The more things change.

• Author: Stewart, Heather Dawn
• Position: From the Editor

Utah Business' annual 30 Women to Watch awards program started out in 1999 as "Utah's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business." For a Gen-Xer like me, 1999 doesn't feel so very distant. But to get a sense of the era, here are some of the companies represented in that original list: ZMCI, First Security Bank, U.S. West Communications and Phone Directories Co.

So yeah, times have changed a little.

I've had the opportunity to interview many of the Women to Watch over the years. One question we frequently ask is about gender: Is being a woman an asset or a liability in your career, and why? The typical answer to that question has evolved over the years, too, from "I have to work extra hard to prove myself" to a simple, "No, gender doesn't really impact my career."

It's great to see that evolution, and to see that women feel they can compete and achieve on the same playing field as their male peers. But ...

In Utah, the numbers don't really bear that out. Now, I understand that it's complicated. Utah women marry younger and have larger families than their national counterparts. There's nothing wrong with that--as a culture, we place a high value on family. However, Utah mothers are still part of the labor force and huge contributors to their family incomes. According to the Department of Workforce Services, more than 73 percent of Utah mothers with only school-age children participate in the workforce. And about 61 percent of mothers of preschool-age children work.

So yes, Utah women have children. They also work outside the home at a greater rate than the national average, according to DWS, and have done so since 1980. Family obligations seem to impact Utah women's choices around work, with 38 percent of the women in Utah's workforce being part-time workers, compared with only 25 percent nationally. Also, more than 7 percent of Utah's female workers are self-employed, compared with...