Janet L. Robinson

Janet L. Robinson (born June 11, 1950) is an American publishing executive who became president and chief executive officer of The New York Times Company on December 27, 2004 and retired from that position on December 31, 2011.
Early life.
Robinson received a B.A. degree in English from Salve Regina University, where she graduated "cum laude" in 1972. In 1996, she completed the Executive Education Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. Robinson was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Business Administration degree from Salve Regina University in May 1998. She was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Pace University and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in May 2006.
Before joining the Times Company, she was a public school teacher in Newport, Rhode Island, and Somerset, Massachusetts.
"The New York Times".
She joined the Times Company in June 1983 as an account executive at Tennis magazine. Robinson was national resort and travel manager of Golf Digest/Tennis in May 1985 and the advertising director of Tennis magazine from September 1987 until August 1990.
Robinson served as group senior vice president for the advertising sales and marketing unit of company's Women's Magazine Group (which has since been sold) since January 1992, vice president and director of advertising from May until December 1994, senior vice president of the group from January 1995 until 1996, and she was senior vice president of advertising. In this capacity, Robinson was also responsible for overall advertising sales at the newspaper.
From February 2001 until January 2004, she served as senior vice president and held the position as president and general manager of The New York Times newspaper from 1996 until 2004.
On December 27, 2004, Robinson was named president and C.E.O. of The New York Times Company and elected as a director of the Company.
Robinson unexpectedly announced her year-end retirement from the Times on December 15, 2011 after twenty-eight years with the company. Her severance package valued at about $23 million was disclosed on March 9, 2012 in the company's regulatory filing.
The reasons behind her retirement were undisclosed and fostered questions by business analysts and observers suggesting her departure resulted from personal conflicts with Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
Sulzberger Jr. filled in as C.E.O. of the Times Company until the search for a permanent successor was completed with the choice of Mark Thompson.
Other interests.
She is the chairman of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, a member of International Advisory Board of Fleishman Hillard, Chairman of the Presidential Board of Trustees of Salve Regina University and a member of the Leadership Committee for The Lincoln Center Consolidated Corporate Fund. She is the Chair of the Ad Council Campaign Selection Committee, a Trustee for the University of Rhode Island Oceanography Graduate School and a Trustee of the Preservation Society of Newport County.
She was on the board of New England Sports Ventures, and was vice chairman of the board of the Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, New Jersey. In 2008 she joined the advisory board for New York Women in Communications, Inc. (NYWICI). She was the chairman of the Advertising Council from 2004 until 2005, and served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Advertising Federation from 1999 until 2000. From 2001 to 2009 was on the board of the Newspaper Association of America.
Accolades.
She has been included many times in Forbes magazine’s list of 100 Most Powerful Women in the World. She was included on Crain’s New York Business’s 100 Most Influential Women in New York City Business list and on its 50 Most Powerful Women in New York list. Robinson was named to Fortune magazine’s annual survey of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, and she was also named to the Financial Times’s list of 50 Top Women in World Business.
She received a 2009 National Association of Female Executives (NAFE) Women of Excellence award and a 2009 CEO Diversity Leadership Award from Diversity Best Practices, and she was named to the list of “Women Worth Watching in 2010” for Profiles in Diversity Journal. She has received the Association for Women in Communications, Inc., Matrix Award in April 1998, given to women who have distinguished themselves in the communications field for exceptional achievement, in this case, in the area of newspapers. In February 1997, she was named by Advertising Age as one of “25 Women to Watch” among the most prominent women in advertising, marketing and media.


Angela Rayner

Angela Rayner (' Bowen; born 28 March 1980) is a British politician serving as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work since 2021 and Shadow First Secretary of State, Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. She has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015. She ideologically identifies as a socialist and as being part of Labour's soft left.
Rayner was born in Stockport, where she attended the state secondary Avondale School. She left school aged 16 whilst pregnant and without any qualifications. She later trained in social care, eventually becoming a trade union representative within Unison, during which time she joined the Labour Party. Selected to contest Ashton-under-Lyne in 2014, Rayner was elected for the seat at the 2015 general election.
In January 2016, Rayner was appointed as Shadow Minister for Pensions by Jeremy Corbyn and was promoted later in 2016 to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities. As Shadow Education Secretary, she proposed the creation of a National Education Service (NES) modelled on the National Health Service (NHS). She endorsed Rebecca Long-Bailey in the 2020 Labour Party leadership election, who came second to Keir Starmer, and instead successfully stood for the deputy leadership, after which she was appointed as party chair and national campaign coordinator. She was removed from these roles in a reshuffle following Labour's poor performance at the 2021 local elections, subsequently being appointed as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work.
Early life and career.
Rayner was born on 28 March 1980 in Stockport, Greater Manchester. She attended Avondale School in Stockport, leaving the school aged 16 after becoming pregnant, and did not obtain any qualifications. She later studied part-time at Stockport College, learning British Sign Language, and qualifying as a social care worker.
After leaving college, Rayner worked for Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council as a care worker for a number of years. During this time, she was also elected as a trade union representative for Unison. She was later elected as convenor of Unison North West, becoming the union's most senior official in the region. "The Guardian" featured a lengthy profile of Rayner in 2012, as part of an article on a trade union officer's working life.
Member of Parliament.
In September 2014, Rayner was selected as Labour's candidate for Ashton-under-Lyne, on the retirement of David Heyes. She won the seat at the 2015 general election, increasing the Labour majority and its share of the vote. She delivered her maiden speech on 3 June 2015.
Rayner nominated Andy Burnham in the 2015 Labour leadership election, but was one of just 18 Members of Parliament (MP) to back the incumbent Jeremy Corbyn against Owen Smith in the 2016 leadership election.
On 1 July 2016, after a series of resignations from the Shadow Cabinet, Corbyn appointed Rayner as Shadow Secretary of State for Education. She supported the notion of a 'National Education Service' to be modelled along similar lines to the National Health Service, also promoting an increase in funding for early years education. She was considered by some as a possible future Labour leader.
In the 2019 general election, Rayner was returned as Member of Parliament for the third time in 5 years. She did not stand for the Labour leadership in the 2020 leadership election, supporting her flatmate Rebecca Long-Bailey, who came second to Keir Starmer. She stood successfully for Deputy Leader, elected on 4 April 2020, replacing Tom Watson. She was appointed Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow First Secretary of State and Chair of the Labour Party in the following days. In October 2020 Rayner called Greater Manchester Conservative MP Chris Clarkson 'scum' as he was giving a speech in Parliament. She later apologised.
Rayner was sworn to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 12 February 2021.
Rayner was removed from her roles as the Labour Party's chair and national campaign coordinator in a reshuffle by Keir Starmer on 8 May 2021, following the 2021 local elections. Rayner was subsequently appointed as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work.
In May 2021, Rayner was the subject of BBC Radio 4's weekly "Profile" programme.
Political views.
Rayner identifies as a socialist. In a 2017 interview to "The Guardian" discussing her political beliefs, Rayner highlighted her pragmatism, describing herself as being part of the "soft left" of the Labour Party. She has strongly criticised former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as he "did not command the respect of the party" and critiqued his lack of "discipline" when it came to dealing with allegations of antisemitism.
Rayner is an ardent supporter of Palestinian rights, condemning the killings of Palestinians during the Great March of Return and has repeatedly cited Israeli violations of human rights against Palestinians on social media. She is also a member of the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.
Personal life.
In 2010, she married Mark Rayner, a Unison official. She has three sons, the first born when she was aged 16. Her third son was born prematurely at 23 weeks and Rayner says that the care that her son received demonstrated the importance of the NHS to her. Rayner lives in her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne with her family. She became a grandmother in November 2017.
In an interview with Evan Davis of the BBC in 2018, Rayner said that her mother had been unable to read or write; a repeat of part of a tribute she made to her mother in 2016.
In March 2019, Rayner said that she had fitted panic buttons at her home after rape and death threats were sent to her a few weeks earlier.
In March 2020, Rayner said she had suffered symptoms of COVID-19.


