Already in the first issue of Forbes, Bertie Forbes proudly presented a special section “Women in Business”. The editor of the regular column was Marian R. Glenn, who joined the magazine from the American Bankers Association. She also became one of the two female authors of the very first issue of Forbes.
In those early years, the magazine was remarkably progressive. American women have yet to vote, and women journalists at Forbes have written about women entrepreneurs.
Many articles from that time are still relevant today, especially those related to sexism at work. Particularly indicative is the 1918 edition, with a review of the book of practical advice "Ambitious Women in Business." The author of the book pointedly hinted that "it will be very useful for many men" to familiarize themselves with this work.
A year later, the magazine published an interview with Virginia Potter, co-founder of the 15,000-member National League of Women Workers. “Old prejudices are rapidly receding into the past,” she said, referring to the women who joined the ranks of the workers. "Women will continue to build on their successes, not only building a name for themselves as successful entrepreneurs, but also working for the good of their country."
But, of course, not all issues were decorated with yellow roses and suffragist ribbons. So, the 1917 headline sounded harsh: "Can women keep their word?"
In 1943, a woman first appeared on the cover of a magazine. It was Rosie the Riveter, in jeans and a hard hat, expressing her concerns about "post-war disorders in women."
As the years passed, women only appeared occasionally in a magazine with topics such as "Liberating Women as Trendsetters" (1971). This continued until 1990, when for the first time a woman entrepreneur, Madonna, adorned the cover of the magazine. The singer posed in a sexy pink suit adorned with rhinestone dollar signs, with the title on the cover asking, "The smartest female entrepreneur?" (In fact, Forbes did not find the topic of women entrepreneurs particularly lucrative, as evidenced by the fact that three years earlier they had released the 797 Most Powerful Men and 3 Most Powerful Women in Corporate America.)
The situation with gender balance in the magazine has improved along with the increase in the number of women in the governing bodies. In 2004, Forbes published the first list of the 100 most influential women in the world, in which Condoleezza Rice, at that time the national security adviser to the President of the United States, took first place.
Over the past 10 years, the cover has featured prominent business personalities such as General Motors' Mary Barra, Honest Company founder, actress Jessica Alba, and Oprah Winfrey. And only in 2015, Forbes began to separately read the fortunes of America's richest entrepreneurs, those who are commonly called self-made women. The number of such women is growing every year. Marian Glenn would be delighted.
This material was published in the anniversary issue of American Forbes in September 2017
