Tamara Murphy

For decades, women were discouraged from pursuing long-term careers, often excluded from leadership roles before they ever had the chance to prove themselves. While gender discrimination in the workplace still exists today, it can be difficult to imagine how few opportunities were available to women just a few decades ago. The progress that has been made is the result of women who entered male-dominated spaces and stayed. This is the story of one of those women: Tamara Murphy.

For Tamara Murphy, college was a logical next step towards her future, not a male-exclusive space.

“I was lucky,” said Murphy. “From the day I was born, the expectation was that I would go to college. I was very fortunate, because there were a lot of women who weren't raised in an environment where education was a priority.”

After receiving a degree in education, Murphy entered the workforce in the 1970s as a high school English teacher. However, Murphy soon discovered that teaching was not her passion and began considering other fields.

While looking for new career opportunities, Murphy learned of an opening at State Farm Insurance in Bloomington, Illinois, from a friend who was leaving the company. At the time, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had enforced several federal acts that prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or origin.

So, when Murphy asked the director of personnel for a job, she became the first woman in their management training group on November 25, 1974.

Murphy went into the job thinking she would go back to full-time teaching in a year. She never expected her year-long commitment to turn into a decades-long career.

“I didn't know anything about insurance, except that I had to pay it every month,” Murphy explained. “The job gave me the opportunity to learn something new about it, and one of the things I learned about it that's so fascinating to me still is the base of our economy in the United States depends on insurance.”

Murphy ended up at the job for longer than she intended, staying with the company for 49 years and 3 months.

Although she did not have any prior experience in sales, Murphy quickly found that her educational background was not as great a disadvantage as her gender.

“In the 70s, women were not considered capable of continuing a career for a lifetime,” Murphy said. “Businesses believed that a woman would get married and have babies, and quit her job, and all the investment that they had made in her training and allowing her to be promoted would be gone because she would choose to stay home.”

Murphy credits a great deal of her success to the fact that she was able to gain the respect of her coworkers and have her ideas taken seriously. As the only woman in the executive conference room at State Farm, she understood that she wasn’t going to be heard unless she adapted to her circumstances.

“I had to learn to evaluate and listen carefully to what the men all around me were saying, and then repeat it back to them, and compliment them on one or two of the features that they had brought up,” she said. “Then I would pivot to an additional consideration and make it sound as if it was their decision, not something that I was bringing to the table.”

While effective, this approach highlights the unequal expectations placed on women, who were often forced to modify their communication in ways their male colleagues were not.

The conference room was not the only place Murphy had to adjust to this specific set of challenges.

Murphy chose to stay neutral and not involve herself in what she referred to as “the good old boys club.” She says she frequently opted out of activities outside of work and did not take it personally when she was not invited for drinks or hunting trips with the group. She instead chose to prove herself through her work ethic and tenacity. This was necessary in a workplace that was not built to include women.

“I showed them that I could work the same hours they did, maybe more. I could participate in the same education courses and do as well or better.”

Even though she found ways to increase her credibility and be seen as a valuable addition to her company, Murphy recognized that years of misogyny and discrimination would not change overnight.

“It took a very, very long time before the men in the insurance industry would accept that a woman could be in a position where they could have equal or possibly even better ideas than they did in business,” said Murphy.

Though the journey was difficult, Murphy did not just overcome the challenges she faced but also excelled in her field. From her beginning as a commercial underwriter, she became the first woman State Farm promoted and transferred across the country. After her promotion she managed her first major project and later became the Training Director for State Farm. In this role she managed every new State Farm agent, along with their teams, for two years before the company would give them a contract to own the business.

After 8 years as Training Director, Murphy became the first female State Farm Agency owner in Plano Texas.

Murphy’s accomplishments are significant, but she also attributes a portion of her success to the support she had available to her.  

“I was fortunate. I had my parents live 90 miles away. I had a wonderful nanny. I had someone who helped take care of our home and someone who helped cook.”

Murphy is one of the women who has shaped our world and workplace. Because of her, many of us don’t have to overcome the same obstacles that she did to be successful and respected. Still, discrimination is not uncommon today, and Murphy advises young women to stay confident in their abilities, even when they are underestimated.

“Give them your best work always and if they continue to be disrespectful, continue to give them your best work when you're in a situation where you have to work with them, but don't choose to intentionally put yourself in a position where you're going to be disrespected.”