Elissa Silverman

Elissa Silverman is an American politician and reporter from Washington, D.C., the United States capital. She has served as an independent at-large member of the Council of the District of Columbia since January 2, 2015. Before 2014, she was a journalist at "The Washington Post" and "Washington City Paper" covering D.C. politics, and a policy analyst at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute. She was re-elected in November 2018 for a four-year term.
Early life and professional career.
Elissa Silverman was born to parents Jack and Ruth Silverman in Baltimore, Maryland, where she attended public school. She majored in economics and history at Brown University. She has worked as a reporter for "The Washington Post" and, earlier, the "Washington City Paper" where she wrote the Loose Lips column. She also helped the D.C. Public Trust in its attempt to prohibit direct corporate contributions in local politics. In April 2009, she was hired as a policy analyst and communications director at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, a position she held until resigning to run for public office in April 2014. She attends the University of Maryland, and is pursuing a master's degree in urban studies and planning.
Political career.
2013 election.
When At-large Council Member Phil Mendelson was elected council chairman in 2012, his former seat on the Council was declared vacant. Silverman filed to run as a Democratic candidate for the at-large seat. Silverman ran against incumbent Anita Bonds, and Board of Education member Patrick Mara. Silverman said she would not accept campaign contributions from corporations.
Silverman supported increasing funding to government programs that subsidize affordable housing, and expanding the minimum wage law to cover restaurant workers. Silverman said it is a problem that a quarter of District students attend their zoned neighborhood schools, saying more governmental resources should improve schools.
Following a $440 million budget surplus in 2012, Bonds and Mara supported tax cuts, while Silverman said she would prioritize helping people in other ways before cutting taxes. A political action committee criticized Silverman when she said she did not think residents minded paying taxes and minded poor city services more.
Silverman and her campaign tried to negotiate a deal with rival candidate Matthew Frumin, asking him to drop out of the election in exchange for her supporting him in a future election. Frumin declined the offer, saying he felt he still had a chance to win. Frumin said Silverman's offer may contradict her case for being a reformer.
"It was explicit that she would support me in a Ward 3 race, including against Mary Cheh," said Frumin, who has consistently said he has no interest in running against Cheh next year. "The idea of an attempted deal, maybe that is what happens in politics, but when you are claiming a whole new politics, that is something of an issue."
Silverman's candidacy was endorsed by Council Member David Grosso former Council Member Sharon Ambrose, and former Council Member Kathy Patterson. She was also endorsed by the editorial board of the Washington City Paper, Democracy for America, and the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 2.
Silverman finished second to Anita Bonds, by a margin of 31% to 28%.
2014 election.
When independent Council Member David Catania decided to run for mayor rather than reelection in 2014, Silverman decided to change her official political status to independent and leave her position at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute to consider another candidacy. Silverman publicly declared her candidacy for Council the next month.
Silverman emphasized accountability of elected officials, accountability of public schools, quality education, affordable housing, and good public transportation. Silverman said she would not accept campaign contributions from corporations. She was proud of helping increase the District's minimum wage to $11.50 per hour and expand the mandatory paid sick leave law to restaurant employees.
Silverman's candidacy was endorsed by Ward 8 Council Member Marion Barry, Ward 6 Council candidate Charles Allen, the D.C. Chapter of the National Organization for Women, D.C. Working Families, Jews United for Justice, and the D.C. Muslim Caucus, Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union 32BJ and 1199, DC for Democracy, the Sierra Club, the DC Police Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers local, and the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 36. She was also endorsed by the editorial board of the Washington City Paper.
Silverman was elected to the at-large seat in the 2014 general election with 12% of the total votes.
2018 election.
Silverman stood for re-election in the 2018 general election. Among her challengers were S. Kathryn Allen, a business-backed challenger who was a former insurance agent and banking commissioner. Allen, who was endorsed by former mayor Anthony Williams and former D.C. Councilmember David Catania, had specifically challenged Silverman over the latter's support of a comprehensive paid leave proposal which was passed into law by the council in 2016. Allen and other opponents of the paid leave bill argued that it imposes a costly tax on DC businesses and that the benefits will primarily accrue to residents of Maryland and Virginia who commute into the city. Allen was disqualified from the 2018 ballot as a result of signature fraud on her nominating petitions. Dionne Reeder, a candidate backed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, entered the race to replace Silverman, though was not successful in the November 2018 general election.
Positions.
In 2016, Silverman introduced legislation to limit public spending on a proposed practice facility for the Washington Wizards. The law would cap public expenditures at $50 million and hold Ted Leonsis' company, which owns the team, responsible for any cost overruns.
Committees.
Silverman was appointed to the following committees for Council Period 21 (January 2015 to December 2016).
Personal life.
Silverman lives in Capitol Hill. She is Jewish.


Kate McLean

Catherine McLean known as Kate McLean and later Kate Beaton (6 January 1879 – 21 October 1960) was a British trade unionist and councillor in Glasgow. She led the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) and several disputes including the six-month-long networkers strike in Kilbirnie in 1913.
Life.
McLean was born in Glasgow in 1879. She was the fourth of six children and she attended school until the age of twelve. She began her association with socialist causes when she joined the Women's Labour League. The following year she was in the National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW). She was one of their delegates to the important Glasgow Trades Council. In 1911 she was one of the first six women to attend the Scottish Trades Union Congress in Dundee as delegates (rather than wives). She was involved with the STUC until 1914 when she married.
The cotton-thread workers of Neilston struck on 25 May 1910 and McLean and Esther Dick quickly signed up the strikers into the NFWW. The strike grew as the employers were unwilling to talk to the NFWW and by June it was a lock-out with hundreds of new (striking) NFWW members. The strike was important as it was the first time that the workers had moved away from paternalistic employers towards a union to support them.
She was again involved when the NFWW supported the 1911 strike at the Vale of Leven dyeworks at the United Turkey Red Company. This was a major dispute for this Alexandria company and there was some violence. The NFWW were already active there but they attracted many more members. By January they had 600 members and by February 1911 there were 2,000. The NFWW's policy was to try and steer these new members into existing unions where they would be accepted. These high numbers allowed the NFWW to apply pressure to the National Amalgamated Society of Dyers, Bleachers, Finishers and Kindred Trade and the women were accepted as members.
She was a leader too at the 1913 networkers' strike in Kilbirnie which was agreed at an NFWW meeting in late March. It lasted from April to September 1913 and it was the longest recorded strike of women workers at that time. The strike enjoyed community support and in May there was a meeting in Kilbirnie where 10,000 supporters were present. The NFWW welcomed the attention and McLean signed up 200 new members at the nearby Nobels’ dynamite factory in Ardeer, North Ayrshire. The networkers dispute was resolved on 2 September 1913. McLean gave the closing speech and noted that it was the union who had improved wages and working conditions.
She married in 1914 and it was as Kate Beaton that she was elected unopposed for the Hutchisontown ward as a Glasgow councillor. She kept that position until 1949 when she retired from the position.
McLean died in 1960 in Glasgow.


Gina Blay

Gina Blay (born 29 October 1956) is a Ghanaian journalist and diplomat and a sympathizer of the New Patriotic Party of Ghana. She is currently Ghana's ambassador to Germany.
Educational life.
Gina Blay is a past student of OLA Girls School in Ho, obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Ghana. and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Working life.
Gina Blay began her career in 1981 as the Public Relations Officer of Prices & Incomes Board, She later moved to the Achimota Brewery Company Limited as the Public Relations Manager, where she edited and published the Brewery’s magazine, the "ABC News. She was" the chief executive officer of Western Publication Limited a print media house (publishers of the "Daily Guide" newspaper and other publications) since 1992 util her appointment as Ambassador in June 2017. She aided in the growth of the business from a family running size to one of the largest media houses in Ghana. moreover, she served on the Boards of several companies and organizations in Ghana, including the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Ghana Telecom, Ghana News Agency, the National Media Commission, and the World Association of Newspapers, chaired the Board of the Mokola Marketing Company Limited and President of the Private Newspapers Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) for ten years.
Battle with cancer.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008 and had series of chemotherapy treatment.
Ambassadorial appointment.
In June 2017, President Nana Akuffo-Addo named Gina Blay as Ghana's ambassador to Germany. She was among eight other distinguished Ghanaians who were named to head various Ghanaian diplomatic missions in the world.
Personal life.
Gina Blay is happily married to a Ghanaian Lawyer, a Politician and the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr. Frederick Worsemao Armah Blay (Freddie Blay.) and together, they have three children. In her spare time, she enjoys swimming and reading.


