Winter 2001-2002
Philosopher Bryant takes her place at the table
What can you do with a degree in philosophy? If you're Marilyn Tickle Bryant, just about anything you can name. Activist, leader, lobbyist, pathbreaker, trailblazer: these are among the words that would leap from the pages of any biography of Bryant, a 1949 magna cum laude College of Liberal Arts (CLA) graduate with a major in philosophy.
Bryant has spent a substantial portion of her life leading others, and occasionally nudging even a few of the more resistant folks along on the path to gender equality. On the national scene, she's been a progressive leader in the Republican Party, providing counsel to various national leaders and serving on the National Republican Women's Task Force.
Closer to home, in Minnesota, she was the first Republican chair of the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus, one of the first chairs of the U of M Women's Athletics Advisory Board, chair of the Board of Trustees for Metropolitan State University, a founder of the Minnesota Women's Campaign fund, and a member of the Minnesota's Women's Economic Round Table.
As if this weren't enough, Bryant has taken on these and other leadership roles above and beyond her position as vice president and owner of Adjustable Joist Company, a 70-year-old construction company specializing in concrete form work. Indeed, it can be said that here, in this industry especially, she broke the mold of her generation to become a leader in a "man's world."
Beginnings
Bryant says that her Constitutional Law class played a significant role in awakening her interest in gender equity issues. Recalling a particular case in Sex-Based Discrimination--a transformational book for her--she says, "The male and female workers were doing precisely the same work, but paid substantially differently. I vowed to do all I could in my life to end such discrimination." And so she has, founding or serving on every imaginable committee and organization with a goal of eradicating gender discrimination and creating gender equity in the workplace and beyond.
"It's difficult to name only one influential woman in my life," says Bryant. "I've been blessed with knowing many talented and committed women who have helped set the stage for change. Of course I owe a great deal to the foremothers of our movement who fought so many important battles. And I have many women to thank for challenging and encouraging me and others to think outside the stereotypes with which I was raised."
Spreading the word
"It's so important to share this history with current students--women and men--because it's really the story of making a difference. Yes, I've spent many hours as a volunteer, and such a commitment requires a great deal of support from friends and family. But among the most powerful rewards for such involvement is that I now have a national and international network that reminds me daily that sisterhood lives, that we as women have many shared experiences regardless of our socio-economic level."
Bryant attributes much of her success to the lessons she learned early on in her liberal arts education. "With a foundation in the liberal arts, and particularly philosophy, I learned the importance of being open to ideas and seeing the various sides to an argument. I learned to examine what I was being told and what I was reading, and sometimes to challenge what I was presented as fact," she says. "These are the critical thinking skills founded in the liberal arts. This is why so many people believe, as I do, that the path to success and power begins with a liberal arts education."
Bryant has used that power to crash through barriers-even those made of concrete-and to remove those barriers from other women's paths. And so she is in a better position than most to offer advice to young college students. "Sample everything," she says. "Don't be put off by stereotypes of a particular field, and remember that any field has its challenges and requires a genuine commitment to attain success.
"Young women in particular will confront the challenge of balancing all that is expected of them. We've broken down many barriers, and much is expected of women today because they've won their place at the table. To them I say, 'Go girl!'"