So Ordered: Making Partner the Hard Way

This is the personal account of a determined professional woman who fought against sexual discrimination by a major accounting firm and won. Widely reported in Time, Fortune, the New York Times Magazine, and other national news media, Ann Branigar Hopkins's lawsuit against Price Waterhouse was carried through the federal courts where, in a landmark decision, she was awarded the promotion she had earned.

When Hopkins first was nominated for partnership at Price Waterhouse in 1982, she was the only woman among eighty-eight candidates. Of all the nominees, she had the best record for generating new business and securing multimillion-dollar contracts for the company. Yet her promotion was denied. She later learned that several male partners had criticized her for being overly aggressive, macho, and in need of charm school.

So Ordered is Hopkins's compelling account of her life before, during, and after the seven years of litigation that led to the court ruling in her favor. Complicating her battle were several family crises, which required her to find a school for her dyslexic child, settle a divorce, and fight for custody of her three children.