Sexism in the technology industry

Sexism in the technology industry is occupational sexism in the technology industry. It has been variously argued in the media that a high ratio of men to women, graduation rates for engineering degrees, and the culture of the industry itself cause sexism in the technology industry.
Statistics.
In 1970, 13.6% of U.S. computer science and information science bachelor's degrees were awarded to women. By 1984, that number rose to 37.1%. In 2011, however, only 17.6% of undergraduate computer science degrees went to women.
In May 2014, Google posted on its official blog that only 30 percent of its employees globally were women.
In January 2015, the "New York Times" said "the largest technology companies have released reports showing that only 30% of their employees are women", with the percentage of technical employees being even lower.
A "Fortune" magazine review of data available for the 92 US-based venture capital firms which had raised "at least one fund of $200 million or more" between 2009 and 2014 found "only 17 had even one senior female partner", and 4.2% of "partner level VCs" were female.
An Open Diversity Data website has been created to provide access to diversity data for specific companies.
Only 11% of Silicon Valley executives and about 20% of software developers are women. At Google, only 18% of technical employees are women. On "Forbes"' 2015 Top Tech Investors list, of 100 investors, only 5% are women. Women in technology earn less than men, with men earning up to 61% more than women. "Bias against women in tech is pervasive", according to an October 2014 op-ed in "The New York Times".
A 2015 survey entitled "The Elephant in the Valley" conducted a survey of two hundred senior-level women in Silicon Valley. 84% of participants were told they were "too aggressive" in the office, and 66% said that they were excluded from important events due to their gender. In addition, 60% of women said that they received unwanted sexual advances in their respective workplaces – the majority of which came from a superior. Almost 40% did not report the incidents out of fear of retaliation.
The "New York Times" obtained a copy of Google's Salary Spreadsheet in 2014, which depicts each employee's salary and bonus information. This spreadsheet reports that at Google, women receive lower salaries than their male counterparts for five out of six job titles that are listed on the spreadsheet.
Media reports.
In 1997, Anita Borg, then a senior researcher at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) complained that women "run into subtle sexism every day." At the time only one woman, Carol Bartz of Autodesk, was a chief executive officer (CEO) among the largest Silicon Valley technology companies, and only 5.6% of the area's 1,686 major tech firms were run by women. It was even harder for female entrepreneurs. Of the $33.5 billion in venture capital invested in tech from 1991 through the second quarter of 1996, only 1.6% went to companies launched or headed by women.
The 2015 Crunchies award event, organized by Silicon Valley tech industry blogs, was criticized for its use of derogatory language towards women.
Multiple gender harassment and discrimination lawsuits in Silicon Valley have received media attention. One of the most widely reported was "Pao v. Kleiner Perkins", a discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins by then Reddit interim CEO Ellen Pao, which went to trial in 2015. Pao's lawsuit, which alleged that Perkins indulged in double standards and denied her the senior partner position, resulted in a verdict for the defendant. Three jurors cited Pao's "increasingly negative performance reviews" as the primary reason.
On September 20, 2016, Tesla employee AJ Vandermayden filed a lawsuit against her company alleging sex discrimination, retaliation, and other workplace violations. Vandermayden brought about this lawsuit after learning her salary was lower than those of the eight other employees, all male, with whom she worked most closely, despite the fact that some of them had just finished college. She was also subjected to a much harsher standard in order to receive a promotion and pay raise that many of her male colleagues had received simply for working at the company for a certain period of time.
In Silicon Valley, a start-up surveillance company Verkada Inc. was accused of sexism and discrimination against female employees after a sales director used the company's facial recognition system to harass female workers by taking photos of them.
Possible causes.
There are several possible causes and theories behind sexism in the technology industry.
Investment of grants and conscious belief in intellectual sex differences.
Some scholars studying discrimination in the tech industry argue that since decision-makers in the tech industry often believe that men are inherently more technically competent than women, they think that it is economically a better investment to employ male tech personnel and to give higher budgets to the male staff than to the female staff. According to this model, those investments lead to more opportunities for male staff to produce high quality results, which in turn reinforces the statistical bias and is used as an argument for male technical superiority, causing a self-fulfilling prophecy. These scholars argue that the main problem is not unconscious bias, but conscious belief in allegedly scientific notions of sex differences, citing that the percentage of women in the highest quality tech work have decreased despite a decline in traditional and unconscious gender bias and quotas of women at lower levels of tech (though supposedly scientific claims of sex differences have increased and can account for the increased discrimination at top tech). While this model states that there is systematic discrimination towards women in tech, it explains it as a result of specific economical investment issues and does not presume a society-wide patriarchal structure nor even that discrimination must necessarily favor men in all aspects of society.
Gender stereotypes.
Men are typically more authoritative and influential than women. In tasks that are perceived as masculine by society, women have less influence and are not considered experts. Only when a task is stereotyped as feminine will a woman have more influence or authority than a man. Violating gender-stereotypic norms results in social penalties.Men are believed to be more self-assertive and motivated to master their environment [while] women are believed to be more selfless and concerned with others.
No sexism exists at all.
According to studies of early childhood development in human children, boys preferred technical toys (e.g. wheeled vehicles) while girls preferred social toys (e.g. furry animals). The same obtains for non-human children: rhesus and vervet monkeys, who cannot be said to be "socialized". Thus sex-based preferences for STEM subjects are innate and assuming third-party bias is wrong in itself.
There are various criticisms of these claims however. One is citing that since infants interact with other humans from birth, if only their parents, and rapidly absorb accents, the concept of a pre-socialized stage is spurious. These critics argue that the monkeys that have been studied in primatology are ones that have lived close to human settlements and imitated human habits, and are therefore not non-socialized either. Other critics buy the existence of a pre-socialized stage, though they argue that there would be no evolutionary function for a brain mechanism that starts to distinguish social phenomena from other phenomena before socialization starts. Therefore, these authors argue, distinctions between toys that predate socialization are unrelated to interests later in life.
There are primatologists who argue that since female chimpanzees in some groups hunt and use tools at least as much as the males, there is no innate universal primate bias towards technology being male.
Against the cultural deterministic approach, the Norwegian documentary "Hjernevask" presented a few arguments that cause a widespread debate, particularly with the first episode, The Gender Equality Paradox, which also might have contributed to the Scandinavian government's decision to stop funding the regional gender studies institute.
Science, engineering and technology (SET) culture.
A 2006 project run and sponsored by private sector (and thus not peer-reviewed by academia), the "Hidden Brain Drain", analyzed the careers of women in SET industries. According to the authors of the post-project review, the following characteristic of the SET culture, sometimes called the "Athena Effect" may exclude women workers:
Despite the satisfaction that many women find in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers, studies show that a main reason young women do not engage in STEM from an early age may be cultural messages inclining them to other subjects. Women be uncomfortable engaging in STEM. However, the technology industry itself is not solely responsible for the lack of women in STEM careers. According to Brown and Leaper, "Many parents tend to have higher expectations of sons over daughters in math, science, computers, and sports". Therefore, childhood upbringing may also contribute to the alleged gender bias in the technology industry.
Male dominated environment.
According to an essay in "The Atlantic", women leave the tech industry at twice the rate men do. In addition to this, according to different studies, there is an imbalanced gender ratio in the technology industry to begin with. Women are estimated to only make up 25% of employees in the industry. Furthermore, 11% of executives in the technology industry are women. Google has released the gender breakdown for just their company: 17% of the company's employees are women. Since men are a majority in the industry, corporate events and industry conferences tend to cater to their taste, occasionally in ways which some women perceive as hostile, such as by hiring sexually provocative female performers and product promoters. Instances of sexual harassment at such events are also widely reported. This along with more subtle hostility such as offensive male humor can turn women away from the industry, further exacerbating the demographic imbalance already present.
Lack of awareness about sexual harassment.
The principle of sexual harassment has only recently been recognized by the United States federal government as a legal issue. The first reported case that led to the recognition of sexual harassment as a legal concept was in 1977, in which a woman was fired from her job for refusing her boss' sexual advances. Nine years later, in 1986, the United States Supreme Court recognized cases like these as sexual harassment and as a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Still, the idea of sexual harassment was not truly recognized by the public until a 1991 case against a Supreme Court nominee was brought forward to Congress. Overall, sexual harassment was not fully recognized by the United States until the late 1900s, yielding a lack of reported incidents up until that point, as well as an increasing, but not yet fully developed, public awareness of the issue.
Effects.
As of 2004, only 4% of the engineering workforce in the UK were women. In information technology (IT), the Dice Salary Survey estimated that between 2008 and 2009, women earned an average of 12.43% less in salary than males. However, it is unclear if the Dice survey specifically addresses sexist discrimination as a possible cause for women to earn lower average salaries in technology, or if the pay gap between men and women can be accounted for by differences in training, seniority, competence, overtime, or other variables that can effect salary. In addition to unequal pay, one study suggests that women are often excluded from informal work networks and become targets of bullying such as sexual harassment.
Proposed solutions.
Current gender roles and expectations may hold back women from entering, sustaining, and advancing in the technology field. To combat sexism in technology, researchers have suggested that companies take responsibility and change their organizational structure issues instead of expecting women to adapt to the current state of the work environment. One proposed change would be to have more than simple diversity programs; companies need to ensure that their work environments allow people with various backgrounds and thought processes to work collaboratively to achieve organizational objectives. According to Schiebinger, women should not assimilate to the profession, they should modify it; increased minorities in IT means nothing if there is an unaccommodating industry. Ray McCarthy, a Middle School technology education teacher, believes that schools have a role to play in the solution to sexism in technology industry. He suggests classrooms have a welcoming feel that engages all students, validate their interests, and support positive inquiry.
Several conferences such as the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conferences have afforded women in technology the ability to pursue their career interests in a separate space from most men who dominate the profession. Such events represent both part of the technology industry which is created by and for women, and allows them a platform from which to impact the rest of the industry.
Another proposed solution is presented by Project include, a nonprofit organization that was established with the purpose of giving everyone a fair chance to succeed in the technology industry. Using the three key values of inclusion, comprehensiveness, and accountability, the organization works to find solution to diversity and inclusion issues that are present in the technology industry.
Criticism.
In July 2014, a young, male computer science major at Yale College wrote in "Forbes" that although women only constitute 16% of the tech workforce, they also only account for 18% of computer science undergraduate degrees awarded to U.S. residents. He opined that the low numbers boiled down to "ultra-capable, math-savvy women" having "a different profile of interests, on average, than their male counterparts."
"Forbes" columnist Joseph Steinberg wrote of witnessing multiple sexist situations, including a technology company founder referred to as a "Booth Babe" at a trade show. He blamed disproportionate technology-industry sexism, and a low number of females in the field, on a large number of computing-related startup companies hiring primarily young workers, thereby creating "an environment in which many firms' technical teams consist largely of workers who are just out of college, sometimes giving the businesses fraternity-like cultures, leading to sexism that discourages female participation." Douglas Macmillan of "Bloomberg Businessweek" has referred to this phenomenon as "brogrammer culture".
A cover story appearing on the January 15, 2015 issue of "Newsweek" magazine, titled "What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women" proved controversial, both due to its illustration, described as "the cartoon of a faceless female in spiky red heels, having her dress lifted up by a cursor arrow", and its content, described as "a 5,000-word article on the creepy, sexist culture of the tech industry". Among those offended by the cover were Today Show co-host Tamron Hall, who commented "I think it's obscene and just despicable, honestly." Newsweek editor in chief James Impoco explained "We came up with an image that we felt represented what that story said about Silicon Valley ... If people get angry, they should be angry." The article's author, Nina Burleigh commented, "Where were all these offended people when women like Heidi Roizen published accounts of having a venture capitalist stick her hand in his pants under a table while a deal was being discussed?"
Incidents.
In 2012, women created "creeper move" cards, in red, yellow, and green, to hand out at the DEF CON security conference as an indication of what they perceived to be inappropriate behavior from men. The conference in 2013 featured a game show called "Hacker Jeopardy" (a spoof of "Jeopardy!"), in which hostess Vinyl Vanna presided by removing an article of clothing with each correct answer.
In March 2013 at PyCon, attendee Adria Richards overheard a conversation by two men where they joked about a "dongle" as well as saying they'd "like to fork his [the speaker's] repo" (a non-sexual phrase meaning they'd like to build on the speaker's code). She photographed the men and Tweeted their photo to complain to the Pycon staff. This led to a controversy that came to be known as Donglegate, which included counterpoints that Richards herself had recently made jokes online about the penis size of a man. As a result, one of the men was fired along with Richards herself.
In September 2013, an application called Titstare made its debut at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference. Its subject, men staring at women's breasts, proved too much for several commentators. After he defended the app against allegations of misogyny on Twitter, "Business Insider" Chief technology officer Pax Dickinson was forced to resign. Dickinson later wrote an apology, which was published on VentureBeat. His cofounder and former business partner, Elissa Shevinsky, wrote an article titled "That's It — I'm Finished Defending Sexism In Tech", and said "I had defended DefCon's right to do whatever they want. I had suggested on Twitter that Women 2.0 and the Hacker Dojo start an alternative security conference. I was wrong. I take this back. We shouldn't have to." Much of the criticism appeared on Twitter, with one representative tweet stating, "There goes my attempt to teach my 9 [year old] girl how welcoming tech industry is to women."
At the 2015 SXSW festival, White House Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith was interrupted multiple times by Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt during a panel discussion on "Sexism in Technology". The head of Google's Unconscious Bias program pointed this out during the discussion and received applause from the audience.
On October 5, 2015, software developer Sage Sharp, known for contributing USB3 support to Linux and coordinating Outreachy, revealed that they had stopped writing kernel patches after feeling antagonized and seeing what they called "subtle sexist or homophobic jokes" on the mailing list. Although noting that the community's lack of resources was partially to blame, they referred to past discussions in which they sharply criticized the attitudes of Linus Torvalds and Ingo Molnár. The following day, Matthew Garrett stated that he would also leave kernel development and agreed with Sharp's assessment of Torvalds' communication style. One kernel developer, James Bottomley, urged them to reconsider and stated that the mailing list had made efforts to increase civility in the two years since the most vocal clashes involving Sharp.
One month after the posts by Sage Sharp, Eric S. Raymond addressed readers to claim that women's advocacy groups were looking for opportunities to accuse Linus Torvalds and other open source figures of sexual assault at technical conferences. The post contained logs of an IRC chat with an anonymized contact who claimed that the Ada Initiative had such goals. The source claimed that "They have made multiple runs at him.", and as a result he was no longer willing to risk mentoring women who are already in the technology industry. He then elaborated that Linus Torvalds no longer spends any time alone at conferences, to which Eric S. Raymond responded by stating that he would take his source's implied advice.
In 2015, Ellen Pao, an employee at Caufield & Byers, accused the firms of creating an environment riddled with sexism that greatly impacted her career. On a business trip for the firm, an incident occurred in which a male employee came to her hotel room and propositioned her. The firm neglected to recognize the behavior of this man as sexual harassment, even though other similar incidents about this individual had been reported.
Intersectionality.
Gender-discrimination cases in the technology industry often concern not only gender, but race as well. Women of color are affected especially by gender-discrimination as they face two vectors of oppression: sexism and racism. It has been reported in a 2014 diversity report that women make up 17% of Google's employees. In that same report, it was found that Hispanics make up 2% of Google's workers and African-Americans make up only 1%. Because it is a field that is viewed as a meritocracy, tech companies are often hesitant to change the demographic of their employees.
Nadella controversy.
While speaking at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing on 9 October 2014, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella responded to a request for what his advice would be for women who are uncomfortable asking for a raise. Nadella stated: "It's not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along," Nadella said, according to a recording on the website of the event.
"Because that's good karma," Nadella continued. "It'll come back because somebody's going to know that's the kind of person that I want to trust."
After the comments produced a strong backlash in the media and in social media, Nadella issued an apology, "Was inarticulate re how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias" he tweeted several hours after his remarks.
Microsoft also issued a memo on its website in which Nadella wrote: "I answered that question completely wrong," said the memo. "I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it's deserved, Maria's advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask."
C+=.
In November 2013, a HASTAC user named Arielle Schlesinger, studying the relation between feminist theory and programming paradigms, made a post soliciting feedback on the creation of a feminist programming language.
Later that year, a group calling itself the Feminist Software Foundation released a language called "C Plus Equality" with syntax similar to C++. Although announced as the type of feminist programming language that Schlesinger had in mind, the alleged purpose of the code was satirizing the social justice–oriented part of Internet culture and included numerous references to rape, boogeyman and trigger warnings.
C+= was originally posted to GitHub but was removed on December 14 after numerous complaints of sexism. The repository was moved to Bitbucket but after a debate with the legal team, it was removed on December 19. The code is currently hosted on Gitorious and has since reappeared on GitHub.
"Google's Ideological Echo Chamber" memo.
An internal memo on Google's ideological stance toward diversity, where it is argued that Google had shut down the conversation about diversity, and suggested that gender inequality in the technology industry was, in part, due to biological differences between men and women.


