Independence: Local game changers
July 6, 2009 by Jessica Warnock
Filed under Be Inspired
Women’s rights have come a long way in the last 50 years.
However, this hasn’t happened by the natural progression of history.
Rather, it happened because smart, strong and independent women didn’t see why they, too, couldn’t be a lawyer, or a pilot or a politician. Each woman who never let her gender hold her back from what she wanted to do improved the quality of life for her daughters.
That’s why for July, Women’s Magazine is celebrating the lives of three inspirational women who embody women’s independence. These three Colorado women were historic pioneers in their fields. Their professions — and certainly opportunities for all the women who followed — wouldn’t have been the same without them.
A supreme leader
When Jean Dubofsky, of Boulder, went to Harvard Law School in 1967, women did not become judges. In fact, even women lawyers were uncommon.
In Dubofsky’s law class, there were only four women out of 125 students. She remembers one professor who said the women couldn’t raise their hands and they would rarely be called on.
But Dubofsky was confidant in her capabilities, which she says is key to being successful. You cannot be afraid to take risks, especially in a male-dominated field.
“To be an independent woman, it is really important to have self-confidence,” she says.
Dubofsky made history thanks to her own self-confidence. In 1979 she became the first woman and the youngest person ever elected as a Colorado Supreme Court justice.
Her career reflects Dubofsky’s belief that it is important to take care of people in need.
“People are not just responsible for themselves,” she says. “They are responsible for the well-being of the community.”
After retiring from the bench, in 1988 she opened a law firm in Denver where she continued fighting for Colorado’s disadvantaged populations. She has worked on some of the nation’s most important civil rights cases.
And she won most of them.
For instance, Dubofsky was the lead attorney in the first gay rights Supreme Court case, which challenged Colorado’s Amendment 2. The amendment said homosexuals could not receive redress for discrimination based on sexual orientation. Dubofsky won the case in 1996.
Now 67, Dubofsy continues to work as a lawyer, mostly in appellate cases. She operates the Dubofsky Law Firm with her husband Frank.
Because she was often the only woman in her field, Dubofsky says she worked especially hard. She says her this was the fundamental factor in her achievements.
“Nothing is given to anybody. There is no such thing as totally innate talent,” she says. “When you’re doing something that people don’t expect you to do, you really have to work hard at it.”
Nevertheless, when she looks back at all that she has accomplished, she says she can’t help but to think, “Wow. I did that?”
Emily Howell Warner broke the flying frontier for women, literally.
When Frontier Airlines hired Warner in 1973, she became the first woman pilot in the United States to be hired by a commercial airline.
As a little girl, Warner didn’t dream of becoming a pilot. After graduating from Holy Family High School in Broomfield in 1957, she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life.
Working at a Denver department store called May Company, Warner watched as glamorous airline stewardesses passed through the store. She thought that would be a great job.
But at 18 years old, Warner fell short of the stewardess age requirement. Nevertheless, one of Warner’s coworkers suggested that she buy a roundtrip ticket to Gunnison, Colo., to see what an airplane ride was like. Warner splurged on the $28 ticket and became the first person in her family to ride on a commercial airline.
Because she was the only passenger on the way back from Gunnison, Warner was allowed in the cockpit with the pilots, where she sat for the whole flight. The experience was thrilling, she says, and she immediately fell in love with flying. One of the pilots, sensing her delight, suggested that she take flying lessons.
“It was like my whole world changed,” Warner says.
The equal rights movement of the 1960s influenced Warner greatly. She knew there weren’t any women airline pilots, but she couldn’t help but think, “Why not?”
Still, it wasn’t easy becoming the first woman pilot. Warner was a flight instructor at Clinton Aviation after becoming a certified pilot. She was frustrated when airlines hired her male-counterparts before her, even when they had less experience. She eventually made enough contacts at Frontier that she was given an interview.
Tears fill Warner’s eyes even today as she remembers the day she was finally hired.
After Warner got the job, other airlines started to hire women, as well. Despite the pressure and constant media attention, Warner says she knew she was a good pilot so she never worried about failing.
“Airplanes don’t know if you’re male or female,” she says.
Warner, now 70, has won numerous awards and has been inducted into both the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame, as well as the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She lives in Denver and is still flying. She now has more than 21,000 hours of flying time.
Gloria Tanner has been active in the community since her mother used to take her door to door posting fliers as a young girl in Atlanta.
Whether it was petitioning for street lights on their block or speaking out against inequality, Tanner’s parents taught her to believe in the value of activism.
Despite the challenges of growing up as a black woman in the segregated and deeply racist South of the ¤’40s and ¤’50s, her parents also taught her to never doubt herself or her capabilities.
Of course, living on the same street as the Luther family — as in Martin Luther King Jr. — didn’t hurt either.
However, Tanner didn’t grow up with the dream of entering politics. In fact, she had something slightly different in mind.
“I wanted to be a nurse and go to Paris to enjoy life,” Tanner says.
Nevertheless, despite her original plans, and fortunately for women everywhere, Tanner ended up breaking barriers. She became the second black person to be elected to a leadership position in the Colorado House of Representatives as well as the first black woman in Colorado to serve as a state senator.
Tanner moved to Colorado with her husband Ted when she was 18. Although she dropped out of college when she was young, she always knew she would go back someday. After her third child enrolled in first grade, she finally went back to school just before turning 40. She graduated magma cum laude from Metro State College with a degree in political science in 1974. Eighteen months later she received her master’s in urban affairs at CU.
Following graduation, Tanner continued to fight discrimination and inequality. She eventually became the executive assistant to Colorado Lieutenant Governor George Brown, one of the first black lieutenant governors since Reconstruction in the United States.
Eventually, as Tanner became more and more involved, her supporters convinced her that she should run for office. She was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1985, where she served nine years. She later served on the Colorado Senate for seven years before retiring in 2001.
“It was a historic thing,” Tanner says. “I hope I opened some doors for other black women to run for office. As I walked through those senate doors, I carried every woman in the state on my shoulders. I was proud of that.”
Tanner passed several monumental bills while in office. She was responsible for the Colorado’s abandoned baby bill, which said parents could leave their children at hospitals or fire stations without punishment. She also created a marital discrimination bill that prevented women from being fired after marrying someone in their workplace. Another important bill Tanner created gave adoptive parents the same rights as biological parents.
Tanner, now 73 and living in Denver, is the executive director of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislative Women. The organization provides educational workshops that train black women to find leadership positions and run for office.
“If I leave any legacy it’s that I tried to make a difference and encouraged others to the same,” Tanner says.
– By Jessica Warnock
Thanks so much for this great article. It is great to learn of brave women who paved the way for others. Their show of courage, finesse, and humanity was great to read about. I really enjoyed reading about them.