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"The governor and I have been partners, and that makes a real difference," she said during a panel discussion held Monday in Stamford.
The panel discussion called Women, Leadership, and the Workplace was hosted by the Women's Business Development Council and the Stamford Museum & Nature Center. It was held in conjunction with a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition: "The Way We Worked," which is currently on display at the Stamford Museum, which hosted the discussion.
Wyman was joined by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-New Haven) on the panel.
However, Wyman said, the acceptance of women as political equals has been late in coming, and she pointed to her own political career as an example.
Democrats traditionally slotted women into the less powerful secretary of the state position, she said. When she ran her first time for state comptroller in 1994, she was often mistakenly referred to as the candidate for secretary of the state. But Wyman said was able to win the election and become the state's first female comptroller.
DeLauro said women face difficulties in the workplace, ranging from less access to capital for business to less pension protection. All of that is at the same time that women's paychecks do not match those of men, she said.
"Underlying all that is that women make 78 cents on the dollar and that is true for all professions," she said. Jill Abramson, former editor of the New York Times, was paid less than her male predecessor.
This is at the same time that women bear the greater burden of child care at home, and sometimes care for aging parents as well, she said.
Wyman agreed with DeLauro about pay inequity and said it was important to support women to get educated in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. More girls need enter the workforce in jobs that women traditionally did not even consider, they said.
Fran Pastore, CEO of the WBDC, said the event acts as a reminder of the importance of women in the workforce -- from boardrooms to the shop floors.
"I think it is really important to talk about the balance that women bring into the boardroom, into the administration and into the workplace in general," she said before the meeting.
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