In my Sunday column , I traced how far women have come since 1980, in my opinion and experience.

As I was finishing the column Thursday, I recounted the history with Gonzaga University students who were born in 1987, 1988 and 1989. I asked if it sounded like ancient history. Yes, it did, some of them wrote. They wrote some really good responses. To see them, read the rest of the entry.

Meanwhile, here’s an excerpt:

In 1980, Lynn Caine spoke at Broward Community College in South Florida. Caine had written a best-selling book about suddenly becoming a widow. Left with two young children, she didn’t know how to do her family’s finances or how to fashion a social life in a culture built on couples.

I was a young reporter for the Fort Lauderdale News, and I covered Caine’s talk. Later that evening a group of us gathered with Caine at the home of a woman from the college. The woman’s neighbor told Caine about the husband who left her for another woman, left her broke with six kids.

A year or so later, Colette Dowling, author of “The Cinderella Complex,” spoke at the college. She said women had to take control of their personal happiness. They had to write their stories and not wait around for Prince Charming to pen the happily-ever-after endings.

By 1980, I had met only one woman doctor and just a handful of women lawyers. I’d never met a woman minister, judge or police officer. There were just two top-level women editors at the Fort Lauderdale News, and both were targets of disproportionate criticism by male and female staffers.

The struggles ahead for women seemed overwhelming. The Equal Rights Amendment was on its death watch. Equal pay for equal work sounded like a Utopian slogan.

Have we come a long way, baby? Blog lines are open.