Businesswomen visiting Central Iowa from overseas once expressed surprise to us that women who own businesses in the United States are eligible for various kinds of assistance from the government. Women were equal in business where they came from, they said – and they were from Tunisia, a predominantly Moslem nation.

We told them it was just an attempt to give women the kind of breaks men have long enjoyed in the business world. But here at the end of Women’s History Month, we’ve been thinking that the time is drawing near when such benevolent discrimination really won’t be necessary.

Women in business have stopped complaining about being shut out of male-dominated organizations. Now they get together to support one another, and the more they do, the more effective such efforts become.

Recently the National Association of Women Business Owners Central Iowa announced an alliance with First Federal Bank to expand the opportunities for its members. The number of women who might be interested in such arrangements is growing at a remarkable rate.

According to the Small Business Administration, the number of women-owned firms increased by 19.8 percent between 1997 and 2002, and it seems clear the number has zoomed a lot higher since then. The SBA says firms owned by women increased employment by 70,000 over that span, while those owned by men lost 1 million employees.

The Center for Women’s Business Research found that between 1997 and 2006, the number of privately held companies owned 51 percent or more by women of color grew 120 percent, compared with 24 percent growth for all private firms.

That definitely suggests that America is changing.

If we may generalize for a moment, women do tend to excel at networking and communicating – skills that lead to success in business. Someday, probably a long time from now, it could be the men who feel shut out of things.