Before the Feminist Movement of the 1970s, There Were the Women of Penn '64

PHILADELPHIA, April 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — “On the Cusp: The Women of Penn ’64” (new book available on Amazon.com) chronicles the lives of 19 remarkable women who graduated in 1964 from the University of Pennsylvania. In an era when opportunities for women were limited, these women became doctors, architects, attorneys, computer programmers, not-for-profit leaders and entrepreneurs. The women featured in this book became the role models; before them, there were none to follow.

With incredible self-confidence, these undergraduates did not major in teaching or nursing, traditional majors for 60s women. In the Foreword, Dr. Amy Gutmann, president of the University of Pennsylvania, says the women “gave themselves the freedom to find answers by pursuing personal and professional goals and became trendsetters for those following in their footsteps on Penn’s campus and beyond.”

Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, noted that the women provided “valuable insights that resonate in today’s era of the ‘#MeToo’ and ‘#TimesUp’ movements.”

The topic of women entering business early in the 1960s is a different genre of narrative that has received little notice. These Penn women did not know there was a “glass ceiling” (the term had not been invented yet). In the past 50+ years, the phenomenon of women going from the typing pool to the boardroom has taken place of its own dynamics. There was no law nor Constitutional Amendment. The Penn women were determined to “make it,” and “change the world,” despite a business environment not ready to accept women. These Penn women gained even more confidence during their years at Penn, given the few women at Penn at the time, the course work and the reputation of the University.

The authors Anne Sceia Klein (a graduate of Penn’s Wharton School ’64 and Annenberg School ’65) and Vilma Barr (a Drexel University and MIT graduate) interviewed the 19 women featured in the book. The authors believe this book could be used as a supplemental text book for women’s studies and in business classes worldwide.