Women

When I went to college in the 1950's only 5% of high school students went on to college and only about one in five of those were female. The women who wanted to make a career chose teaching or nursing and almost no women majored in science and engineering. There was a derogatory joke that women went to college to get an MRS. Today there are more women in medical school, law school and graduate school than men. You've come a long way baby. While most men my age didn't give much thought to the plight of women our ideas quickly changed when we had daughters and especially when they got to college age. The list of the most important events of the last century are always led by the depression and WW 2 but the coming out of the women should be right up there at the top. They are often mentioned for their contributions during the war where they built the munitions that won the war but their overall benefit to society was the most important change of the century. Those changes have continued and expanded into the 21st century.