“’She broke the glass ceiling.’
What a jagged image we use for women who achieve greatly, defining accomplishment in terms of the barrier rather than the triumph. There she is up where the air is thin, where the men still outnumber the women, but where the altitude is awesome. Our goal with Firsts is for every woman and girl to find someone whose presence in the highest reaches of success says to her that it is safe to climb, come on up, the view is spectacular.”1
This quote comes from last Thursday’s launch of the newest special project from Time, ‘Firsts: Women Who Are Changing the World’. Aptly named, this project includes recorded interviews with nearly 50 influential women, all of whom can claim to be the first at something in their field. The interviews have also been transcribed and compiled into a book with the same title. The book is available for pre-order now, and will be officially released on September 17th (see below for a link)!
The interviews are broken up into five categories:
The Setbacks: Fifteen women discuss the double standards and gender-based discrimination they have faced on their journey to the top.
The Motivations: Fourteen women delve into what inspires them.
The Families: Eight women explain how they have tackled the ever-elusive balancing act of having a career and a family.
The Histories: Nineteen women on their backgrounds, and the people who have shaped their stories.
The Ceiling: Twelve women telling their story of shattering the glass.
Women from different races, sexualities, generations, and professional realms are represented in this collection. From Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as the United States Secretary of State, to Mo’ne Davis, the first girl to pitch a shutout and win a game in a Little League World Series, to Rachel Maddow, the first openly gay anchor to host a prime-time news program, to Rita Moreno, the first Latina to complete the EGOT (winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award), I think every girl can find a source of inspiration and a reason to aspire to be the best at whatever they choose to do in these stories.
Pre-order “Firsts” here: https://shop.time.com/storefront/books/time-firsts-women-who-are-changing-the-world-font-color-red-pre-sale-font-/prodTDSHOPFIRSTS.html
1″TIME Firsts: Women Leaders Who Are Changing the World.” Time. Time, 7 Sept. 2017. Web.