A leader for the 25 women firefighters among 11,500 men, Lt. Brenda Berkman was one of the first on the scene on Sept. 11. In the 1980s, she was another kind of hero. She sued and won the right for her and other women to work as firefighters.
The growth in the numbers of women at the Fortune 500 companies has been at a snail’s pace. Only 12.4 percent of the board members are women, compared to 8.3 percent in 1993; five women are chief executives at these top firms, up from two in 1999.
Women’s low enrollment in business schools reflects their belief that a business career is not personally rewarding or socially meaningful. But a new nonprofit group of corporations and business schools wants to change that perception and reality.
Agenda-setting Sunday talk shows invite remarkably fewer women guests, thus denying political women access to these high-media-power seats. Before Sept. 11, women constituted only 10.7 percent of the guests. Now even those numbers have dropped.
Latinas are surging ahead in politics. They win elections more often than Latinos and other women. Increasingly, they are formalizing their knowledge and skills and learning how to run campaigns, develop an image and raise money.
Two retired women generals honored heroic women veterans and supported the military response to terrorist attacks–but they expressed concern over the killing of innocent people, and one said U.S. policies may need corrections “to alleviate hatred.”
An Emergency Medical Service paramedic promoted to paperwork dashed out with face mask and oxygen to help victims of Sept. 11. Now she remembers why she became an EMS worker, and she knows people are more important than paper.
Nearly overcome with her own anxiety and sadness, graphic artist Kathryn Carey pleaded to be permitted to help in the catastrophe. She found herself running a center for trauma victims, making sure they knew where to find the help they needed.
An ironworker was called on by her union to help clear the site of the collapsed twin towers. She brought her own respirator and gas mask and dug for three days. “It could have been me,” she says.
A new study finds that many successful women leaders compare their work to mothering. The author says this is because women are becoming more comfortable with being in charge.
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