Estrich: 'First woman' to 'no big deal' is a long road

Like most Americans, I haven't seen "The Hurt Locker," but I still was rooting for Kathryn Bigelow to claim the Best Director statue. This is, after all, 2010 - a little late in the day for "first women," particularly in an industry that depends on women as much as men to buy tickets. If you believe the media accounts, another glass ceiling has now been broken. Were it only so simple.

Of course, it's important to have "first women" - whether as Best Director or on the ticket or maybe even some day in the Oval Office. But what's really important is to have second and third and fifth women - to get to the point where it's just not a big deal. On that score, Hollywood isn't even close.

The Oscars this year were run by men: two men producing, two men hosting. What else is new? Bigelow made her name doing action and adventure movies, beating the boys at their own game. Nothing wrong with that, except that it's not a path many women can - or want to - follow. When I ask my pals who the next three Kathryn Bigelows will be, they look at me blankly.

A few weeks ago, the Hollywood studios settled a long-standing suit brought on behalf of older television writers (older is over age 40) who, for the most part, can't get arrested in this town. These are successful writers, with many credits to their names. But gray hair is simply not acceptable in a town obsessed with youth.

Last time I checked, a good many people older than age 40 were watching television, but they weren't watching shows written by people their age. The settlement was good news for the lawyers who brought the suit, but as one of my friends (a 40-something woman) explained to me, for writers, it meant that if they filled out an extremely long form, they might get a few thousand dollars. What they won't get is a job.

Age discrimination combines with sex discrimination to create a particularly bleak picture for women. If you haven't made it by 40, you don't.

But then, if you haven't had your kids by