"…[I]t was crucial that most of my companions were women for a reason I really only understood when I read Gerda Lerner, a living helpmeet whose histories of patriarchy and the rise of feminist consciousness have helped me tremendously. It’s the First Law of Lerner that ‘women’s history is essential to women’s emancipation.’ In other words, when a woman is about to break away from cultural norms for women — to build a house, run for president, break a horse — learning that even one other woman has done it successfully brings that act into the realm of possibility after all; it has, indeed, what economists call a multiplier effect on the likelihood that she’ll actually do it."
—
Carol Flinders
At the Root of This Longing
