Female Business Leaders say Sexism is Still an Issue
Businesses run by women are growing in Florida, but many of the leaders say they do not get enough respect from men.
In a survey to be released this week, many female business leaders also said they have a harder time getting financing and they get fewer opportunities than men do.
The annual survey was done by the Kaufman Rossin accounting firm for The Commonwealth Institute South Florida, a mentoring and support organization for female leaders. Forty-three percent of respondents agreed with the statement: “Women have mentors who give advice; men have sponsors who offer opportunities.”
Among the results:
- Thirty-eight percent of the women surveyed said family responsibilities get in the way of work.
- Thirty-four percent said women who display leadership characteristics are seen as unfeminine.
- Thirty-three percent said it’s harder for women to get financing or investments.
- Thirty-one percent said women aren’t given as many opportunities as men for high-profile assignments.
Fourteen percent of the women said women’s obstacles are no different from men’s.
The survey was sent to 10,000 women in Florida. About 350, or just under 3.5 percent, responded, most of them from South Florida. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percent at a 95 percent confidence level, the institute said.
The results, along with ranking of the Top 50 Women-Led Businesses based on revenue, will be released Wednesday at an event in Miami.
The findings are consistent with other research in Florida and elsewhere.
“We’re not surprised. I wish we were,” said Brande Stellings, who works for Catalyst, a New York organization that works to expand opportunities for women in their careers and business. “I think it reflects the structures and reality when we look around at leadership and who are the decision-makers.”
Of the S&P 500 companies, only 20 are led by women, Stellings said. “There are comparable statistics for government and law firms as well.”
In a survey last fall by the Young Lawyers Division of the Florida Bar, 43 percent of more than 400 young female lawyers complained about harassment from opposing counsel, an employer or the court. They also complained about lower pay than male lawyers at the same level and about lack of advancement opportunities, especially when they had families.
Women in the Commonwealth Institute survey were allowed to add their own comments. Asked “what do you believe is the No. 1 issue facing women-led businesses in Florida,” 16 percent referred to an “old boys’ network.”
“Still an issue with it being a good old boy state,” one said. “Chauvinistic tendencies toward women,” another said. “Business world is still dominated by men, and women still have to work harder to gain respect,” one woman wrote.
Charles Caulkins, a Fort Lauderdale labor lawyer who chairs the Broward Workshop, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization of chief decision-makers, said he doesn’t believe Florida still has an “old boys’ club.”
“That’s bothersome that there’s that impression,” said Caulkins, when asked about the survey’s results.
He said law firms, companies and the Broward Workshop have worked to diversify leadership and membership. “We are very interested in increasing diversity with women and other minorities in our membership,” Caulkins said.
The Broward Workshop has 12 members who are women, out of 116 members.
The Commonwealth Institute survey comes at a time when women-led businesses are increasing in Florida. They are up 67 percent since 2007, especially those owned by black and Hispanic women, according to an American Express Open study based on 2012 census data
In interviews, several women who participated in the Commonwealth Institute survey shared their stories of succeeding despite what they called sexism in the business world.
Betsy McGee, president of ADI Metal in Fort Lauderdale, said men occasionally walk into her office and demand to see “the man in charge.”
McGee, 51, has been led ADI Metal since 2000. Her father saw her passion for the business and picked her to run the company. Within two years, when she still had small children, her father died, she was diagnosed with breast cancerand she went through a divorce.
Instead of backing down, she expanded her business by purchasing product from a nearby marine company and hiring the salespeople. Last year, ADI Metal posted more than $4 million in revenue.
McGee said she had to learn to trust her instincts. The metal and manufacturing industries are “very male-dominated fields. That can get intimidating,” she said.
It took her a while to adjust. “You make sure you know what you need to know so you don’t look like a fool. Sometimes, it’s very hard to be taken seriously,” she said.
Jennifer Cramer founded The Spice Lab in Pompano Beach and co-owns it with her husband, Brett. The business sells gourmet gifts of spices and teas online and in retail stores.
When Cramer and her husband are negotiating business, the men involved often “act like I’m not in the room,” she said. “They don’t treat you like you’re an equal.”
She said older men in general — co-workers, customers or vendors — treat her with less respect. She doesn’t have the same experience with younger men, she said.
The attitude “gets annoying. I work as hard as anyone else in this building,” she said.
What counts, Cramer said, is that she and her husband work well together, both as business partners and parents. They have two children: Charlotte, 9, and Robert, 6.
Balancing family with the business is hard, she said. The children spend time with her in the office when they were young. Now that they’re in school, Cramer’s sister helps care for them.
“If it weren’t for my sister, I would be in a much different place,” she said.
Meanwhile, The Spice Lab continues to expand. The company did about $16 million in revenue in 2015 and is getting ready to move into larger space in Pompano Beach.
Linda Watson, owner of food distributor Rainmaker in Oakland Park, said she has fought hard for her business since she took over in 2009.
“I don’t believe men give women a chance, and I don’t know why,” she said.
Watson, 60, is a coal miner’s daughter, the third of 10 children who grew up in West Virginia. As an adult, she didn’t shy away from the male-dominated industry of food manufacturing. “I always thought my work should stand for itself,” she said.
But bank after bank turned her down for loans, even though she had been working in the industry for more than a decade, she said. So she took out a home equity loan to get started.
Finally, Watson found financing through Mary Boutin, branch manager at BankUnited in Fort Lauderdale, who had noticed her company’s growing deposits and promised to help.
“Because of her, I am where I am,” Watson said.
In 2015, Rainmaker had revenues of $6.4 million. “Every year, I grow a little bit,” Watson said.
But Watson still has troubles getting some men to take her seriously.
One example: She placed a sizable order with a beef company and then asked for more — and they didn’t believe she could handle it.
“You have to prove yourself,” Watson said. So she did, by purchasing more and more from the company. “Now they’re very good to me,” she said.
Men “look at us in a different way until we can show them what we can do,” she said.
