Women find breadwinner role suits them well
Now in her 40s, Janna Ronert looks years younger than her age and takes home a paycheque that’s just as attractive. With a background in sales, Ronert has built a clinical skin-care business in West Palm Beach, Fla., that employs 150 people and rings up sales of more than $30 million. It is one of the largest women-led businesses in Florida.
Ronert is now part of what a new book calls The Richer Sex.
As women have become better educated, more entrepreneurial and more experienced, their earning power has risen. Today, nearly four in 10 working wives earn more than their husbands, an increase of more than 50 per cent from 20 years ago, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic figures. And, if present trends continue, the next generation of families will be supported by more women than men.
As female economic clout grows, “it’s interesting to see how it plays out,” said Liza Mundy, author of The Richer Sex, which documents this new economic order and the adjustments that will have to be made. Mundy says already the country has seen a change in the way men and women work, play, raise families and choose spouses.
Undoubtedly, the wage gaps still persists: Women working full time earn a median wage that is 81 per cent of what men make. But what has changed is that women who have more college and advanced degrees are landing better jobs or making their own opportunities.
The seismic shift in these paychecks comes as women-owned businesses are quickly blossoming. Nationally, the number of womenowned businesses has increased by 54 per cent since 1997. As of 2012, it is estimated that there are more than 8.3 million women-owned businesses in the United States, generating nearly $1.3 trillion in revenue, according to a new report by American Express OPEN.
In Florida, The Commonwealth Institute released its 2012 report last week that shows at least a third of women-led companies have experienced growth, and most leaders predict even more in the next year as they expand their existing markets, products and services.
“We’re now at a stage where women operating their own businesses are not unusual,” said Julie Weeks, American Express OPEN research adviser. “It’s causing a magnetic effect.”
Clearly, Ronert’s entrepreneurial venture has been her path to high earnings. “There’s no way if I stayed in corporate America, my salary and earnings could have reached this level.”
Ronert says her husband, plastic surgeon Marc Ronert, caught her eye at a medical convention five years ago, well after Image Skincare was well on its way to success. After they wed, she brought him into her business as the company president and director of research. In the past five years in Florida, the company has grown so fast that Ronert just moved Image Skincare into new corporate offices in Palm Beach County, where she plans to continue to build the bottom line.
Of course, women like Ronert are discovering that economic power comes with more responsibility. “When you hold the key to 150 people’s jobs and family income, you have to support them with quality products, services and a corporate structure that is solid. That’s a tremendous responsibility.”
And that doesn’t necessarily mean less responsibility at home. “We still get home and do laundry and go to the store to get the kids’ poster board,” said Olga Ramudo, CEO of Express Travel in Miami. But, she adds, “we do get personal satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment.”
Ramudo stayed at home, raising her children until her youngest was 12. Now, she’s running her company with her sister and a friend. She attributes her continued revenue growth, in part, to her ability to multi-task and handle myriad responsibilities. “I can do two things at the same time. That’s typical of women.” Cindy Krischer Goodman is CEO of Balancegal LLC, a provider of news and advice on how to balance work and life. She can be reached at balancegal//worklifebalancingact.com/.