2026-10-23
The Pill: How the Only Medicine That Needs No Name Redrew the Curve of Women in Universities and the Workforce
Ranked #29 in '100 Products That Changed the World': The Pill / Enovid (OVR 89.35: Impact 97, Originality 95, Durability 92, Scale 87, Experience 82, Business 82). Approved by the FDA on May 9, 1960, and bankrolled almost entirely by $2 million in personal checks from MIT biology alumna Katharine McCormick, a tiny tablet made human childbearing schedulable—and directly triggered the late-20th-century surge of women into law, medicine, and executive careers.
