The Conservative movement's groundbreaking 1983 decision to ordain women as rabbis sparked a decade of profound transformation and unresolved tensions within American Judaism. Drawing from a tenth-anniversary commemorative conference, this analysis synthesizes perspectives from faculty, administrators, students, and the over forty women ordained during this pivotal period. These pioneering rabbis established careers across pulpits, educational institutions, hospital chaplaincies, and Hillel Foundations, with women representing more than one-third of Rabbinical School enrollment by 1993. Yet beneath these achievements lay significant challenges: congregational resistance to women's placement, philosophical conflicts between egalitarian principles and pluralistic ideology, and fundamental questions about gender's role within Judaism. The movement notably failed to develop coordinated educational programs addressing emerging halakhic questions and congregational concerns following women's ordination. While women's entry into the Conservative rabbinate has permanently altered American Jewish leadership, the research reveals that substantial institutional support and philosophical clarity remain essential for achieving genuine gender equality within Conservative Judaism.