this day in women's history | day 2

1980: Sherry Lansing becomes first woman to head major film studio On January 2, 1980, Sherry Lansing became the first woman to head production at a major movie studio as well as the highest-paid female executive in any industry after she was named the president of 20th Century Fox Productions. Before working in Hollywood, Lansing was a high school math teacher working in Los Angeles. With her groundbreaking success at 20th Century Fox, she was able to pave the way for future women leaders in major movie studios. I had no idea who Sherry Lansing is until I read this fact about her. It's amazing to see how women persisted in breaking into fields that they never were in before. To become the first woman to head a production? and then become the highest-paid female executive in any industry is incredible. But! To point something out about the latter -- the gender pay gap has always been huge and continues to exist across all industries. She was the highest-paid female executive. So, while she broke through a major ceiling in women's earning potential across industries, she was still making less than male executives. Her story is especially moving to me because she went from a stereotypically "female" occupation as a high school teacher to become an important figure in the film industry where women, even today, are less frequently heading productions. Whatever field you are interested in, I hope that the typical demographic of those who had previously walked through it never deters you from walking it yourself. At the same time, it is so difficult to be the first; the one who makes a difference. As a woman in tech, I often have to ask myself if I really want to keep fighting to be the best in a field that is still dominated by male culture. At work, locker room talk is rampant -- thank goodness for working from home. And, inappropriate, toxically masculine behavior has existed at every company I've worked for, but has never been as bad as in the tech companies I've walked through. I can't imagine the courage it must have taken to leave a career she was familiar with to pursue one that required her envisioning something for herself that never existed in the past. That's a wrap for today, Michelle