Guest columnist Lucy Chang Evans: Women are making progress, but we still have far to go

By Lucy Chang Evans

Guest columnist

It is hard to believe that women did not have the right to vote until 1920. I was born in 1972 and grew up completely unaware that there was ever a time when women couldn't vote.

With heroes like Wonder Woman, the Bionic Woman and Electra Woman on TV when I was a kid, I thought anything was possible. In school, I excelled in math and science. I played varsity sports in high school and college. I am a civil engineer and a former Secret Service agent.

None of this would have been possible if brave and pioneering women before me hadn't broken down gender barriers.

As an adult, I became more aware of the inequities between men and women both at home and at work. I have fought gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment. I have seen glass ceilings, old-boy networks and inequities in pay for women. It is frustrating to see gender disparity in action, but we must persist and lift each other up.

Smart men know that women are a value-added to any organization. Smart women know that we have the power to achieve full equity one step at a time. Women's History Month is a wonderful opportunity for us to pause and reflect on how far women have come in society. We are making great progress. Let's keep it up!

• Lucy Chang Evans is a civil engineer and former Secret Service agent from Naperville.