What Gains Have Women Made in the Past 50 Years?
In the early 1960s, which is the setting for my book, entitled The Vengeful Unhinged, Tucson, Arizona's metropolitan area, population had grown to about 100,000 people and was on a steady upward pace thereafter. To the best of my knowledge only two female attorneys were practicing at that time. Earlier in 1957 when I graduated from law school there was only one females in the graduating class. Now, fast- forward some 50 years later. It was recently announced that female lawyers comprise approximately 1/3 of all legal practitioners.
This trend has continued "across the board." Women have now assumed leadership positions in business, politics, the professions, and a whole host of other fields of endeavor. Consider the following: Meg Whitman is the CEO of Hewlett and Packard; Marissa Mayer is the CEO of Yahoo; Ann Weaver Hart is the President of the University of Arizona; our last three Secretaries of State, comprising the Clinton, Bush, and now the Obama administration are female. Going one step further, Condoleeza Rice, who served under the Bush administration, was the first black Secretary of State. It's safe to say that it's just a matter of time before we will have a female president. After all, starting in 1969 Golda Meir served as Prime Minister of Israel; Marie Thatcher was Prime Minister of England from 1969 to 1990. Presently the Chancellor of Germany is Angela Merkel.
These breakthroughs by women apparently have assisted in "opening the door" for the rights of minorities. Latinos are the fastest-growing minority populations in the country and more and more are assuming leadership positions. Orientals constitutes the largest group of minority immigrants legally allowed to participate in our education system, and many are excellent scholars. Blacks now dominate in most major sports, and additionally are gaining stature in acting, politics, music, business, and many other positions of stature in our country.
Equality has taken a long time among all people of all races, color, and creeds to reach an equal level. Granted, there are still gaps, discrepancies, prejudices among groups and individuals, but it is reassuring to see that equality is increasing at an accelerated pace. This all goes back the vision of the United States Supreme Court ruling in 1954 in the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education that the "separate but equal doctrine," existing at the time constituted discrimination. Yes, the various segments of society were free, but they were still isolated and were denied many opportunities, which are now more open to them. Gone is the practice that blacks are not allowed in certain hotels, country clubs, restaurants, and no longer do they have to go to the "rear of the bus."
We, as a country, and we as a people, have grown up. This is what democracy is all about.
-JS
