporate communication firm McKinnon-Mulherin Inc., received the organization's Unsung Hero Award, which recognizes entrepreneurs who "are critical to the growth and health of an organization but may not always be visible."

"I applaud Kathleen Reddy and Janet Kay Hemming for their leadership and success in their businesses," said Gayle Watson, NAWBO president and president of Performance Solutions in Dallas. "These awards demonstrate the receptive climate of women-owned businesses in Utah, with more than 102,195 women-owned firms in the state."

What makes the state's business climate so "receptive" to women business owners? Hemming, who started her own public relations firm in 1996, said the answer is . . . tentacled. "We keep asking the question," she said. "We could talk about everything from our pioneer heritage to a critical and combustive mass of exceptional women. We could talk about our tax structure, our environment and living conditions. I think these are all factors that lend themselves to this kind of growth. "But part of it might also be necessity. Let's be realistic. We do have larger families here. And the idea of one breadwinner in the home is, I guess you'd say, getting harder and harder to do. There are more families headed by single parents. Single moms. And to their credit, many single moms are taking initiative and starting their own businesses."

Ze Min Xiao, assistant director of the Women's Business Center at the Salt Lake Chamber, said the notion of "workplace flexibility" is also gaining traction. "There are so many qualified woman workers in this state," she said. "In order to maintain the flexibility needed—and to make extra money—many start their own businesses."

The desire for workplace flexibility—a concept that can include flexible scheduling, child and elder care and a greater emphasis on physical and psychological wellness—isn't exclusive to women or Utah, according to Xiao. But the state's reputation for its focus on family does "match up" with economic statistics related to women in the workplace, she said.

Reddy, who owns McKinnon-Mulherin with Shauna Bona, provided a perspective that is at once straightforward but that also may hint at something more complicated. "I don't know that I am entrepreneurial by nature, but I suppose I do like to have a say in things," Reddy said. "I think Shauna and I felt that we could take what we knew and what we had learned at various companies and develop something new and better. For our vision to work and to do it the way we thought best, we had to do it ourselves . . . ." "I think there are a lot of women-owned businesses here and across the country because women want a chance to be in charge, to put their vision to work and to reshape the work world."

The July 23 issue of The Economist magazine, in a special report on women in business, posed some questions that may be just below the surface of that notion: "Why is it proving so difficult for women to reach the top of corporations? Are they simply less ambitious, less excited by the idea of limitless (albeit first-class) travel, late nights and the onerous responsibility imposed by mounting regulation?"

The Economist said the American businesswomen it surveyed "gave three main explanations why so few of them reach ‘C-level’—that group of executives who preface their titles with the word ‘chief.’" The women said they are excluded from informal networks—the round of golf or pick-up game, the boozy late nights at a club—in which much business is still conducted. Second, the magazine said respondents pointed to "a pervasive stereotyping of women's capacity for leadership." And third was a lack of role models for up-and-coming female executives. Which may be the key components of the long-bemoaned "glass ceiling"—and evidence that it remains. Xiao said there are indications the ceiling is unbroken in Utah. "Somehow, there's a ceiling preventing them from moving up," Xiao said. "We don't have as many corporations headquartered in Salt Lake as we'd like. So maybe for people to continue to move up in their careers, it's hard to find the positions, or to find the pay that matches their qualifications. "Studies have shown that the Salt Lake International Airport has more female travelers than male. One reason, we think, is that there are more women-owned businesses conducting their business out-of-state." Specific fixes are hard to pinpoint. Quick ones even harder. However, Reddy and others say there's evidence the ceiling may be cracking.

"Is the climate different? Not as much now as it was when I moved here in 1987," she said. "My jaw used to drop open at some of the things that were said to me by my bosses and by my co-workers. That's not to say that there isn't a lot of sexism in business everywhere, but I do think it is getting better across the country and in Utah. Utah still has a way to go to be really accepting of women in business, I think, but some great progress is being made." Hemming agreed but said Utah still has a way to go. "I'd still like to see more women on corporate boards," she said. "I'd like to see another woman governor. I'd like to see more women in decision-making positions in the Legislature and at civic and nonprofit organizations. I think we've made headway, but I don't think that we can be satisfied with where we are. We haven't hit the pinnacle yet. Not by a long shot." Entrepreneurship could be part of the answer, according to Collins. "In those places where women are being kept out of male-dominated board rooms, they're making a conscious decision to exercise their entrepreneurial (instincts)," she said. "They start their own board room. Then they become competitive, and then they really do get to a point where they have to be reckoned with."

Collins said she's seeing the sands begin to shift. "We're seeing major institutions—financial, education and service organizations—focusing on encouraging young women," she said. "NAWBO is working with the University of Utah School of Business to try to develop programs where we can provide mentoring opportunities for women at the MBA level. We're planning seminars and networking activities designed to bring the business community into the higher learning community so we can actually develop the future entrepreneur while she is still young and getting her education. So she sees what the business community has to offer, so she can go on, in turn, to positively impact her community. "There's a spirit among women that says, ‘Recognize me for what I can contribute to this company, or I can leave and go out on my own, because I have a concept I know will work.’ "The fact is, we're here. I think the opportunities have been provided to us by the women who have come before us, and we're taking advantage of them."