VIDEO: Spotlighting Professional Women

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)—March is women’s history month. We’d like to share some stories of women who successfully challenged the stereotypes of women in business.

“I can remember my mother, who is almost 97 years old asking me why do you want to go to college you’re just going to be a secretary anyway,”said Barbara Coats.

But Coats decided to write a very different story for her life. Today, she is a financial representative for Modern Woodmen. She says it took a lot of hard work and sacrifice.

“I’ve always had aspirations of doing more and being more. I made sure to get my education, wasn’t an easy thing to do. I did it while I was married and had children. I started college single and graduated 4 years later with one and a half children and then went back for a masters degree so it’s a lot of hard work to get to where I am but I was determined to do something with my life,”said Coats.

Professor Chanley Rainey just joined the Mississippi University For Women faculty. She says a huge challenge women in the work force face is perception.

“Being seen as ambitious and decisive when you take action, those kinds of values, whether it’s a perception problem or women are just viewed to do that in a different way, it is something that women need to definitely understand how to negotiate,”said Rainey.

Coats and Rainy both agree that while they have achieved success in their fields, they want to reach to young women coming behind them.

“It’s important to mentor other women and to be conscious of being role models. I know that’s an extra burden to bear but it’s one that’s really important for them because you don’t know if that time you took off because your kids were sick if anybody takes note if they recognize that that’s a double standard. So it’s important for women to talk about those concerns to model ways of handling it and to speak up,”said Rainey.

Women continue to fight for equal pay in many parts of the country.