The year 2019 will forever be remembered as a distinct turning point when women did not just pull up a chair to the table of global influence, but entirely redesigned the room. Across sports, science, politics, and economics, long-standing glass ceilings did not just crack - they shattered under the weight of historic firsts and unprecedented collective action. It was a twelve-month stretch defined by unapologetic excellence, proving that when women lead, the entire global narrative shifts.
Nowhere was this fierce brilliance more visible than on the global sporting stage, where the United States WomenÕs National Soccer Team turned the FIFA Women's World Cup into a masterclass of athletic dominance and social advocacy.
Led by the charismatic Megan Rapinoe, the squad captivated a record-breaking global audience of over one billion viewers, dominating their way to a world title while simultaneously leading a high-profile legal battle for equal pay. Their triumph transformed the sporting world, showing that excellence on the field is inextricably linked to demanding systemic respect off it.
Meanwhile, in the world of gymnastics, Simone Biles continued to rewrite the physics of her sport, cementing her legacy as the most decorated world championship gymnast in history.
Looking upward, the boundaries of human exploration expanded significantly in October when astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir stepped outside the International Space Station.
In a moment that captivated the world, they successfully executed NASA's first-ever all-female spacewalk, correcting decades of systemic infrastructure bias and inspiring a new generation of women in engineering and space exploration.
Back on Earth, structural academic barriers came tumbling down when development economist Esther Duflo was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for her groundbreaking work on global poverty alleviation, making her only the second woman and the youngest ever to receive the honor in the prizeÕs history.
The halls of global governance also witnessed an extraordinary changing of the guard, punctuated by a wave of youthful leadership and historic representation.
In Finland, Sanna Marin made headlines by stepping into office as the worldÕs youngest sitting Prime Minister, leading a remarkable coalition government powered entirely by female-led political parties. Across the Atlantic, the United States Congress welcomed its most diverse freshman class to date, featuring the historic swearing-in of the first Native American and Muslim congresswomen, forever altering the perspective of American legislative bodies. At the same time, youth activism found its fiercest voice in teenager Greta Thunberg, who stared down.
From the high-stakes corporate arenas to the furthest reaches of low-Earth orbit, 2019 proved that the contributions of women are not nominal anomalies but the vital engines driving modern progress. It was a year that refused the status quo, replacing polite requests for equality with undeniable, world-changing results. As the history books look back on this vibrant era, 2019 stands tall as the definitive year of the female trailblazer.
Overall in 2019, women captured global attention by commanding the FIFA Women's World Cup, executing NASAÕs first all-female spacewalk, and dominating the Forbes Most Powerful Women list in politics and finance.
The Gendered History of Human Computers Smithsonian - May 26, 2019
Tracy Chou is a 31-year-old programmer - and an absolute rock star, as her former boss Ben Silbermann, the CEO and co-founder of Pinterest, once gushed to me. She's a veteran of some of Silicon Valley's biggest names. She interned at Google and Facebook, then was an early hire at the question-answering site Quora, where she coded key early features, like its ranking algorithm and its weekly emailer software. At Pinterest, she helped overhaul the entire code base, making the service speedier and more reliable. These days, sheÕs the founder of Block Party, a start-up making tools to help social-media users deal with harassment. Yet for all her street cred, Chou still finds herself grappling with one of the biggest problems in the industry: Female programmers are regarded skeptically, and sometimes even treated with flat-out hostility.
African American women graduate in record number from West Point NBC - May 26, 2019
record number of African American women graduated from West Point military academy in New York. Among the more than 200 female cadets in the 2019 graduating class, 34 were black women, the largest number of African American female graduates in the academy's history. U.S. Military Academy spokesman Francis DeMaro said last year's class had 27 African American female graduates.
Where is abortion legal? Everywhere. But ... USA Today - May 16, 2019
Forty-three states prohibit abortion after a certain point in the pregnancy, including Alabama's near-total ban and 4 that passed heartbeat bills in 2019.Seventeen states ban abortion at viability, meaning that the pregnancy has reached the point that the fetus could survive after delivery (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware*, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland*, Michigan*, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana*, Tennessee*, Utah*, Washington and Wyoming). Of those states, six make exceptions for either life endangerment/threat to the woman's health, rape/incest or fetal abnormality. Six states ban after 24 weeks (Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York*, Pennsylvania*, Rhode Island*) and Virginia after 25 weeks. Roe v. Wade Wikipedia
Barbara York Main, Australia's spider woman and Wheatbelt advocate, author and poet dies ABC - May 23, 2019
Barbara York Main devoted her life to studying spiders and the Western Australian bush. There are moments in life when your path pivots. A toe firmly plants into the sandy earth and your direction changes. One of those moments happened to a small child named Barbara in the 1930s, in the West Australian Wheatbelt to the east of Perth. In the uncleared bushland surrounding the homestead where she lived with her parents and brothers, six-year-old Barbara noticed the holes in the ground made by trapdoor spiders.
More than 8,500 women have joined the 500 Women Scientists database STAT - April 23, 2019
Since the grassroots organization launched its searchable database of women scientists in January 2018, more than 8,500 researchers across the globe have shared their information so that journalists, conference organizers, and teachers can tap into their expertise. From 'manels' to meetings with an abundance of Michaels, the leaders of 500 Women Scientists say the need for their database is clear. And now, they have data to demonstrate its impact. In a new paper published Tuesday in the journal PLOS Biology, the researchers behind 500 Women Scientists report that their platform has been accessed more than 100,000 times. And among 1,200 participants surveyed about their experience, 11 percent said they had been contacted as a result of the database for media interviews, peer review, panels, and other opportunities.
There are many organizations promoting women in business as their numbers slowly increase on the road to success.
My daughter Zsia Rosmarin was one of NJBIZ Best 50 Women in Business Awards Winners at the Palace at Somerset Park NJBZ - February 8, 2019
The annual event, one of NJBIZ's most popular, recognizes leading women shaping their organizations, industries and the economic landscape of the Garden State. Following an open nomination process, winners were chosen by a panel of independent judges based upon their professional success, community involvement and advocacy for women.
Pomp and Pompous - Queen Elizabeth and Donald Trump - Princesses and Priestesses