The Value of Women's Words and Women's Work
Kathy Magnuson, Business Manager, Minnesota Women's Press

Minnesota Women's Press, a women owned and operated, for-profit publishing company and retail store, was struggling for economic survival when it was forced to examine its core mission. To secure an additional loan necessary for the MWP's survival, the bank required the company to forgo a plan to share profits with the staff that had been promised to employees. The women wrestled with the apparent tensions between their commitment to feminist values and their commitment to the long term existence of a business positively impacting women in the general public. This case allows for discussion of what it means to be a feminist business and how creative and innovative feminist institutions can survive economically.