Aeronautical engineer Sheila Widnall is the first woman to head one of the country’s military branches when she becomes secretary of the air force.
The Vietnam Women’s Memorial, designed by Glenna Goodacre, is unveiled.
The Texas Rangers, a mounted fighting force and an elite corps of state troopers founded in 1835, admit two women, Marrie Reynolds Garcia and Cheryl Campbell Steadman.
Political scientist Condoleezza Rice becomes the first black chief academic officer at Stanford when she is named provost; later Dr. Rice becomes national security advisor in one presidential administration and secretary of state in another.
Toni Morrison wins the Nobel Prize in literature for her body of work; she is the eighth woman as well as the first black to win. She says: “If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
Skier Picabo Street wins an Olympic downhill silver medal.
Myra Sadker publishes Failing at Fairness: How America’s Schools Cheat Girls; later the nonprofit Myra Sadker Advocates is established, dedicated to promoting gender equity in and beyond schools.
Humorous entertainer Fran Lebowitz releases The Fran Lebowitz Reader.