Marian Veitch

Marian Veitch (8 July 1913 – 24 July 1973) was a British trade unionist and politician.
Born in Sheffield, Veitch attended Huntsman's Gardens School before working as an insurance clerk. She also became active in the Labour Party and, later, studied at Ruskin College.
In 1945, Veitch was elected to Sheffield City Council, serving while continuing to work as a clerk. During this period, she took particular interest in the education of disabled children. At the 1951 United Kingdom general election, she stood in Leeds North West, taking second place with 37.5% of the vote.
She resigned from both the council and her work as a clerk in 1956, to take up the full-time post of Yorkshire District Organiser with the National Union of General and Municipal Workers. In 1960, she was promoted to become the union's National Women's Officer.
Veitch joined the executive of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions in 1962, the only woman to serve on it in this period. She was also active in the International Metalworkers' Federation and served on the Food Standards Committee from 1965 to 1968.
In 1965, Veitch married Donald Barnie, a lecturer at Hendon Polytechnic. She retired from her union posts in 1970.


Jill Murphy

Jill Murphy (born 5 July 1949) is a British writer and illustrator of children's books, best known for the "Worst Witch" novels and the "Large Family" picture books. She has been called "one of the most engaging writers and illustrators for children in the land".
Biography.
Early years.
Born in London, Murphy showed an interest in writing and drawing at the age of six; although not excelling in other school subjects, she had made her own enormous library of hand-written and illustrated books while still at primary school. She enjoyed reading boarding-school stories, which provided material and inspiration for Miss Cackle's Academy in the "Worst Witch" series, as did the Ursuline High School, Wimbledon, which she attended. She grew up a Roman Catholic, but she is no longer practising. Her stay-at-home mother was a "book maniac" and her father was an Irish engineer.
"The Worst Witch".
Murphy started to write "The Worst Witch" — "the magical tale of an accident-prone girl attempting to navigate the magical codes and murky corridors of Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches" — while still at school, but put the book on hold while she attended Chelsea and Croydon Art Schools. She continued to write it during a year living in a village in Togo, West Africa, and later while working as a nanny back in the UK. After receiving rejection letters from publishers to whom she offered the book (as she recalls, "They said children would be frightened about a school for witches..."), in 1970 when she was 21 she decided to try the new young company Allison and Busby, and, she says, was "thrilled to find the publishers were quirky like me". "They accepted it immediately, and printed 5,000 copies, and I remember wondering how many aunts and uncles I had, and what we would do with the rest," she said in an interview with "The Telegraph". However, the book proved an instant success, selling out within two months of publication in 1974. Murphy continued working as a nanny until the publication in 1980 of "The Worst Witch Strikes Again" prompted her to devote herself to writing full-time.
In 1986, a television film with the same title as her fantasy novel premiered on "ITV". It later aired on The Disney Channel during the 1990s around the time of Halloween.
The "Worst Witch" stories have become some of the most successful titles on the Young Puffin paperback list and have sold more than three million copies. They were also made into a successful 1986 film and an ITV series, airing on CITV between 1998 and 2001.
Picture books.
Murphy is also known for picture books, especially the "Large Family" series, which detail the domestic chaos of an elephant family. First published in 1986, "Five Minutes Peace" has sold more than five million copies worldwide and has been translated into 19 languages. For the second book, "All in One Piece" (1987), she was a commended runner-up for the Greenaway Medal from the British Library Association, recognising the year's best children's book by a British subject (the second of her two commendations). The "Large Family" is now a TV series on CBeebies and ABC Kids. In 1996 "The Last Noo-Noo" was adapted as a play and performed at the Polka Theatre, London.
Murphy also wrote "Dear Hound" (2010), about a deerhound who goes missing after a storm and the quest for his owners to find him.
Personal life.
Murphy gave birth to her son Charlie in spring 1990. Her marriage to potter Roger Michell ended in divorce. She lives in St Mabyn, Cornwall.
Honours and recognition.
In 2007, Murphy received an honorary fellowship from University College Falmouth.


