Owning a serious business used to be a man's world, and many of them still think they have a monopoly on business ownership. The truth is that as more women enter into the world of business ownership, men are finding that they have to compete with an equal partner who knows just as much if not more than he does about running a business.

This is likely the result of more women attending college and pursuing degrees in business that make them at least equivalent to a man in terms of business expertise. Certainly many men do not like to admit that, but many women have the personal skills to work better with the public than their male counterparts. As women, and especially mothers, we have more patience when dealing with issues than our male counterparts. This is especially true of a retail business that requires a large amount of problem solving.

Does the fact that more women are beginning to own businesses mean that men will feel more of a competitive edge? Possibly, but then again, having a little competition is good for business, and if a man knows his competition is female, he is quite often having his ego tested, so therefore works harder to overcome the fear of a woman-owned business becoming more profitable. The government knows the potential for women-owned business, and as such, they fall under one of the special categories for funding for minority-owned businesses.

Though women are not likely to join the male-dominated construction or car repair-type businesses, they are definitely going to give them a good run for their money in accounting, legal, and medical fields. Law firms, accounting firms, and doctors are all fields once dominated by males, but the last thirty years has shown a boom in the number of women who enter these fields.

In fact, statistics indicate that women are better in business math, which gives them an edge over males in the accounting field. Women are also less likely to back down when pushed into a corner, a quality that makes them good in the legal field. If they are also parents, they are more skilled at determining the guilt or innocence of a client, having faced it at home on many occasions.

With more women opting for business-ownership, men can no longer consider themselves the "experts" in this vocation. In addition, it's something that should not require the use of gender selection in order to determine abilities, but should be based solely on skills. After all, we have evolved beyond the generation when women's sole function was to get married and raise babies. In the 21st century, a woman has an expanded role, and she assumes that role in her rightful place next to every man who is doing the same function.