G9: Susan Stamberg, Linda Wertheimer, Nina Totenberg & Cokie Roberts: The Founding Mothers

In the years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, women in the workplace still found themselves relegated to secretarial positions or locked out of jobs entirely. This was especially true in the news business, a backwater of male chauvinism where a woman might be lucky to get a foothold on the "women's pages." But when a pioneering nonprofit called National Public Radio came along in the 1970s, and the door to serious journalism opened a crack, four remarkable women came along and blew it off the hinges. Though their early paths differed, they joined forces at NPR, overqualified and underpaid due to the widespread gender discrimination of the day. The quartet banded together (their area of the newsroom was nicknamed the "Fallopian Jungle") to push for change for women and minorities. Not only did these female journalists break glass ceilings, they made a lasting mark on NPR during the network's formative years.

Purpose: Discussion panel on the Founding Mothers of NPR and how they changed the face of journalism

Facilitators: Mary Tousignant, Mo Winograd, Jan Johnson (Guest Presenter – Shadow Wood), Ruthmarie Mitsch (Guest Presenter – Lighthouse Bay)