"She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted."
This is not just my story. It is not just the stories that have begun to get public traction in movies and books. This is the story of virtually every woman I have ever encountered. It is the story of my middle-aged community college students who were pursuing higher education despite husbands dead set against it. It is the story of my friend doing the job of three people for no extra pay and absolutely no public acknowledgement, while the men in charge got all the glory. It is the story of women lawyers in the 1960's who couldn't get jobs because the advertisements said, "women need not apply." It is the story of friends who were not stopped by harassment or condescension or insults or silencing. It is my mom, being told by her rector that she would be on her church's vestry (governing body) "over my [his] dead body." She later went on to play significant leadership roles in two subsequent churches, and told me the week before she died of emphysema that she wished she had pursued the actual ministry. She wished, indeed, that she had had the career that would have allowed her to speak. Thank you, Elizabeth Warren, for doing just that, from the Senate chamber, out in the hallway, and online. Thank you for being such a fine example to the rest of us about how to use our voices. We will persist. Now more than ever.