Peace Butera

Peace Nankunda Butera is a Ugandan culinary artist, who works as the Executive Sous Chef (Second-in-command) at the Kampala Serena Hotel, a five-star establishment in Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city. She is one of a handful of women in
prominent professional culinary positions on the African continent.
Background and education.
She was born in a family of ten siblings. She was raised in various homes, within the extended family. She studied at the "Uganda College of Commerce", in Nakawa, which today is the Makerere University Business School, graduating in 1992, with a Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering.
Career.
In 1993, she worked as an apprentice for three months, at the "Nile Hotel" in Kampala. The hotel hired her as a cook, after her training. In 2004, the hotel changed ownership and was renamed Kampala Serena Hotel. She was retained by the new owners. Peace Butera was selected to undergo training to become a chef through the internal program at the Serena Hotels Group. The training took her to ten Serena establishments in five African countries, as well as at five star hotels in South Africa and Turkey. On her return to Kampala, she was appointed Sous chef at the Kampala Serena in 2005.
During the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2007, which was held in Kampala, from 23 November until 25 November 2007, Queen Elizabeth II stayed at the Kampala Serena for four days. Chef Peace Butera was selected to prepare some of the Queen's menu items during that period. She has also, in the past, prepared meals for President Bill Clinton and his family.
Family.
Peace Butera is married to Vincent Butera and together are the parents of four children Kylie, Kelly, Lillian and laban , two natural ones and two adopted ones.


Paula Stone Williams

Reverend Paula Stone Williams (born 1951) is an American pastoral counseler. She served as president of the Christian church planting organization Orchard Group from 1989 to 2009. Williams came out as a transgender woman in December 2012.
Williams was fired from Orchard Group and from the "Christian Standard" periodical, where she had worked as the editor. She now is a pastor at Left Hand Church in Longmont, Colorado. She has hosted several TED Talks, sometimes accompanied by her son, Jonathan Williams. She currently lives in Colorado.


Marta Hidy

Marta Iren Hidy (January 11, 1927 - November 4, 2010) was a Hungarian Canadian violinist, conductor and music teacher. In addition to being an accomplished musician, she was a founding member of the music program at McMaster University.
Biography.
Marta Hidy was born in Budapest, Hungary on January 11, 1927. Her father was an economist and her mother, who enrolled Hidy at the Franz Liszt Academy at the age of 6, was a violinist. While at the Academy Hidy was instructed by violinists and Ede Zathureczky and the composers Leó Weiner and Zoltán Kodály. At the age of 16 she was named outstanding violinist in an Acadaemy's Reményi Competition by a jury lead by Ernő Dohnányi.
After graduating Hidy performed extensively on her own and as part of orchestral and chamber ensembles. She was a member of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1946-1951), headed a prize-winning string quartet at the 1950 Prague International Chamber Music Competition and from 1953 to 1957 was a Hungarian State Soloist performing internationally with orchestras in Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania.
Immigration to Canada.
On New Year's Eve, 1956, Hidy and her husband, Anton (Antal) Dvorak fled Hungary to Austria, with their two children, eventually emigrating to Canada. The family settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1957 where Hidy worked as assistant concertmaster of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and concertmaster of the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra, in addition to founding the Hidy String Quartet and the Hidy Trio. She made her Canadian concert debut in Toronto in 1962 and her trio, which included pianist Chester Duncan and cellist Klara Benjamin Belkin, recorded works by Dmitri Shostakovich at Expo 67's Canadian Pavilion.
In 1965 Hidy was invited to McMaster University by Lee Hepner, then head of the McMaster Operatic Society, where she became a founding member of the University's music program. She taught at the school from its establishment until her retirement in 1991. Along with her teaching commitments at McMaster, Hidy served as concertmaster and assistant conductor of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) from 1965 to 1974; as the artistic director of the Philharmonic Children of Hamilton from 1967 to 1977; was the conductor of the Chamber Players of Toronto from 1977 to 1979; and was a founding member of the McMaster String Quartet, which she performed with from 1978 to 1989.
Hidy continued to perform throughout her career both alone and in the company of other accomplished musicians. In 1973 she was a founding member of the Hidy-Ozolins-Tsutsumi Trio. Comprising pianist Arthur Ozolins and cellist Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, the trio toured Ontario and performed on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The following year Hidy formed the Ensemble Sir Ernest MacMillan and in 1978 Hidy joined cellist Zdenek Konicek and pianist Valerie Tryon to form Trio Canada. Outside of her ensemble work, Hidy performed as a concerto soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Hamilton Philharmonic and the Regina Symphony Orchestra and performed internationally in a solo capacity in countries including New Zealand, Hungary, Japan, China and Hong Kong.
Hidy died in Hamilton on November 4, 2010 of bone cancer. At the time of her death conductor Boris Brott, the music director of the HPO from 1969 to 1990, explained: "Marta was an extraordinary musician, a natural violinist, and a wonderful teacher, a person who exuded music from her every pore."


Wikan Satriati

Wikan Satriati (23 June 1975 – 25 April 2021) was an Indonesian children's book writer, translator and publishing manager at Lontar Foundation.
Satriati died in her hometown Magelang on 25 April 2021, aged 45, due to complications from COVID-19.


Trina Shoemaker

Kathryn "Trina" Shoemaker is an American mixer, record producer and sound engineer responsible for producing/engineering and/or mixing records for bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Something for Kate, Nanci Griffith, Kristin Hersh, and many more.
Early life and career.
Shoemaker was born in Joliet, Illinois, and attended Joliet Central High School. After graduating in 1983, she moved to Los Angeles and got a job working as a secretary at Capitol Records. She then briefly moved to London where she worked with artist Hugh Harris. On her return to the United States, she began working for producer Daniel Lanois at Kingsway Studios in New Orleans. In 1992 she became the studio's house engineer. Her break came in 1995 when Sheryl Crow fired her producer and hired Shoemaker to engineer her self-produced, self-titled second album "Sheryl Crow". In 1998 Shoemaker became the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album for her work on "The Globe Sessions". In addition to Crow, Shoemaker went on to work with artists such as Blues Traveller, Emmylou Harris, the Indigo Girls and the Dixie Chicks.


Jessica Livingston

Jessica Livingston is an American author and a founding partner of the seed stage venture firm Y Combinator. She also organizes Startup School. Previously, she was the VP of marketing at Adams Harkness Financial Group. She has a B.A. in English from Bucknell University. She is a 1989 graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover.
In early 2007, Livingston released "" (published by Apress), a collection of interviews with famous startup founders, including Steve Wozniak, Mitch Kapor, Ray Ozzie, and Max Levchin.
In 2008, she married fellow Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham.
In December 2015, it was announced that Livingston is one of the financial backers of OpenAI, a for profit company aimed at the safe development of artificial general intelligence.


Gail Cartmail

Gail Cartmail (born 1955) is an Assistant General Secretary (AGS) at the trade union Unite and also a member of the Trades Union Congress' (TUC) Executive Committee and General Council.
Career.
Cartmail attended Heronswood Secondary Modern School in Welwyn Garden City, having failed her eleven plus exam. She left school with no qualifications, Cartmail began her working life as an apprentice hairdresser. Later, she began working in the publishing industry, and eventually became Mother of the Chapel for the print union, the National Graphical Association, where she gained prominence for a campaign for equal pay for women, and studied at the London College of Printing.
In 1977, Cartmail began to work as a trade union liaison officer for the London Borough of Greenwich, and ten years later became a full-time trade union official for the Health Visitors' Association. She left in 1990 to become a regional officer for the Manufacturing, Science and Finance union, being promoted to national officer before it became part of Amicus, in which she was the national officer for the health sector.
In 2007, Amicus became part of Unite, and Cartmail was appointed as its assistant general secretary with responsibility for public services. She contested the 2010 election to become the union's General Secretary, taking fourth place and 39,000 votes behind Len McCluskey who was elected. In 2016, when McCluskey stood down to contest a new election, Cartmail was chosen as acting general secretary.
Cartmail is a Commissioner at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. In her spare time, she enjoys cold-water swimming.
In 2020, Cartmail became the President of the Trades Union Congress.


