2026年2月22日 / 美国东部时间上午10:23 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
诺拉·奥唐奈在其漫长职业生涯中采访了许多人，包括我们这个时代最重要的一些女性，如国务卿希拉里·克林顿、副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯、活动家马拉拉·优素福扎伊、歌手多莉·帕顿以及最高法院大法官艾米·科尼·巴雷特。但当谈及历史上的女性时，她惊讶地发现自己知之甚少。
“我在德克萨斯州上了一所优秀的大型公立高中，后来去了乔治敦大学，”她说，“然而，我对女性对美国历史的贡献的理解一直很有限。”
当被问及对自己此前不了解的事情的反应时，奥唐奈回答道：“你知道那个头爆炸的表情符号吗？🤯 几乎每次都会让我有那种感觉。”
Ballantine Books
在她的新书《我们女性》（将于周二由Ballantine Books出版）中，奥唐奈讲述了许多这些“隐藏英雄”的故事，从内战时期的外科医生玛丽·爱德华兹·沃克博士（唯一获得荣誉勋章的女性），到《第九条修正案》的作者、国会女议员帕齐· Mink，该修正案让众多年轻女性运动员能够在赛场上竞技。
奥唐奈以美国的建国文献开篇——那份宣告独立、印有56位开国元勋姓名的文件……以及一位非常勇敢的女性。
“当开国元勋们想要第一次正式印刷《独立宣言》，并将所有签署者的名字印在上面时，他们求助于谁？是巴尔的摩的一位印刷工，玛丽·凯瑟琳·戈达德，”奥唐奈说，“《独立宣言》上有一个女性的名字。而且要记住，在《独立宣言》上签名是叛国行为。”
在费城美国革命博物馆，馆藏与展览主任马修·斯基奇向我们展示了所谓的戈达德传单，上面印有戈达德的名字。
“这表明她有自己的事业，”斯基奇说，“这表明她和约翰·亚当斯、约翰·汉考克一样，是一位革命者。”
印刷工玛丽·凯瑟琳·戈达德的名字出现在《独立宣言》的第一次印刷版本上。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
然而，在戈达德大胆行动一个世纪后，女性仍然无法投票。因此，1876年7月4日，伊丽莎白·卡迪·斯坦顿和苏珊·B·安东尼领导的一群人聚集在费城的独立大厅。他们在美国百年庆典期间被剥夺了演讲机会。“那么这些女权主义者做了什么？因为她们没有被包括在内，所以她们冲上了讲台，”奥唐奈说。
她们手持一份“妇女权利宣言”。奥唐奈说：“她们想大声朗读，并指出女性应该享有投票权，甚至更多权利。”
尽管如此，女性获得选举权还需要44年的时间，直到1920年。奥唐奈说：“这就是为什么我们必须学习历史。我今年52岁。大约50年前，女性才可以用自己的名字开设信用卡、获得抵押贷款，实现财务自由。直到20世纪70年代初，所有50个州的女性才能够担任陪审员。‘喂？’”
书中还提到：贝比·迪德里克森，第一位女性体育超级巨星；弗朗西丝·珀金斯，第一位女性内阁成员；康斯坦斯·贝克·莫特利，第一位在最高法院辩论的黑人女性。即便如此，在为全国有色人种协进会法律辩护基金任命新的主任法律顾问时，这个职位还是给了一位男性。
“她被拒绝了，然后呢？拒绝反而让她转向了新的方向，”奥唐奈说，“她当选为纽约州参议院议员，后来约翰逊总统任命她为首位在联邦法院任职的黑人女性。由于康斯坦斯·贝克·莫特利成为联邦法官，年幼的凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊在杂志上读到她的故事，发现她们同一天生日，于是想自己也许也能成为一名律师。”
“如果你能看到可能性，你就能相信它，”奥唐奈说——这就是为什么她认为这些故事不仅具有启发性，而且是“必要的”。
“我经历过无数次性别歧视，”她说。
她分享的一个例子发生在她采访哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，报道白宫新闻时：“我和哥伦比亚广播公司的一位高层人士会面，他说，‘你有三个年幼的孩子。’我说，‘是的。’他说，‘那你怎么能在有三个年幼孩子的情况下报道白宫新闻呢？’我感到血液涌上脖子，脱口而出，‘你会问男性这个问题吗？’但我没有让他的性别歧视改变我的职业道路。如果我那样做了，我就不会坐在沃尔特·克朗凯特的椅子上了。”
奥唐奈将成为继凯蒂·库里克之后第二位独立主持《哥伦比亚广播公司晚间新闻》的女性。康妮·张曾在哥伦比亚广播公司共同主持晚间新闻，黛安·索耶则在美国广播公司主持。然而，如今三大电视网的新闻广播均由男性主持。
“我认为这不是件好事，”奥唐奈说，“我当然喜欢所有在那个职位上的男性，他们理应在那个职位上。但我确实认为应该有一位女性领导其中一个晚间新闻广播。我认为有代表性很重要。”
但当谈到女性与未来时，奥唐奈是一位乐观主义者：“我认为在我这一代，很多人会说，‘看，我很抱歉，但……’或者‘我希望我没有冒犯任何人，但也许我们应该……’我认为这种情况正在开始改变。我合作的年轻女性不会那样做。年轻女性不会道歉，也不会在房间里等待男性说完话。她们直接发言。她们说出需要做什么，并且高效、清晰、权威、协作地完成，然后她们的业绩会自己说明一切。这就是进步的标志。”
Norah O’Donnell on “We the Women,” about the unsung heroines of America
February 22, 2026 / 10:23 AM EST / CBS News
Norah O’Donnell has interviewed a lot of people in her long career, including some of the most important women of our time, such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Kamala Harris, activist Malala Yousafzai, singer Dolly Parton, and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. But when it came to women in history, she was shocked by how much she didn’t know.
