Bold moves by women often criticized
By Mike Engel

GIRL POWER... Business leader LuAn Mitchell, above, says the negative reaction to powerful women such as Belinda Stronach, inset, isn't surprising.

"Blond bombshell" or not, ambitious women are not always viewed in the same favourable light as ambitious men.

Belinda Stronach witnessed this first-hand with her stunning switch to the Liberal party this week.

The vitriol spewed from her former Conservative party colleagues and other foes included sexist slurs, comparisons to prostitution and worse.

LuAn Mitchell, former chief executive of the re-named Mitchell's Gourmet Foods, says risky career moves - whether in politics or business - can have different ramifications for the two sexes.

"In my experiences, men have done weird and even weirder things," says Mitchell-Halter with a luagh.

"An important man could probably get a sex change and still be acceptable in both sexes."

Mitchell-Halter is in Banff this week for an Enlightened Millionaire work-shop and a celebration for 100 of the world's leading female entrepreneurs.

She can relate to the embattled MP. Both are powerful business figures (Stronach with auto parts giant Magna International, Mitchell-Halter with the meat company), and neither shy away from their feminine beauty.

Mitchell-Halter, for instance, is a former Miss Canada finalist who once turned down offers to pose for Playboy.

"Physically, I look one way and many people didn't take me seriously. Yet, I can take a meat-packaging company with a slaughterhouse and go in, kick some ass, and take it from the brink of bankruptcy to a $450 million company," she says.

That ambition is not without its fall-out, she notes.

"You know, I think women can be scrutinized in the business world for being very ambitious," Mitchell-Halter says.

"I think of myself as a passionate woman and that adds greatly to my success, but sometimes, it can be to your detriment so you have to learn how to harness it."

For instance, she recalls driving her company's board of directors crazy while obtaining capital for the company. Nearly finished the initial public offering - an attempt to take the company public - she changed her mind at the last minute by striking a strategic alliance with their greatest competitor, Schneider foods and meats.

"In business, it's not overtly unusual. I've done the same thing with other businesses in different scenes and I've seen plenty of men do the same thing."

Alison Gray, executive director of Alberta Women's Entrepreneurs, applauded Stronach's brash move.

"I like her move because we hope that women in leading political positions will be somewhat sensitive to the needs of female entrepreneurs," Gray says.

"When I look at that story, I think she must be very confident in her skills and abilities, and that confidence is advice that I give my clients all the time."