We've come a long way baby!

I spoke at yesterday's Florida Public Relations Association meeting of the local Gainesville chapter. In my talk I shared some of my experiences being a woman in the public relations field some 30 years ago. The biggest gasp from the crowd came when I told of how my husband had to be interviewed for one of my jobs. It seems like only yesterday that women were so unusual in the workplace that men hadn't figured out how to treat us, let alone how to work comfortably with us. But yet we have come a long way. That's not to say there isn't progress to be made. Women are still paid less than men in comparable positions. Very few women are CEOs of Fortune 500 firms. (Maybe after all the financial crisis of the past week, we should think seriously about more women steering our country's business.)

Whether we are where we need to be in the US or not, we are certainly ahead of women in many other parts of the world. I can not forget standing at a ticket counter in Morocco, waiting to be assisted. I finally figured out the woman behind the counter was assisting all the men first. That's when I signaled my husband to take my place, so we could be taken care of. Young women may find these stories shocking, but I hope they honor the women who blazed trails to make today's workplace a better place for women.