An Unlikely Duo
We’ve entered the third week of October and so much has happened. Today I honor two women who have made incredible contributions throughout their lifetime. They are an Unlikely Duo. People whose names normally would not appear in the same newsletter let alone sentence. So what do these two women have in common? Passion is one answer.
The first is Suzanne Somers, known by many as the wacky blond on the sitcom Three's Company with the late John Ritter and Joyce De Witt. She died this past weekend from complications with breast cancer which she fought for many years. About to start filming their third or fourth season, Suzanne wanted to be paid the same as Ritter. This was unheard of in the early 80’s. She took a great deal of flack from fellow actors, producers, and directors as well as the public. Women were considered less than at the time.
Somers left the show and embarked on a process of re-invention, which she and her husband crafted over her lifetime. Her new career followed a meandering path: writing books, becoming a spokesperson for the Thighmaster, and roles and guest appearances in other shows. At the time of her death, her estate was valued at $100M. Three’s Company failed without her. She was courageous in wanting pay parity with men so long ago.
The other woman I celebrate is the Nobel Prize winner in Economics Sciences Claudia Goldin. Ms. Goldin is the first woman to receive the prize as a solo researcher. She thoroughly provided a comprehensive account of women’s earnings and labor market participation through the centuries. She brought to light the causes of change and the main sources of the remaining gender gap.
A professor at Harvard, she has devoted her career to uncovering why women in many industries do not have salary parity with their male counterparts. Hooray to the Nobel reviewers for identifying and giving Ms Goldin the Nobel Prize. I invite my readers to look her up and learn more about her research.
As I wrote this newsletter I found myself conflicted, referring to Suzanne Somers as Suzanne and Claudia Goldin as Ms. or Professor Goldin. Both women are passionate about the inequities of women’s pay in the labor force. Ms Somers fought in the early 1980’s. There was hell to pay for it! Ms. Goldin climbed the academic ladder, receiving the prestigious Nobel Prize. This catapulted her to what I believe may be fame, fortune, and wealth. Let’s raise a toast to these two extraordinary women.
What do you, my readers, think?