Though many complained of a glass ceiling blocking advancement, progress was undeniable. Some see demographic changes as another influence. Life expectancy for a woman 100 years ago was 51. Today, it's 80. Despite their improved prospects in corporate America, many women have become fed up with the constraints of big-company life, and are leaving to start their own businesses.
Women now represent the majority of new entrepreneurs.
Janet Hanson was one, leaving a Wall Street post to start her own firm in 1994. Many of her staff work part time, or from home, or have other arrangements that their former bosses might find odd. In many ways, it harks back to colonial times, when the workplace was home. Women can have it all, as long as they make the rules. Thomas is a Wall Street Journal staff reporter in Pittsburgh.