On Monday, March 4, 2013, the Legislative Women’s Caucus Breaking celebrated Women’s History Month with an Assembly Floor ceremony: Breaking the Glass Ceiling. A reception and luncheon to honor these 11 amazing women was held before and after the event, respectively.
The awards celebrate the successes of California women in breaking barriers in the fields of science, technology, the arts, the judiciary, and beyond. The honorees broke barriers with achievements previously only realized by men.
Women’s History Month is a time to reflect on the accomplishments of women throughout time. By highlighting these women’s amazing accomplishments we’ve inspired women and girls throughout the State to make their own history – to become trailblazers.
Each honoree received a framed certificate and a pendant of broken glass - celebrating the concept of a shattered glass ceiling.
The honorees were as follows:
Dr. Frances A. Arnold
Dr. Frances A. Arnold is the only woman to have been elected to membership in all three US National Academies, of Science, Medicine, and Engineering. She is also the only woman to receive the Draper Prize of the US National Academy of Engineering.
The Honorable Yvonne B. Burke
Yvonne B. Burke was elected to the State Assembly in 1966; then in 1972 became the first California African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress (one of only 16 women serving in Congress at the time.) In 1992, she became the first African-American elected to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. She currently serves on the Board of AMTRAK.
Laphonza Butler
Laphonza Butler is the President of SEIU ULTCW – the United Long Term Care Workers’ Union, which represents 180,000 in-home caregivers and nursing home workers across California.
Weili Dai
Weili Dai is the Co-founder of the Marvell Technology Group and is widely considered a technology visionary; she is the only woman co-founder of a global semiconductor company. one of the top semiconductor companies in the world.
Geena Davis
In addition to being an Academy Award winning actress Geena Davis also runs the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which is the only research-based organization working within the media and entertainment industry on the need for gender balance. She is also the Chair of the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.
Associate Justice Kathryn Doi Todd
Kathryn Doi Todd went from a World War II internment camp to being the first female Asian-American judge in the country. She recently retired from the Appellate Court after 35 years on the bench.
Maria Zoe Dunning
One of the first military members to be prosecuted under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Zoe Dunning successfully won her discharge hearing and served as the only openly gay member of the U.S. military for the next 13 years.
Mildred García
Mildred García was the first Latina president in the California State University system. She was president of CSU Dominguez Hills and most recently she was appointed president of CSU Fullerton.
Sally J. Rogers
Sally J. Rogers is a developmental psychologist and a Professor of Psychiatry at the UC Davis MIND Institute. Dr. Rogers has spent her career working with children with developmental disabilities and their families, especially young children with autism.
Jennifer Harris Trosper
Through her work on the Mars Exploration Rover mission, Jennifer Harris Trosper sent two rovers to Mars in 2003 and continues to work with the Curiosity science missions.
She even walked in the 2013 Inaugural Parade as an honor for her Curiosity mission accomplishments.
Rosalind Wyman
At 22, Roz Wyman became youngest elected legislator in a major U.S. city when she was elected to the Los Angeles City Council. During her 12 year tenure on the LA City Council, Roz Wyman brought both the Dodgers and the Lakers to Los Angeles.