Abstract
A growing number of women are coming out of the business roles that they have traditionally occupied, such as retail, sales and services positions, and are instead entering positions of higher authority. In the past few decades there has been a steady increase in the number of women business executives and owners. The purpose of this study is to investigate women who own businesses, and to find out what problems they have encountered in both their previous and present employment, to find out if it is a response to difficulties in the workplace. This study is important because many women have wanted to go into business for themselves but have found it difficult due to several factors, such as gender stereotyping. This may be a reason for women staying in their traditional roles as secretaries and employees, and not taking the initiative to rise to higher roles of authority. Has there been any past discrimination against women in business? If there has been, does this discrimination explain why women are taking the risks of self employment? This study examines women-owned businesses to find out who these women are, and what their experiences include, to determine whether the literature explains a relationship between past discrimination and present entrepreneurial risk taking.
Advisor
Meyer, Eric
Department
Sociology and Anthropology
Recommended Citation
Pease, Katrina W., "Women Owned Businesses: a Thesis Concerning Women in Businesses and the Motivations Behind Owning Their Own Businesses" (1995). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 6296.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/6296
Publication Date
1995
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 1995 Katrina W. Pease