Tara Beth Leach

Tara Beth Leach (born 1982) is an American evangelical pastor and author.
Education.
Leach was born in 1982. She has said she first felt called to ministry while in high school but was told she couldn't be a pastor as a woman. She has a BA in youth ministry from Olivet Nazarene University and an MDiv from Northern Seminary, where she also working as a teaching assistant for Scot McKnight.
Career.
Leach was appointed Senior Pastor at First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena ("PazNaz") in 2016, the first woman in the role. In 2017, she was the youngest female megachurch pastor in the United States. Since 2020, she has been a pastor at Christ Church of Oak Brook in Chicago.
Leach's first book, "Emboldened", released in 2017, seeks to encourage women into Christian ministry. Her 2021 book "Radiant" suggests church leaders need to look at themselves rather than culture to explain the trend away from church attendance.
Personal life.
Leach married Jeff in 2006 and they have two sons.


Ellen Rosenblum

Ellen F. Rosenblum (born January 6, 1951) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the Oregon Attorney General since 2012. She is the first female state attorney general in Oregon's history, and previously was a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals from 2005 to 2011.
Early life.
Rosenblum was born in Berkeley, California, one of eight children of Jewish parents Victor and Louise Rosenblum. The family moved to Evanston, Illinois, where her father was a law professor at Northwestern University for 40 years; he was also president of Reed College from 1968 to 1970. She graduated from Evanston Township High School and attended Scripps College before earning her undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon in 1971, where she also earned a J.D. degree in 1975.
Law and judicial career.
In 1975, Rosenblum became an associate at the Eugene law firm of Hammons, Phillips and Jensen, and later became a partner in the firm. In 1980, she became an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, specializing in financial crimes. In 1989, she was appointed by Governor Neil Goldschmidt as a judge to the Multnomah County District Court where she presided until 1993, when Governor Barbara Roberts appointed her as a judge on the Multnomah County Circuit Court. In 2005, Governor Ted Kulongoski appointed her to fill a vacancy on the Oregon Court of Appeals, and she was elected to a full six-year term in 2006, and retired as a judge in May 2011.
Attorney General.
Attorney General John Kroger announced in October 2011 that he would not seek another term, and in January 2012, Rosenblum announced that she would run for the Democratic nomination for the position. U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton also entered the race, and held an early fundraising advantage with the support of most of the state's law enforcement community. Rosenblum focused on social issues, and when Holton criticized the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, Rosenblum gained the support of Oregon marijuana legalization supporters by pledging to "make marijuana enforcement a low priority, and protect the rights of medical marijuana patients." In the May Democratic primary, she went on to defeat Holton by nearly 30 percentage points to move on to the general election.
In 2012, Kroger announced his resignation effective June 29, 2012 to become President of Reed College, and Governor John Kitzhaber named Rosenblum to replace Kroger effective that same day. Coincidentally, Rosenblum's father, Victor Rosenblum, had served as President of Reed from 1968 to 1970. Rosenblum became Oregon's first female Attorney General. She served in the appointed position until January and won the general election in November for a full term. Though no Republican filed in the primary, Portland attorney James Buchal received enough write-in votes to qualify for the November ballot as a Republican.
Rosenblum was re-elected to another term as Attorney General in November 2016, defeating Republican candidate Daniel Crowe.
In July 2020, Rosenblum filed a lawsuit against the federal government, accusing it of unlawfully detaining protesters, after footage emerged of agents in unmarked vehicles (but not unmarked police officers) appearing to forcefully seize protesters without justification.
Personal.
Rosenblum is married to Richard Meeker, the publisher and co-owner of the "Willamette Week" newspaper in Portland until he was done in 2015. The couple have two grown children.


Anne Zernike

Anne Zernike (1887–1972) was a Dutch, liberal theologian, who was the first ordained woman minister of the Netherlands. Though she began her career with the Mennonites, which was the only congregation that allowed female ministers at the time, the majority of her career was spent in the Dutch Protestant Association (NPB).
Biography.
Anne Zernike was born on 30 April 1887 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to the teachers and mathematicians Antje (née Dieperink) and Carl Friedrich August Zernike. She was raised in a family of intellectuals, including a sister who became a novelist and a brother Fritz who would later win the Nobel Prize for Physics. She completed her primary schooling and attended the High School for Girls on the Keizersgracht. Zernike knew from childhood that she wanted to become a minister and her parents encouraged her to study, though her father did not believe that she would be accepted as a preacher. She began her studies at the University of Amsterdam and because the only denomination which would ordain women was the Mennonite Church, she joined that congregation. Upon completion of her university studies and her baptism at the age of 22, she became eligible to enter the Anabaptist Seminary, and completed her final examinations in 1911.
Career.
On 5 November 1911 in the Frisian town of Bovenknijpe (near Heerenveen), Zernike was ordained and preached her sermon on Jeremiah 31. She found it difficult to adjust to life in Bovenknijpe and was homesick for culture until she met the painter, Jan Mankes. After a brief courtship, they became engaged and married on 30 September 1915. Shortly thereafter, the couple moved to The Hague where their lives focused on participation in the artistic environment, including literature, painting and poetry; theology, including explorations of Christian Socialism, Taoism and theosophy; and the principals of pacifism and vegetarianism. During this period, Zernike, as was expected at the time, gave up her career for her husband's employment opportunities. As Jan's tuberculosis worsened and a doctor counseled that they relocate away from the damp of the sea and to a forested area, the couple moved in 1917 to Eerbeek. Shortly after they arrived, Zernike discovered she was pregnant and began working on her thesis which she titled, "On historical materialism and social democratic ethics". Beint, their son was born on 1 March 1918 and that same autumn, she received her doctorate in divinity from the University of Amsterdam under the direction of Professor H. IJ Groenewegen. Jan succumbed to his illness on 23 April 1920 and Zernike left Eerbeek for Rotterdam the following year.
Zernike returned to the ministry but not with the Anabaptists, as she felt a greater affinity with a more liberal and newly formed church belonging to the Dutch Protestant Association (NPB). There was no building, the 40 church members met in the school gymnasium, and she was given free rein to design the services as she felt led. Thus, she formed a choir and a theater, the congregation visited museums regularly and were apt to discuss Bible verses based on an analysis of paintings by Rembrandt or other artists. By 1929, the congregation had grown and they needed a new space. Joining forces with the Dutch Reformed Church, Lutherans, Mennonites, and Remonstrants, Zernike's congregation formed the Liberal Christian Youth Centre () (VCJC) and built a church, which they all shared on the riverbank of the Jagerslaan. They called the church the New Covenant and instead of a pulpit, it had a stage in the center of the sanctuary. Under her leadership, the congregation grew to nearly 500 members. She retired from preaching in 1948 but continued writing on theological issues. She published her memoirs in 1956 and remained active throughout the 1960s.
Zernike died on 6 March 1972 in Amersfoort, The Netherlands and was buried with her husband in Eerbeek.


Victoria Bond

Victoria Ellen Bond (born 6 May 1945) is an American conductor and composer.
Life.
Victoria Bond was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of operatic bass and medical doctor Philip Bond (a vocalist with the New York City Opera) and concert pianist Jane Courtland. Her grandfather was a composer, conductor and double bass player by the name of Samuel Epstein. The family later moved from California to New York, and Bond studied piano at the Mannes School of Music with Nadia Reisenberg. She was a featured vocalist with Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies. Her first foray into conducting began as a guest conductor for the Senior Citizens Orchestra of Los Angeles, California, at the invitation of one of her early music teachers. She continued her studies in composition with Ingolf Dahl and voice with William Vennard at the University of Southern California, and in conducting with Leonard Slatkin at Aspen. She was accepted into the Juilliard School of Music, where she studied composition with Roger Sessions and conducting with teachers including Herbert von Karajan. She graduated with a doctoral degree in Orchestral Conducting.
Bond married Stephan Peskin in 1974. She recorded vocals with Bethany Beardslee and for Harry Partch’s "Delusion of the Fury". She also assisted film composer Paul Glass in creating filmscores for Universal and Metromedia Studios.
Bond became an Exxon/Arts Endowment Conductor with the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1978, and in 1986 was invited to conduct the Houston Symphony for the premiere of her work "Ringing". She has served as artistic director of the Bel Canto Opera Company in New York, music director and conductor of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of the Southwest Virginia Opera, the Harrisburg Opera and the New Amsterdam Symphony. She also composed the opera "Mrs. President" about Victoria Woodhull, which premiered in 2012 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Works.
Selected works include:


Barbara Montgomery

Barbara Montgomery (born June 25, 1939) is an American stage, television and film actress, and theatrical and film director. She is best known for her performance in "Amen" (1986-1990).
Career.
Born in Queens, Montgomery began her career on the stage in the 1960s in Off-Off-Broadway theatrical groups. She was a member of Negro Ensemble Company and the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. In the early 1970s, she starred as "Mama" in the Off-Broadway production of "My Sister, My Sister" for which she earned an Obie Award. The play later ran on Broadway from April to August 1974 for which Montgomery reprised her role.
In 1986, Montgomery won the role of Cassietta Hetebrink on the NBC sitcom "Amen". Montgomery played the role for four years before leaving the series in 1990. Later that year, she starred in the short-lived ABC program "Married People" as Olivia Williams. She has also appeared on many shows such as "A Different World", "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "Disneyland", and "Living Single".
In 2013, Montgomery made her directorial debut with the historical film "Mitote", starring Ruby Dee and S. Epatha Merkerson.


