![]() | Sylvia Porter: America''s Original Personal Finance Columnist In 1942, the directors of the New York Stock Exchange met to discuss a problem. The exchange--its air charged with testosterone, its floor scuffed by the frantic paces of men racing one another for shares of the American dream--was off-limits to women. This, it was agreed, was how it should be. However, it had recently become public knowledge that one of New York's most prolific and respected financial writers, S. F. Porter, was a woman. If Porter trained her eye on the all-male stock exchange, the NYSE might find itself the subject of some unwanted controversy during the electrified "Rosie the Riveter" days of World War II. But should women really be allowed into the stock exchange? The board finally saw its way around the dilemma and voted on a resolution: "Sylvia is one of the boys. We hereby award her honorary pants." Tracy Lucht is assistant professor of journalism in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University. |
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