In colonial times, women most often made a living in occupations that tressed their traditional female roles as mothers and housekeepers. But, the monetization of even the most feminine of occupations transformed "women's work" into a component of the gendered game of wealth accumulation.

For example, women innkeepers and tavernkeepers had to take money and promissory notes from their customers in order to pay their suppliers. The operation of a public house necessitated the hosting of public functions, especially legal and economic ones.

Seamstresses often developed into milliners and seamstresses who resold a stock of value-added goods. Because she-merchants often took over the businesses of deceased husbands, colonial women sold a wide-variety of goods, from windows to clothes to wines to groceries. A few women were dry goods importers, and they became known as feme sole traders.

A feme sole trader could sue without her husband. The law was very clear: Every woman who traded was not a feme sole trader. For instance, if the woman's husband was involved in the business with his wife, she was not considered to be a feme sole trader. In order to be classified as a feme sole trader, the woman had to conduct business with her husband's permission, but without his aid.

Times Have Changed
Today's feme sole traders do not require the permission of their husbands. Rather, what they require is the nerve, the will, and the ingenuity to offer goods and services that beat the competition.

The data show that a large number of women have risen to this challenge. In fact, according to U.S. Department of Commerce sources, exporting firms owned by women, while less numerous than those owned by men, export more intensively: 30 percent of women-owned firms export 50 percent or more of their product, compared with 21.9 percent of firms owned by men.

Three Women's Stories
Many women business entrepreneurs have chosen to export in order to expand their markets, increase their profits, and fulfill their personal goals.

For instance, Maria de Lourdes Sobrino, president and CEO of Lulu's Dessert Inc. (www.lulusdessert.com), Vernon, CA, manufacturer of ready-to-eat gelatin desserts, chose to export primarily because she was unable to get her refrigerated dessert products into the slots of major supermarket chain stores in the United States.

By getting her products into the frozen food sections of stores overseas, Sobrino accomplished what she was unable to accomplish in her own backyard. Today, she is one of the preeminent feme sole traders of our day and an exporter and manufacturer of gelatin who breaks the "mold" in many ways.

Sobrino is a first-generation Mexican-American who came to America as an immigrant from an upper middle-class family of professionals in Mexico. Her family members held entrepreneurs in lower esteem than the professional class. When she first told them she was in business in America, they thought she was selling goods on a street corner somewhere and felt sorry for her.

Everything Maria Sobrino learned about business and about manufacturing, she had to learn the hard way, without the help and support of friends and family. Years later, when her father finally visited her factory in California and he saw the fruits of her labor, he understood that she meant business. Her success is as example of what can happen when a dormant and innate entrepreneurial spirit is unharnessed.

Once Sobrino connected with her entrepreneurial spirit, she was able to grow her business into a $10 million enterprise. Tragedies such as the breakup of her marriage and the breakup with her business partner never daunted her spirits. She continues to face each day with anticipation and excitement as she creates new global pathways in business.

Her advice to other women is to follow one's own dream, never give up, and help others along the way, while being open and receptive to help.

Candace Chen, JD, CEO of Power Clean 2000 Inc. (www.powerclean2000.com), a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of automotive service equipment and specialty chemicals, is another example of a woman who chose to export in order to accomplish overseas that which she was unable to accomplish in the United States.

When she and her brother created an innovative, patented invention that was able to improve the efficiency of car engines, they formed a company. But, they found because theirs was a small new company, the major auto companies that could potentially partner with them to use the product often did not take them seriously.

Frustrated, Candace Chen embarked upon a strategy to show the U.S. carmakers what they were missing; she set about to prove the product overseas and build overseas demand for it. She succeeded. By pursuing an export strategy, her firm was able to build its overseas market while creating a critical path for the expansion of its domestic market.

As a woman in a non-traditional field, Chen developed the skills necessary to be effective in typically male-dominated domain.

Her story demonstrates how a young Chinese-American woman who graduated from law school and never intended to become an exporter can nevertheless succeed in the global marketplace with the right planning, good business tactics, and sound strategies. She further lifts our spirits by showing us that siblings can work together and support each other.

Chen's advice to other women entrepreneurs is to retain a strong moral compass and to let professional ethics dictate right and wrong business decisions.

Margaret M. Gatti, JD, is founder of Gatti and Associates (www.gattiassociates.com) in Haddonfield, NJ, a law practice exclusively limited to customs law, international trade law, international investment law, and international tax law.

Gatti says she was called to the role of being a feme sole trader after working for many years in the international section of a major U.S. bank, advising others about the intricacies of exporting.

After years of watching others export, Gatti decided to take the plunge herself and become an exporter. At the time, Eastern Europe was just opening up and, since she specialized in these countries and spoke a number of their languages fluently, Gatti felt she was prepared to embark upon a new career in exporting and importing.

Her strategy entailed using her inside knowledge of handicraft experts in Eastern Europe in order to source goods from them that she would sell in the United States. She was successful in this endeavor and later branched out into trading with Asia, where she used her skills in understanding processes, regulations, and laws to figure out the complicated apparel and textile trading game. Once she mastered the export game firsthand, she decided to become a lawyer and specialize in international trade to help others plan and execute successful export and import operations.

All three of these women have the nerve, the will, and the ingenuity to compete in the global marketplace. Each of them had a good reason to embark upon exporting, and each of them was very clear about how exporting fit into her company's overall strategy for growth and profitability and how it would help her meet her own personal goals and stretch her limits.

SHARON T. FREEMAN, PhD, is founder and president of All American Small Business Exporters Association (www.aasbea.com) in Washington, DC, and author of Conversations With Women Who Export: Inspiration, Motivation, and Strategy (AASBEA, September 2000). She can be contacted at 202-332-5137 (e-mail: info@aasbea.com).