Elizabeth Timothy

 Elizabeth Timothy or Elisabet Timothee (30 June 1702 – April 1757) was a prominent colonial American printer and newspaper publisher in the colony of South Carolina who worked for Benjamin Franklin.
She was the first woman in America to become a newspaper publisher and also the first woman to hold a franchise in America.
Early life.
Timothy (maiden name Elizabeth Villin or Elisabet Vilain) was born in Amsterdam on June 30, 1702. Her christening was on 6 July 1702, most likely at the Walloon Church in Amsterdam, as her religion was "Waals Hervormd" ("Walloon Reformed"). She received her formal schooling in the Netherlands, which included accounting. She married Lewis Timothy (French: "Louys Timothee" or "Louis Timothee") in July 1724; her marriage application says she was then 22 years old.
Immigration to the American colonies.
The Timothy family traveled with other French Huguenots from Rotterdam to Philadelphia on the ship "Britannia of London" in 1731. The ship's roster shows the Timothy family, including their four Dutch children ranging in age from one to six.
Family printer.
Timothy's husband arranged with Benjamin Franklin to revive the "South Carolina Gazette" weekly newspaper on a six-year franchise contract, dated 26 November 1733. He went to Charleston in the later part of 1733 by himself initially. He started publishing the newspaper on 2 February 1734. Timothy followed later from Philadelphia and went to Charleston in the spring of 1734. She came to Charleston with her six children, four of whom had been born in the Netherlands. Timothy's history of becoming a newspaper publisher in America is interwoven with her husband's career.
Timothy's husband died on 30 December 1738 of yellow fever, otherwise referred to by the Timothy family as "an unhappy incident". The remaining term on the agreement with Franklin motivated Timothy to become his apprentice and partner. She carried on her late husband's work to fulfill the one year remaining on the Franklin franchise agreement. Timothy's elder son, Peter Timothy, "carried on" the newspaper business in name only. Peter was only fourteen years old when he took over his father's printing business, which he was entitled to receive per the Franklin-Timothy agreement of 1733. Since he was just a child in 1738 and too immature to run a business, it was managed by Timothy, Peter's mother. She published the weekly issue of the "South-Carolina Gazette" starting on January 4, 1739. The masthead said "Printed by Peter Timothy" but was controlled and managed by his mother.This then made her the first female editor and publisher of a newspaper in America.
Timothy, with the aid of Peter, increased the quality of the newspaper over the long term, according to the readers of the "South-Carolina Gazette". Her newspaper was broad-based with dramas, poetry, and literary classics. But at the time the newspapers were not politically based in order not to offend any officials. She even printed European news from London, Paris, and Constantinople. An important part of her newspaper, that many of her readers looked forward to, was the advertisements. They offered local commodity goods as well as books and stationery supplies. Many times she dedicated at least a full page of her four-page newspaper to advertising.
Timothy's biggest news story was that of the Charleston fire of November 18, 1740. She reported two days later that it had destroyed a major portion of the town, including the most valuable commercial buildings and their merchandise worth more than 200,000 pounds sterling. She reported that two-thirds of the town was destroyed, including more than 300 houses. In her paper it said "the wind blowing pretty fresh at northwest carried the flakes of fire so far, and by that means set houses on fire at such a distance, that it was not possible to prevent the spreading of it." She credited the diligent citizens of Charleston for their great efforts to extinguish the fire. Her newspaper delivered a proclamation that citizens should render quick and efficient help in extinguishing future fires, and should give back stolen items that were taken illegally. In subsequent newspaper issues she published business relocations with notices that their customers would be taken care of as usual. She also printed appeals for help in finding lost commodities and assets.
Franklin praised Timothy in saying she was a better business manager and accountant than her late husband had been. He remarked in his "Autobiography " that while her husband was "a man of learning and honest, but ignorant in matters of account", she on the other hand:
not only sent me as clear a state as she could find of the transactions past, but continued to account with the greatest regularity and exactness every quarter afterwards, and managed the business with such success, that she not only brought up reputably a family of children, but, at the expiration of the term, was able to purchase of me the printing-house, and establish her son in it. Historian Isaiah Thomas remarked that her good business sense could be attributed to the high level of education she had acquired in the Netherlands.
Timothy took over her husband's position as the official "public printer" for the colony of South Carolina. She printed acts, laws, and other proceedings for the Assembly of the colony of South Carolina. In addition to publishing the "South-Carolina Gazette" and government documents, as her late husband had, she printed sermons and religious materials. She also published some 20 historical books and pamphlets between 1739 and 1745. The description of "Printed by Peter Timothy" (her under-aged son) as the printer appeared on each of the publications; however, she made most of the business decisions.
Timothy was also the postmaster for Charles Towne, South Carolina, delivering letters, packages, and newspapers.
Career change.
After Peter took over the complete printing business in 1746, Timothy opened a bookstore next door to the printing office on King Street. She carried books, stationery, and writing supplies, such as ink, powder, and quills. She also carried tallow, beer, and flour. In a "Gazette" ad published in October 1746, she announced the availability of books such as pocket Bibles, spellers, and primers. She also sold the books "Reflections on Courtship and Marriage," "Armstrong's Poem on Health", "The Westminster Confession of Faith", "Watts' Psalms and Hymns", the "Pocket Almanack", and Franklin's works including "Poor Richard's Almanack". Timothy ran her bookstore and stationery shop for about a year and then decided to leave Charleston. Prior to leaving, Timothy advertised in the "South-Carolina Gazette" that she was leaving the area and wished for people to pay up on debts owed her. She went to a new area for a time and later returned to Charleston in 1756.
Death and will.
Timothy wrote her will on 2 April 1757 and died within the month. An inventory listed her personal effects as "parcel of books" that included two French Bibles. The list also showed a marble-covered sideboard, two old desks, some other furniture, six small items of jewelry, 38 ounces of old silver, some pewter articles, china, and fireplace tools. The total value was set at £25 currency.
Her will stipulated that her widowed daughter Mary Elizabeth Bourquin was to receive a certain small tract of land, a house on King Street, two slaves, and half her clothing and furniture. Her married daughters Catherine Trezevant and Louisa Richards were to receive a house, three slaves, and the remainder of the estate.
Personal life and legacy.
Timothy belonged to the Charles Towne Library Society, her son Peter being one of the founders. She and her family were members of St. Philip's Anglican Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
Historians record that Timothy's husband was accidentally killed in December 1738. Timothy was pregnant with her seventh child (third American) in 1739, but the child was premature and died. She also lost two sons in 1739 to yellow fever.
At the time of Timothy's death in 1757 she was survived by her son Peter, who had married Ann Donovan, and by her three daughters: Mary Elizabeth, married to Abraham Bowquin; Catherine, married to Theodore Trezevant; and Louisa, married to James Richards.
Timothy was inducted into the South Carolina Press Association Hall of Fame in 1973, and into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame in 2000. A plaque is on the bay near Vendue Range in Charleston describing her role in journalism. Timothy was the first known female in American journalism, according to historian A.S. Sallev. The fact that Timothy took over her husband's business of publishing the " South-Carolina Gazette " newspaper from a franchisee agreement he had with Franklin made her the first female franchisee in America as well.
Works.
"The South Carolina Gazette" newspaper of 4 January 1739 is a work attributed to Timothy:
The bottom of the right corner of the third page reads in an obituary of Timothy's husband:
Timothy also published official government documents, examples of which are:
Timothy also published other materials, examples of which are:
Franklin reprinted many of Timothy's articles, as did the "Gentlemen's Magazine" in England.


