College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Main Street

Sociology's Sharon Bird is researching women- and race/ethnic minority-owned businesses in small town Iowa.
Long before Sharon Bird became an assistant professor of sociology at Iowa State, research was being conducted in communities in Iowa’s 99 counties as part of a rural development initiative.

So when Bird arrived on campus five years ago, she decided to hook into the research, but with a little different twist.

Bird's project has received an almost $18,000 Faculty Development Grant (FDG) from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. FDGs provide "seed" money to begin research or scholarship that is expected to continue developing and to attract funding from other sources.

She’s focusing on "Understanding the Effects of Women- and Race/Ethnic Minority-Owned Small Businesses on Social Relations in Rural Communities."

"When I came on board here and looked at the research already being conducted this was something that no one was doing," Bird said. "We're continuing to build on the research data from the original project, which is from the mid-'90s."

The research is something that Bird has some experience in. Her research interests focus primarily on issues of social inequality, with her current research centering on issues of gender inequality in paid labor and on how economic transitions affect women's and men's work roles.

In her "Main Street" project, she is looking for ethnic-owned small businesses in rural Iowa (communities with a population of less than 10,000). That search has proved to be difficult.

"There are not many ethnic-owned businesses in rural Iowa," Bird said. "If there are any in these communities, it will typically be a restaurant.

"One reason for that is that ethnic-owned businesses exist in ethnic enclaves, which are typically in urban, not rural, areas."

The percentage of women-owned businesses on rural Iowa's Main Streets is significantly higher Bird says. But Iowa’s demographics and business climate have changed so much in recent years that small business ownership has been dramatically reduced.

Wal-Mart and other major discount stores have taken their toll on rural Iowa communities.

"There is only one jewelry store or drug store in many of these communities where there used to be three or four of each," Bird said. "Now small town Main Street tends to have mostly retail, restaurant and personal and professional service businesses."

Personal services (hair salons, etc.) and retail stores have a higher percentage of ownership by women in rural Iowa according to Bird. Professional services (law firms, financial services) are more often owned by men.

"Men owners are less inclined to run a business in rural Iowa than they have been previously," Bird said. "Main Street in rural Iowa is becoming more 'feminized.'

"As the old businesses in rural Iowa start to fall by the wayside, women are filling the gap, but the chances for rural small business survival today are not that great. Still the sex gap in small business success is smaller in rural than urban areas."

However there remain twice as many male-owned businesses in these communities as men/women partnerships or women-owned businesses.

Last summer Bird and her graduate students visited each of Iowa’s 99 counties and walked Main Street.

"In every town, we made notes," she said. "Even the most successful business owner will tell you that the community isn’t as vibrant as it used to be."

Bird is continuing the study and hopes to get additional grant money to look not only at businesses in Iowa, but in other parts of the U.S.