Their respective areas of expertise were diverse, but all of the honorees overcame certain gender-specific adversities on their way to success, said Susan Westerberg Prager, president of Occidental College and keynote speaker of the event.
And while adversities were more formidable when Prager entered the professional world about 40 years ago, this year’s honorees were proof that systemic hurdles for women in business are being scaled by leaps and bounds these days, Prager said.
“Not only am I the first female to be chosen president of Occidental College, I am the oldest person to be asked to become Occidental’s president,” she said.
“What that combination means in the context of today’s program is that I have a 50-year vantage point on the role of women in U.S. society.”
When Prager, a former attorney, first considered law school, an undergraduate peer of hers at Stanford University cautioned, “Why would you want to take up a man’s place in law school? You will never use the degree.”
The Castaway audience collectively gasped at the anecdote, but perhaps few were more surprised than Glendale lawyers Margarit Mardirosian and Demetria Graves.
The pair shared the “Women in Law” award, which goes to women who have made significant contributions in the field of law.
