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3 Influential Role Models For Women’s History Month

Three generations of women celebrate Women's History | OrnamentShop.com

Join us as we celebrate women’s history with a glance back at Ornament Shop’s origins and learn about three empowering female role models!

business-woman-ornamentEvery year, the United States has a wonderful tradition of honoring women’s history. March 8 is International Women’s Day, and the whole month of March is reserved for celebrating progress on women’s rights.

The National Women’s History Project chooses a theme each year to represent our progress, and this year they’ve chosen “Honoring Trailblazing Women in Labor and Business.”

Here at Ornament Shop, we were among the very first to provide personalized ornaments online in 1999. It was so exciting traveling across the country for trade shows in our early days, and then even more exciting when our business really took off thanks to the Internet.

Ornament Shop has empowered female staff | Ornamentshop.comIt started as a hobby that I would enjoy with my girlfriends, and looking back, I was so lucky to have the opportunity to turn it into this wonderful business with Russ and our team!

I think it’s important that we take the occasional look back to see just how far we’ve come in all walks of life. A few honorees on this year’s list by The National Women’s History Project stand out to me, and I want to pass along their stories.

Barbara “Dusty” Roads

airplane-ornamentBarbara was a famous airline stewardess hired in 1950. Her employer asked her to sign a contract saying she would be let go when she turned 32. For years she tried to overturn this industry standard by working with her union, but failed many times.

It wasn’t until the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission was founded that she managed to file the very first anti-discrimination complaint against the United States. In 1968, the regulation was finally overturned and she went on to establish the largest independent union in the country today.

Lilly Ledbetter

tire-ornamentLilly managed to get her dream job as a manager at a Goodyear tire factory, but she also put up with a lot of harassment. Eventually, through an anonymous tip, she discovered that she was paid significantly less than her male peers for the same job.

After bringing her fight for equal pay to court, the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act became law in 2009.

Norma Yaeger

newy-york-big-apple-ornamentNorma was the very first woman allowed on the floor of the New York stock exchange. When her husband was laid off from his job, she stepped up to support her family. She became the first female graduate from her stockbroker-training program in 1962 and went on to start her own security brokerage firms. Her story is being turned into a movie!

We have so much to be proud of in women’s history!

Who are your female role models, and why? Share their stories with us in the comments below!