1990s: Moving boldly toward the New Millennium

The road women travelled in the 20th Century was not without bumps and detours, but by the end of the century they could be found heading major corporations, winning international athletic events, commanding space shuttles, and serving at the highest levels of government. In the 1990s, a decade of prosperity, women were the primary wage earners in nearly half of all American families, earned half of nearly all law degrees, and made up nearly 40 percent of the students in graduate schools of business. Women owned 8.5 million businesses, generating $3.1 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 24 million people. Faith Popcorn, futurist, declared an EVEolution with women assuming new positions of power in the economy and the marketplace. Popcorn, who coined the term “cocooning” to describe a society turning inward, saw the 1990s as “the ‘80s with a conscience.” “People do volunteer work with a ‘this-is-who-I-am attitude,’” she observed.

“[The League’s role is] leadership that emphasizes not only how to get things done…but understands and knows how to navigate the often turbulent waters of race, power, and class and is not afraid to talk about them.” -Mary Babson, Association President, 1992-94