A local magazine recently spotlighted successful business women of the past.  As striking as their talents was the unusual nature of their status as businesswomen.  These women bought, sold, managed and grew businesses in an era when a woman could not (in most circumstances) hold any legal ownership interest.  When many 18th and 19th century woman put their skills and talents to use running taverns, boardinghouses and the like, they required a man to formally "front" the business - often, a husband or father.  Only if a husband died could the widow attain status as the legal owner. 

In revolt to the strictures of a system where a woman could do the work, so long as she did not benefit from it, came waves of "revolution."  In more recent years, women donned suits, tossed femininity and mothering roles aside and strode up the corporate ladder - when they didn't bump into glass ceilings, that is.  My own conversations with many older "sisters" reveal the bitterness of such a route.  A woman could be as successful as a businessman, but was it really satisfying if she ignored her uniqueness as a woman to do so?  In my particular field, I know female lawyers who built a career at the cost of their homes.  Chatting with these women, you can see the pangs of regret before they voice their disappointment.  Sharing how she went back to work mere hours after childbirth, one woman raised and answered the question "was it worth it?... no."

Today, bright and talented women own a variety of businesses and yet often want to ensure they pay equal attention to their friends, children, husbands, parents and volunteer work.  I thoroughly enjoy talking with other women who own or manage a business  and notice a trend to embrace their status as businesswomen.  Kudos to these women!  (a mix of clients, friends, vendors and casual acquaintances)

It makes me smile to think of the description of a successful businesswoman penned more than three thousand years ago fresh today... a businesswoman who buys & sells, runs a lucrative business while "looking well to the needs of her household."  Such a woman deserves great praise!