EAST LONGMEADOW — Kim Casineau kept a low profile when she bought The Coating House in East Longmeadow. The business coats fasteners, fittings and bolts so they won’t leak air, gas or water when they are installed. The coating prevents them from loosening during vibration, she said.
The 60-year-old Holyoke woman told The Republican she is working in a male-dominated industry, and she’d rather not have anyone know she is at the helm and calling the shots.
“I didn’t broadcast I was the new owner because you don’t want to do that in an industry like this,” she said.
“I just took over as the new person,” she said. “I didn’t let any of my customers know I was the new owner because it just gives people the jitters. They would have less confidence (than a man) in my ability to run it. There’s definitely a bias out there.”
Meanwhile, Kerry Martins was more than happy to tell the world about her new, woman-owned Whiting Farms Laundromat she opened on Northampton Street in Holyoke at the beginning of May.
In a nation where women spent triple the amount of time doing laundry than men did in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it was no stretch for many for Martins to be seen working the washers and dryers at her grand opening.
But when a man came in looking for the boss, she needed to condition her response.
“I had someone walk in and say, ‘Where is the owner?’ I said, ‘I‘m the owner.’ They said, ‘No, no, no. I need to talk to the person that knows how to work these machines,’” Martins said.
“There’s always that level of needing to prove yourself or show your worth,” she said. “There’s so many stereotypical jobs that society draws a woman to. This one is very different. It’s getting down and dirty and digging out drains.”
At the former KMart Plaza in Holyoke, Whiting Farms Laundromat owner Kerry Martins prepares for the evening’s business. Martins said that after taking the false ceiling out, the space has become more open and brings a better feel to the building. (Douglas Hook / The Republican)Douglas Hook
Slight gains, little progress
A report issued by Wells Fargo in 2024 shows the number of businesses owned by women is growing. Women-owned businesses grew at twice the rate of male-owned businesses between 2019 and 2023, “driving economic growth,” the report found.
The U.S. Small Business Administration reported last year that 40.8% of small businesses in Massachusetts are owned by women. The Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst provides information that places women business ownership at 33%.
The numbers are even more disappointing for women nationally. Pew Research Center finds six in 10 small businesses (61%) were majority-owned by men in 2021, while 22% were majority-owned by women. The rest are owned by partners who are men and women.
“In the contemporary world, we expect men and women to go to school and work most of their adult lives, but that wasn’t true until the 1970s,” said Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, professor of sociology and founding director of the Center for Employment Equity at UMass.
“Before then, families didn’t invest in the education of their girls, or they did at a much lower rate,” he said. “We still assume women have a greater responsibility to their families and children than men do, and in many households, the man works more hours than the woman, at least while the children are young.”
Men have used their head start attending colleges and universities — and then staking out jobs — to land the most lucrative positions, including chief executive officer and other high-level roles at top companies.
Men have also defined gender roles and what each should be paid, with jobs traditionally performed by women demanding smaller salaries, Tomaskovic-Devey said.
Even when men and women do compete for the same jobs, Tomaskovic-Devey said the deck is stacked against women with baked-in bias.
“The word bias is probably more accurate than discrimination or even prejudice. Men are often seen as more competent, perhaps even more competent than they really are, and women as less competent,” said Tomaskovic-Devey.
“Resentment can be generated in a workplace when women seem to be doing better than men. You could think of that as a threat to masculinity or status,” he said.
KO’ed to be CEO
According to Isenberg, women hold only 8% of the top leadership positions in the 75 largest Massachusetts companies.
Women are still paid well below what men are paid — about 84 cents for every dollar a man makes, according to the Pew Research Center.
There are laws on the books in Massachusetts that mandate pay parity between men and women in the commonwealth, and the Attorney General’s Office is in charge of enforcing the law.
A spokesperson for the office told The Republican there have been six pay equity complaints over the past year, but the office did not say which companies have been named and what the AG is doing about those cases.
The office said it works to uphold pay equity through monitoring, enforcement and education. The office said it is also proactive, monitoring job postings and applications to ensure compliance, including bans on salary history questions.
UMass professor Tomaskovic-Devey said it will take greater numbers of women in leadership positions to help guide hiring, which he said could rebalance pay inequities and further increase the number of women in leadership roles.
“A lot of responsibility rests on the employer … creating systems that are more equitable and monitoring their own practices. Firms should not just be saying, ‘We’re an equal opportunity employer.’ They should be looking at their outcomes and seeing if they are or not,” he said.
Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources commissioner Ashley Randle discusses support for organizations impacted by drought or extreme weather events during the press conference held at Fruit Fair grocery store in Chicopee Thursday morning, July 20, 2023. (Hoang ‘Leon’ Nguyen / The Republican)
Western Mass history maker
Gov. Maura Healey made history when in 2022 she became the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts; Kim Driscoll was elected lieutenant governor, and Rebecca Tepper was appointed by Healey to serve as the secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Tepper recommended and Healey appointed South Deerfield native Ashley Randle, a fifth-generation dairy farmer, to be the commonwealth’s first woman as commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources.
She assumed the role after serving as deputy commissioner of legislative and policy director since 2018.
Out of the 50 agriculture commissioners across the United States, some are elected and some are appointed, but only six are women.
“I‘m able to correct misconceptions and show that females in agriculture can be at the table and make meaningful contributions to conversation about policy changes. It makes us all better when we have different opinions and viewpoints in the room — to have the confidence to share in the space is very empowering,” Randle said.
The commissioner said she now has her dream job, but it took the historic election of Healey and three layers of women in leadership positions above her to get it.
“I‘m fortunate to be part of an administration that values women in leadership positions. I feel fortunate to be part of that history,” said Randle.
Marta B. Calas, a professor of organizational studies and international management at Isenberg, said steps toward equity have come up short. Beyond equal pay and pay transparency legislation, the commonwealth has launched workforce development programs. Few of them seem to be working, she said.
“Many of these initiatives have already been tried in the U.S. with not much luck,” she said.
“Nothing but strong legislation regarding equal pay for equal work and reevaluating the value of jobs would truly make a dent on this problem,” she said. “The Nordic countries, including Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Denmark have done better.”
At The Coating House in East Longmeadow, Casineau understands that mostly men are drawn to her industry. When she advertises for open positions, she makes sure the job description clearly states the position is entry level.
“You don’t need to have experience. The ability, desire and aptitude to learn is all that’s required. We want to bring women into the manufacturing space,” she said.
Casineau said in the last eight years she has tripled gross sales, increased her customer base from 40 to 220, and done it with a staff of 14 employees, split right down the middle between men and women.
Martins hopes the 28 washers and 34 dryers in her Whiting Farms Laundromat will attract 100 customers who run the machines most of the day. She knows in the future, when she tells people she’s the owner, they will continue to say, “Who, you?”
“It is frustrating, but whatever frustration I have only drives me to be more vocal and to show people around me and in this community that it can be done,” she said. “I take that frustration and anxiety and make people see us out there silently accomplishing great things.”
