On Sept. 3, my mother-in-law, Gloria Mishkin, celebrated her 100th birthday with friends and family. Which naturally got many of us thinking about the world in 1923.
Thanks to the internet we learned that the president of the United States at the time was Calvin Coolidge, who had taken office the month before after Warren Harding died of a heart attack.
The old Yankee Stadium had just opened and Charlie Chaplin were Rudolph Valentino were the top stars. A new car cost $290, and a new house $6,890.
And just three years before the 19th amendment was ratified giving women the right to vote. After decades of agitation and protest.
What women still couldn’t do at least in some states was wear pants, smoke in public, open a bank account without their husband, serve on a jury, practice law, attend an Ivy League University, attend a military academy and even run in the Boston Marathon.
Though the rights of women are still subject to debate and not all glass ceilings have been cracked, women have come a long way since the day Gloria was born on Sept. 5, 1923.
The women being honored by Blank Slate Media in this special section and at our Women of Distinction awards ceremony and networking event off er examples of what this country was missing before many of these impediments were removed.
They include entrepreneurs, educators, partners in law firms, executives at banks, large corporations and colleges, leaders of not-for-profi ts serving the public and even a resident scholar.
Our honorees have all worked their way up the ladder, and are now leading their own teams and inspiring others. All are contributing to making Nassau County a better place to live and work. Each of our 42 Women of Distinction shares similar stories of success that demonstrate the ever-widening possibilities open to women and the benefits it off ers to all of us.
We hope the accomplishments of all those presented here will inspire both men and women to greater heights and increase their appreciation for those who have come before them.
Congratulations to all. We know you will continue to have success.
