7 Extraordinary Women in Male-Dominated Fields

The strides to bring us closer to gender equality are never ending, and many women have made a huge impact on closing this gap. One of the areas that women have to continue to push the envelope with is finding pathways into male dominated industries. There are fields of study and work that have historically been overly saturated by men. Because there is sometimes push back, both actively and passively, when women try to take up space in these kinds of industries, it has been difficult for women to gain equal footing. But there are several brave women who serve as trailblazers through their efforts to make a name for themselves in these fields. These changemakers were and are bold enough to not take no for an answer and lead the way to improved access and opportunity for women who will come after them. To learn more about these female innovators, check out these 7 extraordinary women in male-dominated fields.

Irina Krush – Chess Master

Many competitive endeavors do not let men and women compete together, but chess is an exception. But despite this, no woman has ever won a world chess championship. Irina Krush became the youngest U.S. Women’s champion at age 14. She said that chess is a game that needs masculine characteristics to dominate. “Chess is a very solitary game,” Krush says. “I think women or girls when they were growing up were more social animals; [they] prefer to do things in groups. For a woman to be successful in chess, she basically has to develop in herself more masculine qualities than she would if she was involved in another profession.”

Annie Duke – Poker Champion

There are 38 inductees in the World Series of Poker Hall of Fame. Only one of them is a woman. Duke won the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions in 2004, but says she is still not treated with respect. “I’ve been really overtly and disgustingly hit on at the table,” she reports. She feels that this was a way to assert their male dominance over her through objectification.

Cristeta Comerford – Chef

Comerford, who is Filipino, breaks ground as the first female and first minority to ever serve as executive chef of the White House. This is indicative of a drastic underrepresentation of women and female minorities in executive chef positions world wide. Despite equal enrollment in culinary schools based on gender, the Bureau of Labor reports that only 20% of chefs and head cooks are women.