Women in exporting - Business America examines the growing role of women in the field of international business

Business America, Feb 18, 1985

Women in Exporting

In interviews with businesswomen around the country, we found a diversity of views on female participation in the still overwhelmingly male-dominated business worlds of the United States and other countries, but we also found some common threads that recurred in our conversations on which to base some judgments on the role of women in exporting.

Most of the women Business America talked with have been involved in exporting for a relatively short period of time. This is in part due to the fact that only recently have greater numbers of women begun starting up or runing their own businesses. As the number of women entrepreneurs increases, and their businesses flourish, many are considering exporting to further expand their businesses.

One interviewee expressed a need for more federal and state outreach programs to help women become aware of the international marketplace and how to enter it. The Department of Commerce and other government agencies such as the Small Business Administration are trying to develop more of these kinds of programs.

Since the beginning of 1983, the Commerce Department's Office of Service Industries has cosponsored with the Office of Business Liaison, the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service Domestic Offices, and private organizations, a series of export seminars and workshops on services and individual service industries. Several of these workshops were done specifically for women's organizations.

Some of the services offered by the Commerce Department to assist women business owners were explained during a Jan. 31 program held for two women's associations. The program is described on p. 16. An upcoming Women's Trade Mission, cosponsored by the National Association of Women Business Owners and the Small Business Administration, is discussed on p. 15.

Many of the women feel that a pattern of bias still exists in this country that requires them to overcome more hurdles than men on the path to success in exporting, as well as other aspects of business. Some women singled out financing as an area in which they have to work harder and be more persistent than men.

When Janel Landon was starting her travel management company in Chicago in 1977 (see p. 15), she tried to open a commercial account and was turned down by three banks. "They (the banks) said they didn't want to waste time doing the paper work since they didn't expect the business to last,' recounted Landon. Landon did finally open a commercial account with a fourth bank and managed to obtain a loan. Now her company, Travelbound, Ltd., is prospering.

Despite the biases observed, there was nearunanimity among the women that America presents much more opportunity and freedom for women in business than virtually any other country in the world. American women may experience a kind of "culture shock' in certain countries where their counterparts are accorded less respect in the business sector. Women who are planning to do business in these countries need to be willing to adapt their business practices to the special requirements of each country.

Several countries were cited as being especially difficult markets for women to do business in. Saudi Arabia was perhaps mentioned most frequently as a country in which the conduct of business is regarded as a male privilege. Women doing business in Saudi Arabia and most of the other Middle Eastern countries had to arrange for men to handle direct negotiations with Arab businessmen.

Many women reported encountering difficulties in doing business in Japan, where they found the regard for women in business to be many years behind the United States. One woman said that the Japanese are still back in the 1950s as far as their acceptance of women in business.

Betty Neuhart, who is Director of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service's San Francisco District Office and is that organization's Pacific Regional Director (see p. 19), has encountered numerous examples of discrimination in her business travels abroad, particularly in Egypt, Jamaica, and Singapore. "There is a definite advantage to being a representative of the U.S. Government, however, as opposed to a private sector businesswoman,' remarked Neuhart. "Businessmen and government officials in other countries are not as likely to slight a female U.S. Government official-- they have the impression that all U.S. Government representatives are high-level, important people.'

For the most part, the businesswomen we talked with have overcome the obstacles encountered in certain countries or simply done an end run around them by focusing on more receptive markets. They reported personal success and fulfillment in their work and encouraged other women to join them by becoming participants in one of the key factors in maintaining and strengthening American economic prosperity--exporting.

We hope that the experiences and opinions voiced by the women exporters on the following pages will serve as an inspiration to others who may be considering exporting to expand their business.