There have been more than 170 Democratic and Republican presidential primary debates broadcast since the first radio debate in 1948; in that time, only five women have ever participated. On Wednesday and Thursday, in the first Democratic debate of the 2020 primary season, six women — Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota; Kamala Harris of California; Kirsten Gillibrand of New York; Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii; and the author Marianne Williamson — will more than double the number of women who have participated in this country’s presidential debates.

Americans who tune in to the two-night debate will see something else unprecedented: multiple women candidates appearing on the debate stage at the same time. Research has shown that critical mass makes a difference in being taken seriously: Two or more women or minority candidates have a better shot at getting hired than one alone.

This week’s debates, then, are more than a milestone; they’re the start of leveling a historically uneven playing field.

It is worth noting that black women blazed this trail: In 1972, the “unbought, unbossed” Rep. Shirley Chisholm, D-N.Y., became the first woman to appear in a presidential debate. As with everything she accomplished in her career, Chisholm got herself there by sheer force of will, filing a complaint with the FCC after she had been excluded from the first three debates.

It was 30 years until another pioneering black woman, Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, D-Ill., made it onto the debate stage in 2004. Just three women have followed her: Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., in 2012; Carly Fiorina in 2016; and Hilary Clinton, as a senator from New York in 2008 and as former secretary of state in 2016.

While these women made important inroads, it was clear they were doing so on men’s turf.

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The women in the Democratic primary debates will make history. Here’s how moderators can do the same.