More women create firms

When Jennifer Delaye started her own business in 1992, she had a difficult time obtaining financing from area bankers.

"I was young and a woman. No one wanted to talk to me. Everyone said I needed to establish credit, but no one would give me any," said Delaye, who has since-created one of the

Delaye's JDK Catering recorded $1.6 million in revenue last year and is expected to have $2 million in sales this year. The Lower Allen Township-based firm has 20 full-time and 25 part-time employees.

Delaye, 38, is one of an increasing number of women who own companies that generated a total of $80 billion in sales in Pennsylvania this year, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. A recent study by the Washington D.C.-based center shows the number of privately held, women-owned firms in Pennsylvania increased by 11.7 percent between 1997 and 2004. This year, there were an estimated 348,372 privately held firms in which women held majority ownership (50 percent or more). Those firms employed 631,591 people.

While Pennsylvania ranked eighth in the country in the number of women-owned firms in 2004, it placed 42nd in overall growth rate.

"What that means is that (Pennsylvania has) a large segment of healthy, women-owned firms that have been there for a while and are very successful," said Sharon Hadary, the center's executive director. "Women-owned firms are a large, important part of (Pennsylvania) economy."

Less populated states, such as Utah, have a much faster growth rate than Pennsylvania because women-owned firms are a newer phenomenon in rural areas of the country, Hadary said.

Several area chambers of commerce also reported an increase in the number of women-owned firms in the region.

Tom Donley president of the York County Chamber of Commerce, estimates that in his last 17 years at the chamber he has seen about 40 percent more womenowned or managed firms.

Donley attributed the increase to more educational opportunities and fewer societal constraints for women in the last few decades. Also, more women are choosing to work for financial reasons. "There's no limit to what women can do today," Donley said.

Harriet Faren, president of the Lebanon Valley Chamber of Commerce, said "I think women are proving the glass ceiling is not there any more."

Faren noted that, in addition to increasing in numbers, women entrepreneurs also are breaking traditional gender barriers.

"Women are not just babysitting or doing other 'women-centric' things," observed Faren. She pointed to Josephine Ames, president of the Annville-based Ames Services Ltd., a building-maintenance, grounds and cleaning service company.

Nationally, more women are starting nontraditional businesses in areas such as construction, transportation, communication, public utilities and agribusiness, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. The study showed the number of women-owned construction firms increased by 57 percent in 2004.

"More women are starting businesses because it's a place they can have control and use their creativity," said Betty Spence, president of the National Association for Female Executives. "Also, we've found many companies have become more family friendly because they don't want to lose their women employees."

Spence noted many women leave corporate America because they have hit a glass ceiling and decide they can be successful with their own business ideas.

Both Spence and Hadary said the biggest remaining obstacle for female business owners is a lack of access to capital. "For years women weren't taken seriously by banks. Now they are, but they're less likely to go after credit," Hadary said.

Women's lack of access to business markets and network contacts also can be problems, she said. In recent years, one of Delays biggest challenges has been running her business while parenting her four children, ages 4, 2 and 1-year-old twins.

"I used to work seven days a week, 20 hours a day. But when I had my first child I realized I couldn't do that anymore. I had to change my pace and rearrange my day. She said she considers being a stay-athome mom one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

"With females in general I always hear the same thing: 'It's like we're super people. We have all these balls in the air with family and jobs. If men had to do what we do, it wouldn't happen."'