1/07/2012 11:48:00 PM -
Heritage of Words,Women’s Business
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Heritage of Words - Women’s Business
11. Women’s Business
Women’s Business is an essay written by Ilene
Kantrov. In this essay, the writer presents the entrepreneurship of some women
from USA,
and their entry into the so-called male world of business. The women were not
only the businesswomen. However, they helped the problem facing women by
educating them as well as helping them solve their problems. Some of them
contributed lavishly to hospitals, schools, and cultural organizations. These
women tried to transform the home craft into a thriving business. Women’s business
grew out of traditional women’s skill and provided for the needs mostly of
women. Lydia E. Pinkham was
the pioneer of the women business in USA.
The
first women entrepreneurship of USA Lydia E. Pinkham started business to
provide support to her family when her husband’s real estate business
collapsed. She was a radical feminist and wanted to help the females rather
than the males. Within two three years her company earned $200,000. She had
launched a home remedy product called ‘Lydia E. Pinkham’s vegetables compound’
for all weakness of women. Her bold marketing strategies made her success in
her business. She advertised her product herself creating the image of a gentle
and kind woman who appealed to fellow women ‘to feel good’ and to improve the
quality of their lives. In her advertisement she claimed that her medicine is
the ‘greatest remedy of the world’. Thus, her customers were convinced that she
was selling more than a product. Her ‘Department of Advise’ dispensed
suggestions for all kinds of feminine problems (about diet, exercise and
hygiene) along with prescribing her own remedies. She proclaimed herself as the
“Savior of her sex.” Thus, she created history in America’s business. Many women
later followed in her footsteps.
Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden were the rivals. They sold cosmetics. They were
also married to rich and famous aristocrats from Europe.
Margaret Rudkin began to sell
additive-free wheat bread (healthy foods) that she first used to help her
asthmatic son. Similarly, Jennie
Grossinger owned a successful resort hotel that began serving 150,000 guests
a year. Gertrude Muller, on the
other hand, sold things to help people look after their babies, such as ‘toidey
seats’. She put small books explaining her ideas about child raising in the
packages of the things she sold. In the field of business, black women also
showed their entrepreneurship. Annie
Turnbo-Malone was a black American. She established a school for training
for hairdressing, named it ‘Poro
College’, and advertised
it as a vehicle for the uplift of her race (blacks) and a passport to economic
independence for women.
Thus,
the thesis of this essay is that business women in the USA, from the
later part of nineteenth century, tried to help women as well as to make money
by selling things to them. Often, their methods of helping women, for example,
through giving advices, helped them to sell more products. Sometimes, when
feminine ideals collided with the realities of the market place, however, the
businesswomen often bested the lady.
1 comments:
was helena rival of lydia?
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