ABOUT THIS BOOK

In the years after World War II, as women were being pushed from wartime jobs for returning soldiers, government and business leaders – and women themselves – saw small business ownership as a viable economic solution. In just five years, US women owned nearly a million of the nation’s businesses. In the decades since, women have moved increasingly into business ownership, often outpacing male start-ups so that today, they own more than 14 million businesses, 40% of all US companies.

She’s the Boss chronicles the forces that made entrepreneurship attractive to women. In rich detail, Debra Michals shares the stories of the countless women of all races, ethnicities, genders, and abilities who contributed to this important history. The book also explores the intersection of women’s personal choices within changing social, political, and economic factors, such as the rising divorce rates of the 1960s and 1970s, ongoing workplace and credit discrimination; civil and women’s rights activism and activist entrepreneurs, the 1970s recession and 1980s “Reagan Revolution,” and more recently, the internet, crowd-funding, and social entrepreneurship.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

DEBRA MICHALS is an associate professor of women’s and gender studies and chair of the Humanities Department at Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts.

REVIEWS

"She's the Boss chronicles the history of U.S. women's entrepreneurship across the decades following World War II, emphasizing the distinct social, cultural, and political moments that led to the growth of female founders. By highlighting examples of successful women entrepreneurs in each decade starting in the 1940s, Michals brilliantly captures the voices, accomplishments, and challenges of founders who are often missing from entrepreneurship and business history. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of women's entrepreneurship in the U.S. and understanding the current state of the field as women founders continue to strive for recognition and success."— Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, founder and director, Venture Capital Inclusion Lab at Brown University's Nelson Center for Entrepre

"From home-based businesses to multi-million-dollar firms, this compelling history shows how some women in the mid-twentieth century opted out of discrimination and glass ceilings to combine work and family, make an income, and express creativity by becoming their own boss. Attentive to women of color and lesbians, with an eye on exemplary biographies and shifting political economy, Debra Michals explores the possibilities and limits of small business, including feminist and civil rights enterprises, under capitalism."— Eileen Boris, author of Home to Work: Motherhood and The Politics of Industrial Homework in the United States

"Intermixing deep archival research with vivid anecdotes of women's lives, She's the Boss elegantly captures the persistence and complexity of American women's business ownership in the postwar era. Michals keenly traces variations by race, family, marital status, and social climate to show how much changed over those years for female entrepreneurs. Smoothly written and clearly organized, She's the Boss is a signal accomplishment in women's and business history."— Roger Horowitz, director, Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society at the Hagley Museum and Libra

"Michals offers a lively account that reshapes our understanding of women, business, and twentieth-century America. She’s the Boss examines an astonishing range of female-owned businesses—mail-order houses, frozen food suppliers, beauty salons, feminist credit unions, soul food restaurants, and more—enterprises that flourished despite stubborn gender ideologies and persistent discrimination. Indeed, Michals shows, business ownership provided women with a viable alternative to a labor market that continually refused to accommodate them. A must-read for anyone curious as to why women account for more than 40 percent of America's business owners today."— Wendy Gamber, author of The Female Economy: The Millinery and Dressmaking Trades, 1860–1930

"In less than half a century, women have gone from owning 7 percent of all businesses in the U.S. to nearly half of them. How? Debra Michals has gifted scholars with an illuminating, deeply researched, and much-needed history to explain this remarkable but still overlooked transformation."— Joshua Clark Davis, author of From Head Shops to Whole Foods: The Rise and Fall of Activist Entrepreneurs

"This terrific and timely book not only tells the history of women's entrepreneurship since World War II in all its breadth and diversity but also makes you think 'Gee, maybe I should start my own business.' If so, you will be in excellent company."— Susan Ware, author of Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote

TABLE OF CONTENTS