Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future

by Jean M. Twenge

Boomers Karen Wagner (b. 1952), the first female litigation partner in a major New York City law firm, and Erica Baird (b. 1948), the first female partner in a large accounting firm, write that as young women they “were thrilled to get real jobs—albeit in a man’s world. Ladies rooms were up the stairs and down the hall. The uniform was an adaptation of male garb, effectively disguising the female shape.… We strategized about how to be seen—and heard.” Some firsts took longer than others. The New York Times reported that the first two female sanitation workers in the city were doing well—in an article dated January 31, 1987. Gender segregation in jobs affected men, too. When Celio Diaz Jr., a married father of two from Miami, applied to be a flight attendant in 1967, Pan American World Airways rejected him for being male. Diaz sued and lost in 1970 when the court ruled (incredibly) that being female was a bona fide occupational qualification for being a flight attendant. He appealed, and the case was eventually settled in his favor in 1972. Unfortunately, Diaz was then older than Pan Am’s maximum age for the job. Other men would get the opportunity, though, with Pan Am hiring men for the position beginning in July 1972. As the Miami Herald opined, “Next time you settle down for a long jet flight, don’t be startled if the ‘stewardess’ who comes to fluff your pillow is a husky former policeman,” describing the change as a “Men’s Lib–style effort.” Before long, “stewardess” be...