Women’s History Month and the 100-year anniversary of the League of Women Voters of Wilmette were recognized at the Wilmette Public Library on March 13 at the Women in the Workplace program held in the library’s lower level auditorium.
The evening panel discussion featured all Wilmette residents with diverse career backgrounds. The program explored women’s challenges and strategies for overcoming barriers in the workplace. The free event was sponsored by the League of Women Voters Wilmette, Village of Wilmette and Wilmette’s Human Relations Commission.
The event had a goal to learn together and to advocate a more equitable community, according to promotional materials.
“I think it’s really important to raise people’s awareness of women’s issues in whatever part of their life,” said Laurie Leibowitz of Wilmette, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Wilmette. “We were also hoping that women who are having challenges in the workplace could come and learn from each other.”
Swathi Mothkur of Wilmette, commissioner on Wilmette’s Human Relations Commission, said the commission works to make Wilmette a more welcoming place.
She said a lot of what is happening in the reproductive rights space now is directly impacting women and their role in the workplace.
“A lot of women in the workplace choose to defer family planning for later,” Mothkur added. “Things like having that opportunity to maybe have children later in life rather than not earlier, those choices will affect women in the workplace.
Mothkur served as moderator. Panelists included Katie Degen, owner of Central Station Coffee & Tea in Wilmette; Kristyn Gibson, senior vice president of Rappaport Reiches Capital Management; Jill Hayes, professional civil engineer and vice president of Benesch; Iliana A. Mora, executive vice president and COO of Sinai Health System and Gail Schnitzer Eisenberg, New Trier Township supervisor and employment lawyer.
It will be three years this coming June that Degen has operated the coffee shop business with a second location opening in the Wilmette train station more than one year ago. The first location is in downtown’s village center.
Being a panelist is a wonderful experience, Degen said, “My kids get to see me back in the workplace.”
She hopes the ongoing celebration of Women’s History Month each March keeps conversations moving forward.
“I don’t think just one conversation can change, it’s got to start on a more micro level with all of us in our organizations, our companies and what we’re doing within our family,” Degen said.
Degen’s spouse Giff Degen said, “Seeing what my wife is doing as a small business owner, I just want to give her the support that she needs.
“I know while she’s successful in her own right, the challenges that she has as a woman, just starting a new business, to kind of face it head on and to overcome certain obstacles that maybe others don’t, it’s just a true testament to her hard work and the person that she is,” Giff Degen said.
The spouse of liana A. Mora, Bodee Kittikamron, was in the audience. Both knew each other as students at New Trier Township High School and graduated as part of the New Trier Class of 1995.
“Iliana’s been working on behalf of driving and moving forward women’s issues for a long time,” Kittikamron said. “It’s been kind of our life’s mission.”
Iliana Mora said, “It’s great to be able to celebrate Women’s History Month and also talk to the community about what it’s like to be a woman in the workplace.”
Topics overhead among panelists during the program included childcare, family leave laws, loopholes and adherence plus sustainable dynamics among families for working parents.
With an overall snapshot of women in the workplace, STEAM career panelist and licensed engineer Jill Hayes said to Pioneer Press before the presentation she worked in an oil refinery for six months.
“You see some things and you hear some things,” Hayes said. “Now I’m in transportation, and it’s definitely different. I think things have changed.”
Even with some change, Hayes said the management and leadership in her industry remains male-dominated. She hopes with time, things will continue to change.
“It’s not oppressive, I think there’s opportunity and that there’s a strong community of women and so I feel like that somewhat equalizes it,” Hayes said.
Kristyn Gibson, also a panelist, indicated women are still underrepresented in her field, wealth management.
“I just think that so often we look to our parents and see a lot of our moms had less of a role in their finances and you may have grown up thinking that it wasn’t something you could do,” Gibson said. “And I just want my kids, and all kids to know that, you can do anything you want to do and that there’s a world out there. I just hope that girls realize that their opportunities are unlimited.”
Due to the statistical likelihood that their male partners will die before them, Gibson said even women who never had a role in their finances may have to eventually.
“80% of men will die married (and) 80% of women will die single,” Gibson stated. “And that’s really crazy when you think about it. So really, like 90% of women will be in charge of their own finances at some point in their life so to take ownership and understand it is important.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.
