GROVELAND — In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, the Yosemite Hwy 120 Chamber of Commerce and the Groveland Area Business Alliance (GABA) have teamed up with local businesses to celebrate female leadership within the Groveland community.
The first annual Groveland ‘Her’story Month will take place in March 2020 and will be marked by window clings at businesses that are either 51 percent woman-owned or managed.
GABA will also have “supporter” window clings for sale to local businesses that are not owned or operated by women.
Echo Adventure Cooperative will replace their popular Historic Groveland Happy Hour Walking Tour with a ‘Her’story Walk dedicated to the pioneer women of Groveland’s past.
The local Chamber of Commerce has dedicated their monthly Open House Groveland event to women’s history, allowing local businesses like Ranch Revived Decor and the Groveland Hotel to feature female musicians and artisans as well as female-inspired food and drink specials on March 21 from 4-6 p.m.
Groveland ‘Her’story Month was created by Echo Adventure Cooperative’s CEO, Elisabeth Barton, who noticed that the number of female business owners in downtown Groveland was much higher than the national average. According to nawbo.org, female entrepreneurs own only 36 percent of U.S. businesses. And Pew Research Center research shows that female leadership is much lower, with only five percent of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies and 20 percent as Fortune 500 board members; however, Barton claims that “upwards of 60 percent of the businesses in downtown Groveland are owned or operated by women.”
In a speech she gave for the Sonora Women’s March in February, Elisabeth went further, saying that “here in Tuolumne County, our red, Republican county, we were already at 40 percent female ownership way back in 2012. Equality does not have to be a partisan issue.”