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Ann Curry Thinks the Women's Movement Is Just Getting Started

Photo credit: Getty
Photo credit: Getty

From Woman's Day

Ann Curry is calling for change.

In the wake of Matt Lauer's ouster as Today cohost over sexual harassment allegations, the veteran journalist and former Today cohost spoke to Woman's Day about the need for women to continue fighting for equal treatment and for more leadership positions at work. And not just in media-across all industries.

"How do we break the glass ceiling? We use this moment to be bold and fearless and not allow ourselves to be sidelined in the workplace," Curry tells Woman's Day in an interview. "The movement towards women's equality has not, is not, finished. We are all part of a sisterhood that is rising. You don't have to feel that you need to shirk, diminish yourself or allow yourself to be diminished. Every step forward you make for yourself creates value in the places that you work. And it makes a space for someone else to continue that."

"So, pay it forward," she says.

Photo credit: Getty
Photo credit: Getty

Curry says the need for more female leaders at companies is not only "just," but especially practical.

"It's not simply a matter of fairness or a reflection that a majority of our population is female," she explains. "It's bad business [to not have female leadership]."

And while many of the men Curry has worked with are "wonderful and exemplary," she says it's time for men to "recognize the value that women bring to the leadership of companies and call them up."

According to Forbes, only 20 percent of board members at Fortune 500 companies were women in 2016. And only 5 percent of Fortune 500 companies had a female CEO in 2017.

"Women can run any company in America. We are now fully capable of being in mid to upper to top levels of management and we're now fully capable and there's no reason for us not to be in those positions," she says. "It's best for the companies and it's best for our country and it's best for the world."

Curry recently had the opportunity to work with a "wonderful" team of talented, powerful women, while producing her new PBS series We'll Meet Again.

"It's a rare opportunity to work with a team of all women, we don't always have that opportunity," says Curry, referencing co-executive producer, Justine Kershaw, and PBS general manager, Beth Hoppe. "It was really terrific."

The show, which airs at 8/7c on January 23, reunites people who have experienced pivotal moments in history together. Find out more about the six-part series at pbs.org.

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