"Answering Harvard's Question About My Personal Life, 52 Years Later" by Phyllis Richman in The Washington Post

[Pat]

Must read

[DaveO]

Must read

Great piece.

[DonRocks]

The moral of the story? Don't *ever* piss off a woman.

(In my opinion, his 2013 response is more astonishing than his 1961 letter. How a five-sentence response to this piece could possibly be *boring* to read (and it is intensely boring to read) is beyond me, but he somehow pulled it off).

BTW, in 1986 (25 years after this letter), I worked in the Charlotte, NC office of Arthur Andersen and Company. In the snack room, they had a "People Board" - an early attempt at Facebook - with a wall full of everyone's picture who worked in the Consulting Division: 51 white males and 1 white female.

[LauraB]

Thanks for posting this, Pat. I have sent the link to my twenty-something daughters and urged them to share it with their girlfriends. It's important for the younger generation to know how bad it was for women 'back in the day.' And how some triumphed anyway.

[Pat]

The moral of the story? Don't *ever* piss off a woman.

(In my opinion, his 2013 response is more astonishing than his 1961 letter. How a five-sentence response to this piece could possibly be *boring* to read (and it is intensely boring to read) is beyond me, but he somehow pulled it off).

The ending surprised me twice, first because I didn't figure he would have answered, and then, again, when I saw the answer. Whoa.

ETA: for any tl;dr people, you really need to read to the end.

[lperry]

Thanks for posting this, Pat. I have sent the link to my twenty-something daughters and urged them to share it with their girlfriends. It's important for the younger generation to know how bad it was for women 'back in the day.' And how some triumphed anyway.

Back in the day?

[LauraB]

Back in the day?

Linda, thank you for this reminder. The battle marches on. Man your stations, women! I am working to educate the younger generation who, I think, may not entirely grasp what women have been faced with in the past, thanks to the advances that we have made. Obviously, we are not there yet!

[lperry]

Linda, thank you for this reminder. The battle marches on. Man your stations, women! I am working to educate the younger generation who, I think, may not entirely grasp what women have been faced with in the past, thanks to the advances that we have made. Obviously, we are not there yet!

I would in no way downplay what those before me went through, but I do have a few stories of my own. I hope that my niece and friend's daughter, both of whom are leaning toward the sciences, fly through supported by encouragement and goodwill from all their professors. We've got a few more years to get it right for them.

[zoramargolis]

Not terribly significant, but of the three urban planners I count among my friends, two are women, both sixty or older.