Incorporating Women: A History of Women and Business in the United States

Citation

Fountaine, S. (2005), "Incorporating Women: A History of Women and Business in the United States", Women in Management Review, Vol. 20 No. 7, pp. 527-530. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649420510624765

The myths of rationalization and corporate hegemony – which suggest that the business world is devoid of emotion and people, that power lies only in the hands of corporate leaders, and that business development occurs in a political vacuum – are turned on their head in Angel Kwolek‐Folland's fascinating historical account of the role women have played in business in the United States since the 1550s. Her book demonstrates the diversity of women's business activities, in their varying roles of entrepreneur, family member, professional and worker. The cultural influences on women's experiences, which have affected their ability to engage in business activity, are explored alongside stories of women in specific industries ranging from religion to sex and rodeo.

The Business History Association's acknowledgment that work in this area “usually assumes white, male, and middle class as the neutral and – for the most part – uninterrogated standard” (p. 3) frames the book's introduction, which briefly maps the territory on power and difference, and addresses the need to redefine business concepts such as success and innovation. Importantly, Kwolek‐Folland notes that women as a group have in common “the experience of structural inequities and institutionalized discriminations” but are also “divided among themselves by social realities of race, class, and ethnicity” (p. 11). Throughout the book, she uses women, from a range of cultural and class backgrounds, as examples and takes care to explore the different legal and social realities of American women of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. In preindustrial America, for example, the range of laws, customs and beliefs in various regions meant that women of different races, ethnicities and class had quite different experiences of business depending on their location. This is a strength of the book, although to some extent, Kwolek‐Folland sacrifices depth to include this range of observations.

The book proceeds with a consistent approach within subsequent chapters (based around loosely defined eras), which involves setting out the legal and economic environment of the time and then exploring the impact of the legal and social conditions on women's business opportunities. The chapters are broken into the following eras: preindustrial America (1550‐1830); the first industrial revolution (1830‐1880); a corporate world (1880‐1930); mid‐century (1930‐1963); and 1963‐2000, a period which is not labelled but which Kwolek‐Folland sees as characterised by “the renewal of the businesswoman.”

The notion of the “family claim”, a concept borrowed from Rosalind Rosenberg to describe legal, economic and social definitions of women as family members, is introduced in Chapter 1 and runs throughout the book. It provides a useful narrative theme through the eras, which is at times necessary given that the business focus of the book is diluted by the very wide range of examples. Although interesting, there may have been better illustrations of women in business than Amelia Earhart, Billie Jean King and Lucille Ball, who first and foremost made names for themselves in sports and the arts. A book which at least partly focuses on what we do not know about women's involvement in business over time, could usefully have introduced us to more “unsung heroines”.

In Chapter 2, on preindustrial America, it is noted that women's business activities were predominantly the result of, and focused upon, family needs rather than motivated by the desire for personal autonomy and fulfilment. Kwolek‐Folland sums up this era: “colonial businesswomen at all levels operated in a cultural and legal climate that first disadvantaged them and then allowed them to make the most of their disadvantages” (p. 45). The family claim reappears in Chapter 3 which covers the years of industrialisation. While women such as Rebecca Luken were able to own and successfully run a business (in her case, an ironworks mill for 22 years), the family connection remained important for validating women's actions: “women could engage in virtually any business concern if their connections and justifications were familial or domestic” (p. 83). For less privileged women, though, with fewer skills and less useful family connections, the commercialisation of prostitution presented other avenues for business activity.

Kwolek‐Folland's third era spans the shift between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a time when – for Americans entering the “modern age” – everything appeared possible. There was a noteable increase in literacy which, accompanied by the end of slavery, opened up new job opportunities for many women, in occupations such as typing and social work. Further, there were high profile individual successes for women in this era, such as Maggie Lena Mitchell Walker, an African American who became the first female bank President in the United States, and “more profound growth in women's waged labor than any previous time” (p. 127). Some women, for the first time, had a choice about whether to marry. However, the growth of big business and professionalism also marked a shift to the “gendering” of particular occupations (for example, teaching and nursing) so even as these new avenues opened, others (particularly medicine and law) were blocked. This pattern has remained influential until this day. In addition, Kwolek‐Folland points out that while “Women developed a managerial role for themselves…it was a role justified and shaped by domesticity” (p. 127).

Chapter 5, on the mid‐century, tells how the depression, World War II and the cold war shaped an environment of gender conservatism, strengthened the role of females as consumers, and “regrounded women's economic contribution within the family” (p. 130). In addition, women's legal status made little progress during this period (for example, court rulings reaffirmed that women were dependents of men and in some states, laws continued to deny women equal status with men for jury duty) even as demographic data signalled a new reality – the decline of the fertility rate. For the most part, women's business ventures occurred in “sex‐typed industries and positions … None of these efforts marked radical departures from the situation of the previous 100 years” (p. 166).

Kwolek‐Folland's final era looks at the years 1963‐2000, a period marked by the visible increase of women in business, and the notion of gender difference in the workplace. The sixth Chapter discusses media attention to highly successful career women, characterised by the idea that females' involvement in the world of business was an “unprecedented development” (p. 168), and also notes the increase in scholarly interest in women's business and history. A paradox emerges in this era, centred on the issue of gender difference and its influence on behaviour and in the workplace. Further, the book suggests that since the 1980s, public debate about business women has typically been marked by an emphasis on women as mothers and female sexuality. At this point, Kwolek‐Folland also draws on work by historian Joan Hoff who in 1991 claimed that American women's legal status had “changed more rapidly in the last twenty‐five years than in the previous two hundred” (p. 173). Racial and gender inequities, however, remain resistant to change (perhaps because management tends to regard these problems as personal rather than structural), and the family claim is still present: “Notions of women's difference from men were used to both support and negate their managerial abilities. Although this difference could open up opportunities for women – and historically had done so – it also tied those opportunities to the apron strings of the family claim” (p. 206).

In practical terms, some readers may not find the book especially user‐friendly. In particular, the tables are not well presented (in at least one instance, spread across two pages), and the research is not as extensively and transparently referenced as academics in other disciplines might expect. At times, some of the author's statements are too sweeping to be made without reference to specific back‐up material. The bibliographic essay would be useful to researchers working in the area, but is less helpful to readers seeking the source of a particular piece of information. Of course, the book is also targeted at a general readership (for whom extensive footnoting or referencing can be distracting) and is certainly written in an accessible and engaging way.

Clearly, the book is written for a predominantly American readership but in documenting one nation's history, it is likely to encourage other readers to reflect on the business experiences of women in their own countries, and globally. Further, the book leaves room for subsequent and more in‐depth work on the experiences of American women of different class and race. Kwolek‐Folland, whose aim in writing the book was to “bring into a dialogue the two important fields of women's and business history” (p. 10), and who displays a respect for her subjects' resourcefulness and achievements, is sure to welcome such developments.

Finally, by exposing the political and historical roots of modern business, the book leaves readers pondering the question of women's progress. Unlike popular discourse around women in business, Kwolek‐Folland does not simply document a slow liberation from gender restrictions but notes a more circuitous route (for example, women in preindustrial America were able to take on business roles which disappeared or changed drastically after the 1830s). And, even now, “women's work and entrepreneurial activities continue to be defined by the family claim that has shaped women's business role since the seventeenth century” (p. 210). By putting modern business into perspective, Incorporating Women reminds us that organisations remain important sites of gender struggle while still allowing us to recognise and celebrate the many and varied achievements of business women in America.