Welcome to our 2015 special issue introducing you to some of the ‘Successful Women in Business’ that make up our thriving communities.
The promise of gender equality seems closer than ever as we look at the number of local women in positions of leadership in both business and politics. In fact a recent report by PEW Research indicates that the majority of Americans think women are just as capable of being good political and business leaders as men. They are perceived as indistinguishable from their male counterparts when it comes to qualities like intelligence and the capacity for innovation and are actually judged by many to be superior in qualities like honesty, fairness, compassion and willingness to compromise.
For a quarter of a century The Valley Business Journal (a woman-owned business) has been providing our readers with the most up-to-date business news in the Temecula Valley. During that time we’ve seen local cities born and a host of businesses grow up to support the burgeoning population of Southwest California. Our political leadership has likewise expanded with more direct representation from Southwest County.
In the growth of both business and political leadership, women are increasingly playing a major role. While women now hold just two seats on local city councils, down from five just a few years ago, our region is also represented by two women in the Assembly, two of whom formerly sat on city councils. There is also a record number of women in the 114th Congress (104), and women CEO’s now lead 26 Fortune 500 companies, up from zero just two decades ago. While that represents just 19% of Congress and 5% of all Fortune 500’s, it is definitely progress.
In this issue you will meet many of the local women who are making that progress possible at the local level, from those starting and running successful small companies to those managing large companies or divisions of large companies. We applaud these efforts. We need and appreciate the jobs that they are adding to our local economy. By introducing them here, we hope you will get to know them better, support their efforts and utilize their products and services. Their ongoing success is critical to the wellbeing of our community.
View this special edition below.