“I went to a good, big, public high school in Texas; I went to Georgetown University,” she said. “And yet, my own understanding of women’s contribution to American history has been limited.”
Asked her reaction to things she had not known, O’Donnell replied, “You know that emoji that has the, like, head exploding? 🤯 It was sort of like that at every turn.”
Ballantine Books
In her new book, “We the Women” (to be published Tuesday by Ballantine Books), O’Donnell tells the stories of many of these “hidden heroes,” from Civil War surgeon Dr. Mary Edwards Walker (the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor), to Congresswoman Patsy Mink, author of Title IX, which allowed legions of young women athletes to battle it out on the playing field.
O’Donnell kicks things off with America’s founding document – the one declaring independence and bearing the names of 56 founding fathers … and one very brave woman.
“When the founders decide they want the first official printing of the Declaration of Independence, with all the signatories’ name on it, who do they turn to? A printer in Baltimore, Mary Katharine Goddard,” said O’Donnell. “There’s a woman’s name on the Declaration of Independence. And remember too, putting your name on the Declaration of Independence was treasonous.”
At Philadelphia’s Museum of the American Revolution, director of collections and exhibitions Matthew Skic showed us what’s known as the Goddard Broadside, with Goddard’s name printed on the bottom.
“It’s showing that she has her own business,” said Skic. “It’s showing that she is a revolutionary, just like John Adams, just like John Hancock.”
Printer Mary Katharine Goddard’s name appeared on the first printing of the Declaration of Independence. CBS News
Yet a century after Goddard’s bold act, women still couldn’t vote. So, on July 4, 1876, a group led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony gathered at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. They’d been denied speaking slots during America’s centennial celebration. “And what do these suffragists do since they weren’t included? They stormed the stage,” said O’Donnell.
They were armed with a “Declaration of the Rights of Women.” O’Donnell said, “They wanted to read aloud and make the point that women deserved the right to vote, and more.”
Still, it would take 44 more years before women won the right to vote in 1920. O’Donnell said, “This is why we have to study history. I mean, I’m 52 years old. It was just about 50 years ago that women could open up a credit card in their own name, could get a mortgage, to have financial freedom. Women couldn’t serve on juries in all 50 states until the early 1970s. Hello?”
Also in the book: Babe Didrikson, the first female sports superstar; Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet member; and Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to argue in front of the Supreme Court. Even so, when it came time to name a new director-counsel of the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, the job went to a man.
“She gets passed over, and guess what? Rejection, for her, becomes redirection,” said O’Donnell. “She gets elected to the New York State Senate, and then President LBJ makes her the first Black woman to serve on a federal bench. And because Constance Baker Motley becomes a federal judge, a young Ketanji Brown Jackson reads about her as a little girl in a magazine, and sees that they have the same birthday, and thinks maybe she could be a lawyer, too.”
If you can see it, you can believe it, O’Donnell says – which is why she thinks these stories aren’t just inspiring; they’re necessary.
“I cannot tell you how many times that I have experienced sexism,” she said.
CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell. CBS News
One example she did share happened while she was interviewing at CBS News to cover the White House: “And I meet with this senior person at CBS, and he says, ‘So, you have three young children.’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ Said, ‘Well, how are you gonna cover the White House with three young children at home?’ And I felt the blood rush up my neck, and I blurted out, ‘Do you ask men that question?’ But I did not allow his misogyny to change the path of my career. And if I had, I wouldn’t have sat in Walter Cronkite’s chair.”
O’Donnell would become the second woman to solo anchor the “CBS Evening News,” after Katie Couric. Connie Chung had co-anchored the evening news before at CBS, and Diane Sawyer at ABC. Today, though, the three networks’ news broadcasts are all anchored by men.
“I don’t think it’s a good thing,” O’Donnell said. “I certainly like all of the men that are in that position, and they deserve to be in that position. But I do think there should be a woman leading one of the evening news broadcasts. I do think it’s important to have representation.”
But when it comes to women and the future, O’Donnell is an optimist: “I think certainly in my generation there was a lot of, ‘Look, I’m sorry, but…’ or, ‘I hope I’m not offending anyone, but maybe we should…’ I think that’s starting to end. Younger women that I work with don’t do that. Younger women don’t apologize or wait for the men to finish speaking in a room. They just speak. They just say what needs to be done, and they do it efficiently, clearly, authoritatively, collaboratively, and then their record stands on its own. That is a sign of progress.”
