Women Who Mean Business: Success Stories of Women Over Forty

No area of women's lives better reveals the astonishing changes of the past 30 years than their working lives. Sixty million women--46% of all workers--are now in the U.S. labor market (double the number in 1970). Through a series of more than 70 interviews with accomplished women in their 40s and 50s, Mikaelian documents the lives behind those numbers. She reveals the responses of an impressively diverse group of women (ranging from the CEO of the Georgia Lottery Corporation to a v-p and general counsel at Harley Davidson Inc., to an owner of a pottery business) to basic questions about ""mentors and influences,"" ""greatest obstacles"" and ""advice to aspiring business women."" Short biographies attached to the interviews allow each woman to elaborate more fully the story of her struggle to be successful. Among the all-too-familiar obstacles that women face in the workplace: sexual harassment, the glass ceiling, the wage gap and balancing work and family. A surprising number of women also claim that their most formidable struggle is with self-doubt. Relentlessly upbeat, the triumphal ""I will survive"" tone of these exemplary stories may be laudable and make for feel-good reading, but it fails to illuminate the grittier reality of systemic sexism in the workplace. Still, readers who are admirers of tenacity and entrepreneurial spirit, and women (or men) of any age looking for pragmatic strategies to cope with workplace challenges, changes and sexism, will find this book amply rewarding. (July)