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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Not Queen of the Hill at the Bottom of the Heap. Again.

So here are the figures from the Census Bureau -- and once again Rhode Island is at the bottom of the  proverbial heap. This time, the numbers show the state is in last place for women owned businesses -- curiously tied with the District of Columbia for the dubious honor.

There's a message in there somewhere. It's a message I wanted to post given that today is the birthday of Sally Ride, the first woman in space. 

After all, D.C. is the cradle of the Old Boys' Network, a place where women are making strides but not fast enough or long enough to suit my taste. (Nothing like matching up on that count.) We have women in politics but nowhere near what the numbers should be given the supposedly enlightened day and age in which we live.

Rhode Island? When you've got a business climate that already makes it tough for businesses to get running and ultimately survive, what can you say if women owned enterprises don't have an easy time of it? It took people long enough to elect women to high offices. And who knows how long it is going to take those same women to kick some serious butt in order to get the state going where it should be going.

Meanwhile, this latest news makes me think of the infamous line written by Abigail Adams to her husband John while they were ironing out the kinks of the American Revolution. "If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."

Not nearly enough, ladies, not nearly enough.

Amen, and pass the mustard and the muskets. There could be a revolution in the making.





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