Paley Center's <i>She Made It Honors</i> and Gracie Allen's Illogical Logic

Gracie Allen died in 1964, but last night she joined 49 other women being honored by the Paley Center for Mediaas it inducted its third class of She Made It honorees. Allen, who with her husband George Burns "set the bar for all male-female comedy teams to come," once commented that her character "is based on what I call illogical logic." In some ways the Paley Center's She Made It program, honoring women creating television and radio, fits the same description.

The television and radio industry, like most others, was historically not welcoming to women as executives. Companies like ABC and CBS were, for years, bastions of male supremacy where women were typically welcome only in stereotypical secretarial and other subservient roles. Of the 330 industry executives and talent who have been inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame since it was created in 1983 (through 2005), only 38 have been women, slightly more than ten percent. So it's appropriate, redeeming, and motivational for the Paley Center to launch and host an initiative intended to honor those women today and from the past who have overcome the odds and a challenging world to gain business success worthy of She Made It status. In the three years since the program was launched by Paley Center president and CEO Pat Mitchell and co-chairs Loreen Arbus and Kay Koplovitz, themselves worthy recipients of She Made It status, 150 women have been honored.

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Next year, She Made It will expand to include women in advertising and digital media. As we scan these communities today, it's obvious it will not be difficult to identify worthy inductees. Although men still retain the most senior positions in all but a handful of companies, women clearly are achieving equality in terms of numbers and certainly in terms of influence across the media business. There might be some debate about the ability of women to rise to CEO status at major communications conglomerates, but it is only a matter of time before those ranks will also grow. More importantly for the future, take a look at the young people in our industry. Walk through any television network or digital company sales, marketing and programming offices and women are often the majority, or at least very prominent. Walk through media and advertising agencies, public relations groups, event planning and promotion companies, video studios. The ranks of employees appear to be closely balanced between males and females, with females often dominating. Naturally, as these young professionals age, the ranks of women will decline as they become mothers. But more and more women are staying among the employed and finding ways to enjoy both motherhood and a career. More and more men are opting to focus on parenting ahead of career as their wives become the chief income earner. The increasing numbers of divorced parents, especially in large urban centers, also keeps women in the work force and there are no longer the obstacles to success that prevented them from gaining equal earning power.

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Which is why Gracie Allen's line about illogical logic seems appropriate. There is no doubt that the She Made It initiative is appropriate and, in so many ways, wonderful. But I hope that as the years pass it will also become less and less relevant. Honoring women who "made it" recognizes those who have been able to achieve success in an environment where they had to compete against the odds. But as the playing field becomes more level and the odds for success balance, so should the opportunity for acknowledgement and honors be balanced. As a white male who has had, for decades, the advantages that have accrued to being in the controlling majority, I'm also very aware that our control is appropriately receding. I hope that in a few years, it will become unnecessary to single out females and those of color who have been able to overcome bias and achieve success in their chosen careers. I hope middle aged white males don't begin believing that they too require special support groups and segregated honor rolls of distinction to mark their success. We've already had our time and too many of us and those who came before us misused our power. She Made It provides appropriate balance. As illogical as it seems to applaud an initiative that excludes men, it is logical, appropriate, important and necessary. But I hope what is illogical logic today leads to true equality of opportunity, social and business integration, and a time when honoring only the women who made it seems an outdated anachronism.

For more information, visit www.shemadeit.org or www.mtr.org

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