Sandra Hutchens

Sandra Sue Hutchens (March 18, 1955 – January 4, 2021) was an American law enforcement officer who was the Sheriff-Coroner of Orange County, California. She was appointed to the position on June 10, 2008, replacing acting sheriff Jack Anderson, who had led the department since the January 14, 2008 resignation of Mike Carona. Prior to her appointment, she was retired from the position of division chief within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Hutchens was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. In 2017 Hutchens announced that she would not seek re-election for a third term. She endorsed the successful election bid of Undersheriff Don Barnes.
Biography.
Hutchens was raised in Long Beach, California where she graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. Shortly after graduating from high school she was hired as a secretary for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. She graduated from the Academy in 1978.
She was a graduate of the University of La Verne, with a bachelor's degree in Public Administration. She also attended the FBI Academy.
Controversies.
In her first year as Sheriff of Orange County, Sheriff Hutchens made numerous changes to the Orange County Sheriff's Department, many of which were considered controversial.
Concealed weapons permits.
During the first few months after her appointment as Sheriff-Coroner, her department sent letters to many concealed weapon permit holders, indicating their intention to revoke those permits. The form letters, sent to over six hundred permit holders, read "The Department has determined that your identified risk does not meet the good cause threshold as required under the new CCW policy based upon the information you provided. As a result of this determination, the Department's present intention is to revoke your CCW license." Hutchens states that her reason for the revocation was that she believed "the prior administration stretched good cause" and issued concealed carry permits to political supporters and donors. Many counties in California, especially rural counties such as nearby San Bernardino County, consider a desire for personal protection to be sufficient good cause. However, the Orange County Grand Jury has come out in favor of the sheriff, issuing a report strongly condemning the Board of Supervisors for interfering with the responsibilities of the sheriff's department and determining that Hutchens' policy is legal.
Staff terminations.
Seven former top officials at the Orange County Sheriff's Department filed wrongful termination claims against the county, alleging Sheriff Sandra Hutchens lied when she said they were laid off for budgetary reasons. The two former assistant sheriffs and five captains, including ex-Assistant Sheriffs Jack Anderson and John Davis, allege that Hutchens really laid them off because she disliked their job performance. A performance-based termination would mean that officers should have been given hearings they were entitled to under the state's 'Peace Officers' Bill of Rights,' according to the claims. Hutchens said she chose to lay off the top administrators to keep investigator positions, and that the layoffs saved the department $2.2 million as part of a $28 million plan to pare the agency's budget. But in the claims, the former employees allege their terminations did not save the county any money, and that Hutchens' command staff is now larger than before the series of layoffs.
Ballot statements.
Hutchens was challenged in court in an effort to force her to remove false claims that she cut her command staff by 47%. Hutchens settled the dispute out of court, agreeing to remove the misstatement from her ballot statement. This 47% of command staff is a popular topic in that it was described by Orange County Supervisor Bill Campbell as a "Bait and Switch" and her actions to remove this 47% of command staff and later expand her staff have resulted in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the county.
Immigration.
Hutchens told the Trump administration she wanted her department to cooperate more closely with federal immigration agents.
Campaign.
At a candidates' forum sponsored by Orange County Young Republicans, Hutchens repeatedly invoked the law for some of her unpopular policies, such as not granting gun permits to people not facing a specific threat, or releasing some inmates early, saying, "If you want more guns and CCWs [concealed weapon permits], then you should vote for one of my opponents." She also stressed that the department had reclaimed its integrity and provided good service.
Personal life.
Hutchens' husband Larry is a retired assistant police chief for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Hutchens was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2012. She died from breast cancer on January 4, 2021.


Jayaben Desai

Jayaben Desai (2 April 1933 – 23 December 2010) was a prominent leader of the strikers in the Grunwick dispute in London in 1976.
Biography.
Born in Dharmaj, Gujarat, India, Desai moved to Tanzania, East Africa, in 1956. At the age of twenty two, she married Suryakant, a factory owner. The couple were from middle class mercantile backgrounds. They later moved to Britain before the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968 made it harder for British passport holders from former British colonies to enter the country.
Grunwick Dispute.
In Britain, she had to take up low-paid work, first as a sewing machinist, then processing film in the Grunwick factory. She resigned after being ordered to work overtime, and instigated a strike among the mainly Asian and female workforce. The strikers protested about working conditions, pay inequality and institutionalised racism within the company. Women were even asked why they needed to go to the toilet, and Desai counselled her colleagues not to be intimidated by this.
Desai led the strikers in their epic two-year picket from 1976 to 1978. The strike was backed by the Apex union and the local postal union initially refused to deliver the Grunwick photography laboratory post, until challenged with the support of the Tory party, at that time the government Opposition.
Desai was an inspiring speaker and well-known speaker, speaking out against racist and sexist comments aimed at her and at the other striking workers, and criticising what she felt was a lack of support from the Trades Union Congress for her cause.
The prime minister Jim Callaghan appointed a judge, Lord Justice Scarman to settle the dispute. Mrs Desai testified at length. Judge Scarman recommended that the union should be recognised and the sacked workers reinstated. The factory owner ignored the report and the unions backed off, leaving the Grunwick strike committee to announce the strike was over on 14 July 1978.
After the strike.
Desai returned to the sewing industry and later became a teacher at Harrow College. She passed her driving test at the age of 60 and encouraged other women to do so to increase their freedom.
Mrs Desai (as she was always referred to) recorded her thoughts for the Brent Museum and archives. In an interview by Hannah Phung of Brent Museum she said: "It was amazing, let me tell you, it was amazing.[…] tears were in my eyes to see these people […] they were hurting themselves and the police were charging them with horses and everything and still they were standing strong."
Jayaben Desai died on 23 December 2010. Her family scattered her ashes near the sources of the Indus and Ganges rivers and in Rotherhithe on the Thames.
Commemoration.
On 14 December 2016 she was named as one of seven women chosen by BBC Radio Four's "Woman's Hour" for their 2016 Power List, which was topped by Margaret Thatcher and also included Helen Brook, Barbara Castle, Germaine Greer, Bridget Jones and Beyoncé. A portrait of Desai by David Mansell was purchased by the National Portrait Gallery, London in 2017.


Lillian M. Westropp

Lillian Mary Westropp (May 9, 1884 - August 15, 1968) was an American banker and judge.
Westropp was a native of Cleveland, the daughter of Thomas P. and Clara Stoeckel Westropp, and with her sister Clara grew up on the West Side of the city; they were two of nine children in the family. She graduated from West High School and Dyke School of Commerce, and for a short time pursued a career in the theater before enrolling in the law school at Baldwin-Wallace College, from which she graduated in 1915 with a LL.B. She entered private practice with a focus on real estate and finance law; among the first women admitted to the Cleveland Bar Association, she was the first female member of its executive committee. She became an assistant county prosecutor in 1929; the bail bond system which she implemented led to a collection rate of 100%. Appointed in 1931 to fill the seat of a municipal judge, she was reelected consistently until her 1957 retirement. In 1937 she instituted a court psychiatric clinic. With Clara, in 1922 she opened the Women's Federal Savings & Loan Association of Cleveland, the first savings and loan association in the United States to be directed and run by women. Long active in Democratic Party politics, she organized Democratic Women, State of Ohio in 1920, and was appointed to the executive committee of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party in 1923. Other organizations and entities to which she belonged included the Women Lawyers' Club of Cleveland; the Women's City Club; the League of Women Voters; Catholic Daughters of America; the Cleveland Diocesan Council of Catholic Women; the Business & Professional Women's Club; and Woman's Hospital.
Westropp never married. For years she and Clara shared a home on Cleveland's Southland Avenue. Both were devout Catholics, and they erected a nonsectarian chapel in the bank's offices where they would lead voluntary prayers every morning at 8:30, and at which Mass was offered each Friday. The sisters' papers are held at the libraries of Harvard University.


Ivonne Passada

Ivonne Passada Leoncini (born 4 April 1956) is a Uruguayan professor, politician, and legislator belonging to the Broad Front. Since 3 March 2015, she has served as a senator replacing Eduardo Bonomi, who was ratified as Minister of the Interior for the Broad Front government installed on 1 March.
Biography.
Ivonne Passada was born in Montevideo on 4 April 1956. She completed her primary and secondary studies at Colegio Clara Jackson de Heber. She then entered the of the University of the Republic. However, she ended up studying sociology at the University's Social Sciences Institute, then taking industrial security courses at the (UTU). Beginning in 1984, she worked as a professor at UTU, and as a teacher of industrial safety, tasks that she performed until 2004.
Political activities.
Passada was an active militant of the neighborhood and development commissions of the Malvín Norte area.
Since 1984 she has been part of the democratic reconstruction of the Education Unions and the PIT-CNT; she was among the leadership of the Association of UTU Officials (AFUTU) from 1985 to 2002. From 2002 to 2004 she was a member of the PIT-CNT and its Secretariat, being one of the coordinators.
She started her militant career in the Tupamaros National Liberation Movement in 1985, and in 2002 she joined the National Directorate of the Movement of Popular Participation (MPP), a political sector of the Broad Front.
In the national elections of 31 October 2004, Ivonne Passada was elected alternate deputy. She assumed the title of deputy on 1 March 2005, when Eduardo Bonomi, for whom Passada was a substitute, became the head of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Since then she has been a member of the Labor Legislation Commission and the Special Commission on Gender and Equity of the Chamber of Representatives. In 2006 she was elected vice president of the Labor Legislation Commission, and in 2007 she was elected its president.
In the elections of October 2009, Passada headed the MPP list of deputies for Montevideo.
On Monday, 15 February 2010, she took office as president of the Chamber of Representatives of the new legislature.
In June 2012, the new president of the Broad Front, Mónica Xavier, took office; three vice presidents were also elected, one of them Passada, accompanied by Senator Rafael Michelini (New Space) and the former coordinator of PIT-CNT, (Communist Party).
In October 2012, she was nominated to occupy the vice presidency of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, a post for which she was elected unanimously and which she has held ever since.
In the national elections of October 2014, Passada was re-elected Montevidean deputy for Space 609 of the Broad Front, and joined the sector's list to the Senate as the first substitute of the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo Bonomi.
When President Tabaré Vázquez ratified Bonomi as Minister of the Interior, Passada assumed duties as Senator of the Republic as his replacement.