Women’s Business Summary

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Women’s Business Summary
– Ilene Kantrov
The writer Ilene Kantov is feminist writer who supports the most of the ideas of the women and their notion in the essay in the modern trend of globalization. She portrays a portrait of Lydia Pinkham and she goes on to tell about other business women who follow her footsteps. Lydia Pinkham combines her business with social service. She supports women’s rights, temperance and their social as well as economic reform. Her kind and beautiful face shines in the pages of papers to advertise her medicinal products to cure the diseases of women. She expects a militant feminist would support the business policy of Pinkham. She would certainly support women’s rights, independence as well as social and economic upliftment. She would react positively to Lydia’s advertising to champion women’s rights, temperance and fiscal reform. She would equally support the women’s advice on nutrition, exercise, hygiene and child rearing. She would, thus praise the activities of Pinkham and other women who tried to make the women race socially aware and economically independent. Lydia Pinkham and many other women of her time played different roles to promote women’s business. They competed with their male counterparts and didn’t hesitate to go to the court of law like male businessmen. A militant feminist would no doubt praise and support all these activities of women in this essay.

However; there are some debatable statements of the writer which are not digestible for a militant feminist. Lydia Pinkham suggests her women customers not to go to the male physicians. A true feminist wouldn’t support such idea. She also wouldn’t support the altitudes of Helena and Elizabeth who attracted women to use cosmetics in the hope of getting married to European aristocrats. She would object the idea of limiting women’s business within their own race. A true feminist may think that men and women are interdependent. In the absence of either men or women, the world will not run. Thus, the business women should focus on the equality of men and women.

“Women’s Business” differs in many ways from their male counterparts. The business women combined their business with social service. They displayed their images to advertise their products. The women offered their customers more than their products. They supported women’s rights, temperance, and social and economic reform. They gave advice to their customers about diet, exercise, hygiene etc. They printed reports for the women to cure physical problems, infertility nervousness, hysteria and even marital conflict. They used their images as women to promote their business. Helena and Elizabeth, for example, took advantage of their images as women to promote their business of cosmetics. Some business women tried to show their roles as mother and grandmother and some other developed their images as glamorous fashionable women. They advertised their products, promoted their business and earned a lot of money as well. Some women even invested some part of their profit into good works and social reform. However, women were more sex conscious. They helped only women and promoted traditional women’s skills. Lydia Pinkham, the leading American Business woman of that time advised her customers to avoid male physicians. In the realities of the market place, some business-women didn’t support feminism.