Women have fought for America since the Revolutionary War, but not always openly — and not without struggle. Once barred from attending service academies and holding combat roles, women have been reaching higher and more visible leadership positions, and not just in the military.

After decades of strides in employment, women are making a staggering exit from the workforce due to the pandemic. Experts say the shift may lead to challenges for women finding work and they may face lower wages in the future.

A new statue of Viola Liuzzo was recently dedicated at the neighborhood park on Detroit's west side that bears her name. A few hundred people gathered for the ceremony to commemorate her ultimate sacrifice 54 years ago when the Detroiter became the only white woman to die for the civil rights movement.

There's a long and tiresome history of men calling women "emotional" in order to undermine our decisions and discredit our leadership, and when it happens, it's important to call it out, not least because publicly framing a woman's choices as emotional rather than rational or reasoned works.

Last year, Scotty Reiss, founder of agirlsguidetocars.com, a website that coaches women on car ownership issues, said women represent about 27 percent of people working in automotive professions despite the fact that they make or influence 85 percent of all car purchases.

"The #MeToo movement is not defined by what the media has told you. We are the movement, and so I need you to not opt out of the #Metoo movement. ... I need you to reframe your work to include sexual violence That’s how we take back the narrative."

GM dominated the rankings because it's currently the only company in the largest 20 in the United States that has a female CEO, CFO and an equal number of women and men on its board of directors. Also, GM is one of just two global businesses that have pay equality in top, middle and bottom "bands" as well as overall no gender pay gap across the company. The study also said GM offers flexible hours and flexible work locations as well as having policies to combat sexual violence at work and measures to improve supplier diversity.

"Because of the society we live in today, it's going to take more than 20 years to get equality in this sport. I hope that it happens now, but it's going to take more than 20 years because we live in an alpha-male society."

One man wrote in response to my story: "Women make up only 27 percent of the auto industry and that is a good thing. Most women really don't know jack about a car. When was the last time you saw a women change out a camshaft in a classic car or truck? Does not happen often! As for the parts and service end of the business, 98 percent of women don't want to get their hands dirty and are concerned about breaking a fingernail or their makeup!"

L3 takes no guff from humans, even though she harbors a sweet spot for Lando. She knows she’s born to be a machine, but that definition of her is imposed by others, not harbored within her consciousness. Deep inside, she wants to be treated decently, just like any other thinking being. Instead, she’s viewed by strangers as little more than space junk. And, sadly, that resonates in 2018, when too many people are feeling emboldened to treat others as lesser-than, whether it's because of their gender, race, ethnicity or immigrant status.

In her two-plus years in the minors, she's been treated like one of the guys, save for a few amenities laid out for her in the dressing rooms. And yet, she isn't one of the guys. She is a reminder, a symbol, a proxy for anyone who's trying to break down a barrier. Even if she doesn’t think much about her long odds and her daily grind. "I heard all the stories about the ladies who came before me," she said. About the jokes and the harassment and the air of misogyny. Baseball, perhaps more than any other major sport, was an old boys' club. But something changed in the seven years since the last woman gave minor-league umpiring a shot. Whether pulled along by the larger cultural shifts or, as Pawol noted, by the game's own desire to become more hospitable, baseball changed.