How Feminist Businesses of The Past Can Help Us With The Future – Center for Women & Enterprise

How Feminist Businesses of The Past Can Help Us With The Future –

Lunch ‘n Learn with the Center for Women and Enterprise

Tickets available at the Center for Women and Enterprise

Back in the late 60’s, when women entrepreneurs began to emerge, the idea of a “women’s business” was still uncommon. Some women did own businesses, of course, but women weren’t supposed to own businesses, much less run them or start them. Women’s businesses were rare. Outliers. Radical, even.

Women in the late 60s had important reasons for starting businesses. They were seeking not only financial independence but also political, social, and personal agency. They were trying to create businesses that would make profits and sustain livelihoods because they changed our culture.

To cap off Women’s (Business) History Month, we’ll use this “lunch and learn” session to explore the goals and challenges of culture-making, feminist businesses of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. We’ll consider not only the conventional challenges they faced as new businesses with new kinds of customers and products, but also the unique challenges they faced because they were led by women and for women. I’ll focus on three types of businesses — feminist bookstores, feminist music companies, and feminist toy stores — and describe how their approaches to doing business aimed to create both financial sustainability and social change at the same time.

We’ll use a simple Business Identity Framework to assess who these businesses were and what they stood for. Then, I’ll delve into three areas where these businesses struggled— and sometimes triumphed— to make real change: through their products, their missions, and their connections with their communities.

Participants are invited to bring their questions about women’s business history and especially questions about feminist businesses. You’ll be encouraged to think about whether and how the challenges these businesses faced are similar to what women’s enterprises are facing today. We’ll consider what lessons and insights we might take forward into our own work to be successful financially and as agents of cultural change. For folks who want to continue learning on their own, I’ll share some feminist business history resources.