For years, Elena had lived in a world of quiet expectations. She thought about the promotion at the bank she was denied because she might "get pregnant and quit." She thought about her husband’s signature, which was required for her to own a credit card. She thought about the exhaustion that went unnamed—the "problem with no name" that settled over her every evening like a heavy fog.
Decades later, Elena watched her granddaughter lead a boardroom meeting. The younger woman didn't have to ask for permission to exist in that space; she simply occupied it. Elena smiled, knowing exactly what those women in 1972 had been thinking. They were thinking of her. Feminists: What Were They Thinking?
"I think," a young woman named Maya started, her voice trembling, "that I am more than a supporting character in someone else’s life." That was the spark. For years, Elena had lived in a world of quiet expectations