BY MICHELE NORRISOur writer says it’s time for women to reject inferior status, demand equality,
and unapologetically revel in their ambition and success.
WHEN I HEADED OFF TO COLLEGE, my mother gave me a piece of folded-up
paper with a message she thought I would need. She wrote it longhand on a
page torn from one of the little notebooks she kept by the phone.
It said: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
It’s a quote widely attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, and it was a wonderful gift
for a young woman setting off into the world.
I wish I’d kept that tiny piece of paper. For a time it was in my wallet, and then,
after it got frayed and kind of dingy, I put it inside a sparkly bobby pin and kept
it in a dresser drawer with jewelry and keepsakes. After several years and several
moves, I lost track of it—but I’ve always tried to cling tightly to the idea that
we have the power to reject any attempt to make us feel small or subordinate.W
SHOULD
BE
WHY THE
FEMALE
FUTURE
Essay
10 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC