Women business owners find ways to deal with gender bias

NEW YORK (AP) — Many women business owners say they’ve encountered gender discrimination from potential investors, customers and employees who don’t grasp the reality that a woman can be a CEO, trial attorney or own a technology company.

The bias can be subtle, like failing to make eye contact with a woman business owner but engaging in animated conversation with her male co-owner. Or more blatant, like asking an owner who’s seeking investor money if she plans to have children.

Many women owners are taken aback at first and don’t know how to respond to comments or behavior they find insulting, intrusive and demeaning. But over time, they find strategies to deal with bias, including confronting it head-on.