Whew!
Desire for Control
Entrepreneurs must be dedicated to self-employment. We desire independence and control over our professional lives. According to an article in the October/November 2000 issue of Ms. magazine, one-third of the 1.9 million women entrepreneurs in 1999 said they went into business for themselves because they were tired of the "glass ceiling" that made life climbing the corporate ladder so difficult. (Susan Jane Gilman, "Lunching with the Enemy.") Yes, women like me desire more control over our professional lives, and perhaps are not finding this control by working for corporate America. We want the independence that calling the shots gives us. Little did I realize that true independence comes at a cost, usually in the form of lower income, and daily work that often extends into the wee hours of the morning. But, and I say this with great pleasure, I can take a walk with my son and my dog in the afternoons. I can sleep a little later than any of my corporate friends (not that I do, but I could). I work in my living room, surrounded by plants, gentle music, and the occasional tug on my sleeve when my son needs some company. If I am experiencing a bout of writer's block, I step outside and poke around in my garden for twenty minutes to get the juices flowing. In winter, my son and I build a snowman or go sledding for a bit before I find my creativity returning.
Chaotic? Yes. Idyllic? Not really. But I also have some solitude, family, music, and a steaming cup of homemade capuccino at my side as I check my email in the mornings.
Refusal to Choose
In general, entrepreneurs have a great love of their work, and a bit of an independent streak. What makes women entrepreneurs so unique a subset of this already crazy world of entrepreneurialism are the reasons women choose self-employment in the first place. In my discussions with some of my acquaintances, the overwhelming response to the ultimate question—-Why do we torture ourselves with self-employment?—-was that we want to truly have both a career and a family life.
According the Statistics Canada report (1988), 70 percent of self-employed women have children. Consider this: The women's movement of the 60s and 70s made it possible for women to really begin to believe we can have both our work and our family in one life. Then the "super-moms" of the 80s found that the struggle to balance work and family was much more than just finding daycare. Now, those of us who watched our own super-moms have begun to question whether it's necessary to allow corporate America to force us to make a choice between work and family.
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