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NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson is photographed at her desk at NASA Langley Research Center with a globe, or “Celestial Training Device.” (Public domain by NASA)

Women Built History — and Still Hold It Together Every Day

For the Last Word essay, Editor Judy Farah celebrates the often-overlooked accomplishments of women of the past and present

Back Commentary Mar 31, 2026 By Judy Farah

This story is part of our March 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.

This story is part of our March 2026 issue. To read the print version, click here.

Madame Clicquot, also known as Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, was widowed young in the early 1800s in France. She fought to take on her late husband’s Champagne business. She faced rejection at every step in the male-dominated industry and era. But she had a passion and persisted, despite competition, political turmoil and a Russian invasion of Paris. Now considered the grande dame of Champagne and one of the first female entrepreneurs in history, she built the Veuve Clicquot name into one of the premier Champagne brands in the world. (Her story is detailed in a book I recently read, “The Champagne Letters.”)

Hedy Lamarr was a sultry, stunning Hollywood actress who starred in such 1940s movies as “Samson and Delilah” and “White Cargo.” She also helped develop a radio guidance system during World War II for Allied torpedoes, a frequency-hopping technology that helped prevent the threat of radio jamming by enemy forces. The technology was a forerunner for secure wireless networking that we use for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth today. (I have a friend who admires Lamarr so much, she had her image tattooed on her chest.)

Portrait of Madame Clicquot Ponsardin by Léon Cogniet. (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Katherine Johnson was a mathematics whiz who graduated college at age 18. She became a teacher but later accepted a job with NASA to work in their mathematics pool of all-Black women. Considered a “human computer,” Johnson calculated the trajectory needed to get astronauts to the moon. Her story, along with those of two of her colleagues, was documented in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures.”

Cliquot, Lamarr and Johnson are just a sampling of the amazing women in history. They not only broke barriers but had accomplishments at a time when women weren’t welcomed in their industries. But you don’t have to launch an astronaut to space to achieve something every day. From the boardroom to the home, women quietly do the work that keeps the world moving.

This came to my attention this past holiday season when I saw posts on social media from grown-up children who finally realized that the magical Christmas they had as kids was due to their mothers. She was the one who decorated the home, bought the gifts and wrapped them, made the traditional holiday meals and cookies, organized the parties and got everyone out the door well-dressed for church services. The children now realize that it was a labor of love, especially for mothers who worked full time.

I remember one Christmas when I was a stay-at-home mom. I did all those things and stayed up until 2 a.m. on Christmas Eve, wrapping the very last Christmas gift and stuffing the stockings. I asked my husband to do one thing: Take the videos on Christmas morning. Guess what happened? He woke up and said, “Darn. I forgot to charge the camcorder.” You had one job!

Hedy Lamarr in “The Heavenly Body.” (Public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

This is not to mock men, but to honor the women who keep going while fighting fatigue, an illness or stretching their paycheck in this economy. Maybe they’re working two jobs, or have a side hustle for extra income. This is for those women who come home exhausted and still make dinner, help their children with homework or the school project, make the baths, read to them, say prayers and tuck them into bed. Some of them have to take care of their elderly parents as well. And the cycle repeats the next day.

I am grateful for advancements in the workplace, such as family leave. When I first got pregnant while working for The Associated Press, my news director was angry. He barely talked to me. I was among the first wave of women who worked while pregnant, and they didn’t quite know how to handle it. Now, most companies offer up to 12 weeks of family leave for men and women.

But most of all, we persevere. We continue on through the stress and fatigue because we want both a career and a family. Just seeing how 41-year-old Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn tried to tackle the slopes in Italy in February with a torn ACL was an example, albeit extreme, of how women soldier on towards their dreams.

I can look at my own boss, Winnie Comstock-Carlson, who went to work one day and found the doors to the business she worked for locked. It had shut down, and she received no payment for her work. Rather than lament, Winnie started her own company 37 years ago — this magazine — and keeps on working hard every day because she loves it and believes in it.

I’m happy because my young female editors don’t have to face nearly the same sexism I faced coming up in journalism. But when reading the female entrepreneur story in this issue, you’ll see that discrimination hasn’t ended just yet. Yet I know too many women who won’t let that stop them. They’ll pursue the career they want, the family they dreamed of and the life they envisioned. And it will happen because of the quiet strength of women everywhere.

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