How is that being-a-woman thing working for us?

I feel like I have been hearing people say for years now that women were "winning" over men. I remember in particular hearing this from another aspiring journalist. A man. We were both recent graduates from college in 1992. However, I got a job and he did not. He seemed to think in part because newsrooms were interested in "diversity." Which I represented. As a woman and Asian, too!

However. What about the fact that I showed a bit of hustle? Which is what one ought to demonstrate as a would-be reporter. I had accumulated clips at my college newspaper, of which I became the editor-in-chief after I had worked most of my free time on it for three years; applied for (and won) competitive internships as an undergraduate; then mailed literally dozens of letters to newspapers and magazines across the country looking for a reporting assignment. (I remember receiving cordial rejection letters from newspapers in Providence, RI, and Anniston, AL)

Here is a reality check from sociologist Stephanie Coontz, who also wrote The Way We Never Were, which discussed the realities versus the stereotypes of 20th century American families.

"What we are seeing is a convergence in economic fortunes, not female ascendance."