This presentation will review some of the progress women have made in leadership positions in chemistry during the past sixty years. Factors which affected the progress and problems that women had to deal with in overcoming obstacles in their path will be discussed. Although the proportion of women in the chemical community has increased significantly over the last sixty years, women still have not achieved parity with men. Diversity may be the key to fully developing science and technology. In many countries women have not had the opportunity to fully utilize their talents in the scientific community. Many problems, which women encounter in their career development (such as child care and research environment), are common to all countries while others are unique to some countries based on cultural backgrounds and customs. This presentation is intended to celebrate the accomplishments of past women chemists, review the current situation of women chemists in the US and in some cases to compare with that which women face in other countries.