What's a girl to do? Go into business

When you look at those Sex And the City vixens on our screens, spreading success, style and self-confidence with every flick of their extremely well-tended hair, it’s difficult to believe that it wasn’t so long ago that women had legal restrictions on them as to how fully they could participate in aspects of life many women take for granted today.

In the UK, women were not formally allowed to study until 1876. Although they could vote in local elections since 1869, they could not cast their vote on national issues until 1928. And that’s in my grandmother’s lifetime.

Jump forward a tad over half century, and it’s common for women to be working, but very few are among the management ranks. In the 80s, women who worked from 9-5 were “just a rung on the boss man’s ladder,” according to country crooner Dolly Parton, who sadly felt she had to go to large, surgical lengths to “move ahead”.

Fortunately, women can now be the master of every aspect of their own lives. They are no longer merely sock-darning extraordinaires, objects of desire to cater to men’s fancies, or breeding machines. In fact, many women now choose to swap baby bibs for BlackBerries. Choice is a wonderful luxury. Women can choose not to be mothers – or to remain ‘childfree’ as some of the campaigners for this lifestyle choice - and against its associated social stigma - call it. It is also more socially-acceptable now for women to have children at a later age while they use their former years building foundations for successful careers. It is also increasingly common for families to utilise child care and ‘daddy day care’ systems while women go back to work.

Women have proven their prowess within the upper echelons of business, with 15 women reigning from on high as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies such as PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Sara Lee, Xerox, and Avon. More and more women are now choosing to move into self-employment, to allow them to spend as much or as little time on their business as they wish, through starting up their own businesses, or adopting a franchise model. Whether you’re a mum looking for a part-time business opportunity, or a young woman who’s fresh out sixth form and looking at her options – the sky’s the limit, regardless of how high your heels are.

Just one more thing – I performed a Google search for the purposes of this article. My search was for: history of businesswomen UK. And do you know what Mr Google turned up?

"Did you mean: history of businessmen uk?"

Now, I don’t know about you, but I would take that as a challenge. Go out and prove him wrong, girls. Carve your own success story in business.