Working women, 1950s (Minorities in the 1950s)
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), women ages 16-55+ comprised 18K+, which was less than 30% of the labor force. (By contrast, working men numbered 43K+ and over 70%.) Out of the 12% of American women who worked outside the home, only 6% of women held management positions.
Today, things have changed…slightly. It’s still difficult for women to climb the corporate ladder and make it all the way to the C-suite.
Viola Davis, Emmys 2015 (Betches)
At the Emmys this past weekend, actress Viola Davis was nominated for Best Actress in a Drama Series for her lead role in ABC’s “How to Get Away with Murder.” Though she didn’t win on Sunday night, she won the award in 2015, and made history in the process. Davis became the first Black woman to win the Best Actress award.
Crazy that seemingly simple milestones are still only now being surpassed.
Actress Rita Moreno poses with her Oscar after she was named best supporting actress at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles on April 9, 1962. She won for her roll in “West Side Story
In 1961, actress Rita Moreno won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Anita in “West Side Story.” She was the first Latina actress to win that award.
Moreno didn’t stop there: In 1975, she won the Tony for Best Supporting Actress for “The Ritz.” And she was the first Latina actress to win that award as well.
Two years later, Moreno became the second person ever to achieve the EGOT: winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. She’s continued working steadily and blazing trails today.
Micheline Bernardini in a bikini (Culturify)
You may not recognize Micheline Bernardini’s name, but you know her impact: Bernardini was the first woman ever to wear a bikini.
In 1946, French engineer Louis Reard cut up some fabric and sewed four triangles to get the first bikini. He wanted to announce his new invention to the world with a press conference. There was only one problem: he couldn’t find a woman willing to wear his creation. Reard eventually hired teenage exotic dancer Micheline Bernardini to model the bikini.
The bikini gets its name from Bikini Atoll, where nuclear weapons were tested on war artillery. The first test was completed five days before Reard announced his new sartorial creation.
“Bridesmaids,” 2011 (Scoopify)
If you didn’t see “Bridesmaids” when it came out five years ago, you clearly hate women in comedy. As you might guess from the movie title, the story revolved around a group of bridesmaids, led by Kristen Wiig, and their antics leading up to their friend’s wedding day.
Before “Bridesmaids” premiered in May 2011, the movie had gotten a lot of press for being an all-female comedy. Lots of questions prevailed: Were women actually funny? Would women see it? More importantly (ha, in the eyes of Hollywood), would men see it?
The answer to these questions was a resounding “yes!” The movie did well at the box office, ranking #14 at the domestic box office with $169M+ in revenue and #20 worldwide with $289M+ in revenue. It also opened the door a little wider to allow more female-driven movies and women in gross-out comedy (remember the bridal atelier scene?).
London Summer Olympics Condoms, 2012 (Eikon)
Did you know the Olympics had their own branded condoms? I certainly didn’t, until I found this image. And this one isn’t repeated each time: Every Olympic Games receives their own specially-branded condoms.
If I was an Olympic athlete, I know I’d be pocketing these for souvenirs (no, really!).
Lupita Nyong’o Oscar acceptance, 2014 (CBS News)
The Oscars are this weekend (Sunday, Feb. 28). If you’ve been following awards season this year, you know that the #OscarsSoWhite reared its ugly head again. This is the second year in a row that there have been no non-white nominees in the four acting categories. Shameful isn’t a strong enough word.
So I’m throwing it back to the last time we had a non-white winner in an acting category. That was back in 2014, at the 86th Annual Academy Awards. Lupita Nyong’o won Best Supporting Actress for her role in 2013’s “12 Years A Slave.” She’s both the most recent POC nominee and winner.
And because I couldn’t choose just one photo of Nyong’o, here’s another one that showcases her incredible Prada dress:
Lupita Nyong’o backstage at the Oscars, 2014 (Fiction Diversity WordPress)
Beyonce’s Super Bowl performance, 2013 (Wired)
We all saw Beyoncé’s amazing performance at the Super Bowl halftime show last weekend. And heard her new song. (And have put it on repeat this week.)
I feel like Beyoncé’s Super Bowl performance from 2013 really kicked off her current stratospheric level. And 10 months later, she released her self-titled visual album, and we all know how that went.
Pornhub Stats: Traffic during Winter Storm Jonas (Pornhub Insights)
A few weeks ago, winter storm Jonas shut down a few cities on the East Coast. Naturally, people were going a little stir-crazy. The good people at Pornhub delved into the data, examining how the traffic was affected as opposed to a regular weekend. For the full report, hit Pornhub’s post on the site’s Insights blog (NSFW, as you probably guessed).
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg (Business Insider)
On July 31, 2015, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced on (where else?) Facebook that he and his wife Priscilla were expecting a baby girl. He also revealed that the couple had weathered three miscarriages in the span of two years.
Zuckerberg rarely posts personal things on his own site, so this was a break from routine for him. The confession earned him praise.
The Zuckerbergs’ daughter Max was born on Dec. 1, 2015.
Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang 