MADISON, Wis. -- A little more than half of all Baby Boomers are women. In part four of a weeklong series on Baby Boomers, WISC-TV and Channel 3000 look at the barriers Boomer women have overcome.

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Donna Sollenberger is an example of a woman breaking the mold. Her first job was as a grocery store clerk. She's now president and CEO of University of Wisconsin-Madison Hospitals and Clinics.

She said that all along, her husband and children moved state to state, crawling the career ladder with her, a first for a woman.

"I'm pleased. Not a lot of women can say, 'I'm the CEO of a $750 million organization with 6,500 employees," Sollenberger said. "I contribute; people are happy I'm making contributions -- not looking at it as 'Donna the woman,' but just what I contribute."

But she said that being a woman in the corporate world was at times challenging, such as when she became chief administrator of surgery in the 1970s.

"I ended up in surgery, working with a lot of males. (It was) very challenging," she said. "I learned you can't take it personally -- when someone is trying to communicate with you, my job's to get it done."

And her 40-plus years are paying off. Sollenberger was recently recognized as one of the best the local business community has to offer.

And although this trail-blazing Boomer is no longer the only woman in the room, she said she is aware of an ongoing struggle.

"A lot of women my age, we're paving a way, striking a work/life balance, trying to figure out how to make it all work," she said.

Unlike many mothers of her time, Sollenberger raised her children while climbing the career ladder. She said she now looks forward to helping the children of others at the new American Family Children's Hospital.

"I think people are going to say, 'Wow, this is just what Madison needed,'" she said.

And Sollenberger said she is nowhere close to thinking about retirement.

But a recent Thrivent Financial Survey indicated that more than 40 percent of women will continue working at retirement age, and 23 percent will learn new hobbies or activities.

Sollenberger said she might write about her experiences and enjoy what she has accomplished as a Baby Boomer -- someday.

UW-Madison sociology professor Myra Marx Ferree, a 57-year-old Boomer, said that women of her generation are more optimistic than her students, despite the "glass ceiling" in every area of their lives.

"When I was getting out of college, it was extremely rare for women to go to law school. There were about 5 percent of medical school students who were women as opposed to just about 50 percent now. So, that whole experience of things becoming possible is an experience that Baby Boomer women had, which I think shaped a whole generation," Ferree said.

They were the exception, not necessarily the norm, but Boomer women went on to achieve big things.

One role model is Ruth Doyle, the mother of Gov. Jim Doyle, who was the first woman elected to the state Assembly. Later, she was one of the first women to serve on the Dane County Board. She would also become the Madison School Board's first female president.

Ruth Doyle died last year at 89 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.

Some famous Boomer women also include Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Condoleezza Rice and Katie Couric.