Mother’s Day was this month, and among the Penn alumnae celebrating were three who were ranked among “The 25 Most Influential Working Mothers” in the February 1997 issue of Working Mother magazine.
Noted for achievements in their professions and for contributing to changes in workplace culture were Laurel Gordon Bellows, CW’69, partner in the Chicago law firm Bellows and Bellows; Candice Bergen, CW’67, Hon’92, Emmy Award-winning actress; and Connie Kadrovach Duckworth, WG’79, managing director of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank and securities firm.
Five years ago, as president of the Chicago Bar Association, Bellows invited women lawyers to a breakfast to talk about discrimination on the job. Prompted by the stories of sexism she heard, she has become one of the nation’s leading advocates for women in the legal profession. She has a 15-year-old daughter.
Bergen has won the loyalty of women viewers for her unsentimental portrayal of a single mother balancing the demands of childraising and a broadcasting career on the CBS television show Murphy Brown. She has an 11-year-old daughter.
Duckworth served for five years on the Goldman Sachs diversity committee, which created the industry’s first backup childcare center and also provided adoption leave, a liberal maternity leave, and a mentoring program for women managers. She is the mother of two girls and two boys.
By Susan Lonkevich