Women: Peers and Colleagues

by Robert D. Hennigan

This issue of the magazine focuses on the vroles of women and the contributions they are making in the field of water quality management and water pollution control. The publication of this issue is timely and appropriate as it underscores the significant changes that have taken place in the last two to three decades, as women have entered many fields of endeavor that heretofore have been closed or extremely limited to them. Water quality management and water pollution control are two examples.

It is sometimes difficult to appreciate the social constraints that were put on women in the past, vestiges of which are still extant today. The demand for change in women's civil rights and opportunities was signaled by the first women's rights convention held in Seneca Falls, New York, on July 19 and 20, 1848. The women in attendance stated these specifics, among others:

Married women were legally dead in the eyes of the law.
Women were not allowed to vote.
Most occupations were closed to women, and when women did work they were paid only a fraction of what men earned.
Women had no means to gain an education since no college or university would accept women students.

Change came slowly-glacially, as a matter of fact. The first order of business was the right to vote. The territory of Wyoming granted women suffrage in 1869 and later became the first state to grant suffrage in 1890. This was followed by Colorado in 1893, Utah and Idaho in 1896, Washington in 1910, California in 1911, Oregon, Kansas, and Arizona in 1912, Alaska and Illinois in 1913, Montana and Nevada in 1914, New York in 1917, and Michigan, South Dakota, and Oklahoma in 1918. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution granting women the right to vote across the nation was adopted in 1920.

Other changes took place at an equally slow pace over the next 80 years. Some of the major changes were the enactment of a number of federal laws: the Equal Pay Act in 1963; the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination in employment based on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin and sex; and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 that banned sex discrimination in schools, which states:

"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subject to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal assistance."

This opened the floodgates of opportunity for women. The number of women doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, and other professionals has increased fourfold as quotas that actually limited women's enrollments in graduate schools were outlawed. One of the most hotly discussed parts of this provision was the one requiring equal access to athletic programs in high schools and colleges. It is now reported that women constitute over 50 percent of the enrollment in medical and law schools and somewhat less in science and engineering programs. Women now constitute over 50 percent of the college students in the country.

I had a personal interest in these changes. As the father of two daughters (and, I might add, six sons) who were raised with the idea that all roads were open to them and thus became very independent young women, I cheered them on. My daughters, who went to college in the mid-seventies, benefited as improvements in educational opportunities for women were phased in. In addition, major advances have been made in politics and law, religion, social reform, and health.

As a sign of these changing times, a number of women became heads of state: Benazir Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan, 1988-90 and 1993-96; Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India, 1966-77 and 1980-84; Golda Meir, prime minister of Israel, 1969-74; Mary Robinson, president of Ireland, 1990-97; and Margaret Thatcher, prime minister of Britain, 1979-90. We may have a woman president of the United States before long.

The women members of the New York Water Environment Association constitute about 11 percent of the total. This figure is probably in line with the number of women in the engineering and science fields, and this continues to undergo change. This issue of Clear Waters presents profiles of women who were pioneers and those who are now active in the field in a variety of roles. This issue also presents a number of papers authored by women that highlight some of their projects and professional activities.