While women are increasingly moving into higher level positions in business and politics, women are now moving into one the most male-dominated sectors – defense.
This year, five women working in top defense positions landed a spot in Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list in 2010. Linda Hudson, president of BAE Systems, is one of the highest-ranking women in the defense contracting business, as noted in a Washington Post article. At Lockheed Martin, three of the four operating divisions are currently run by women and at General Dynamics Phebe N. Novakovic serves as executive vice president for marine systems.
There is even a Women In Defense (WID) national security organization that helps the advancement of women in the defense industry. The organization celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2009 and has about 1,940 members.
The women told the Post that they watched as women have gradually climbed to the highest reaches of power across government and industry including Gen. Ann Dunwoody, the first four-star general in the U.S. military and Letitia A. Long, the first woman to lead a major U.S. intelligence agency: the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Women are also earning more. The Post reports that in the Washington region, one in six women earned more than $100,000 last year.
