International Women’s Day was Friday, so today we have a look at the challenges for women in marketing. I’d like to add to that with two stories of women not in other fields.
First is my mother. She started at the University of Chicago in 1943 when she was 16. (She didn’t graduate until she was 22. The reason: “Boys.”) Years later she got a doctorate in education. She marched at Selma with Dr. King. Like many women of her generation, she was a groundbreaker in a lot of areas, including her career as a dean in higher education. The discrimination she faced then, you would sue over today.
Next is a friend in her early 30s. Her family, who have been in the U.S. for many generations, believe girls only need an eighth-grade education. She’s a voracious reader and passed the GED exam without ever attending high school. She then escaped via the U.S. Army, which was happy to pay for her to go to college. She’s an EMT now, finishing her MA and raising two kids. She’s a groundbreaker, too, and has faced discrimination she didn’t want to bother with suing over.
Imagine how much better our world could be if she and every other woman didn’t have to continually fight to have their ideas heard and if they were judged by their merits. Imagine. Now stop imagining and help make it happen.
Constantine von Hoffman
Managing Editor
