My new favorite fictional heroine reminds me of my mother-in-law, who has always been an example to me. I wish her story had been written, too

Last weekend, over Labor Day as I was traveling with my family, I had the opportunity to read the book?Lessons in Chemistry.?If you’ve read it too, you won’t be surprised to hear that I couldn’t put it down. The protagonist Elizabeth Zott is a fiercely intelligent, idiosyncratic, and outspoken chemist living in the 1950s and ‘60s.

I don’t want to give too much away for those of you who’ve not yet had the pleasure of?Bonnie Garmus’s hilarious and engaging prose, but let’s just say that, as Zott’s futuristic surname suggests, she is a woman ahead of her time. In the antiquated academic world of the early 1960s, Zott’s feminist proclivities are out of step. Her desire to be recognized for her intellect and hard work—to be treated equally to her male colleagues—is simply not a viable equation at the lab where she works or in the era that she finds herself in.

As I followed Zott’s adventures, she not only struck me as someone I’d love to know, but as someone I?DO?know.

In the late 1950s, my mother-in-law,?Aileen Feller, was a chemistry major at the 美国宾夕法尼亚大学 .?Brilliant, feminist, and a phenomenal cook (you’ll have to read the book to learn about Zott’s incredible cooking skills), my husband’s mom has an uncanny overlap with this fictional character—especially, when it comes to professional frustration.?

Although my mother-in-law excelled in her major and?was?among the top students in her class at Penn, she was excluded from the chemistry honors society because she possessed not only a brilliant mind, but also a uterus. Needless to say, my future father-in-law wasn’t subject to the same restrictions.

Like Zott, my mother-in-law shifted gears and took advantage of other opportunities. She enrolled at Columbia University - Columbia Business School and was among the first women to graduate from that institution with an MBA (I’m sad to say that my alma mater, 美国宾夕法尼亚大学 - 沃顿商学院 , would not confer degrees upon women at the time). Also like Zott, she found that regardless of her credentials, the workforce wasn’t exactly eager to hire her for anything other than administrative jobs.?

Eventually, after moving to the West Coast and having a couple of kids, Aileen went back to school to study computer science and ultimately enjoyed a satisfying career as a company’s chief information officer. Now 84, she’s as bright, informed, and energetic as I imagine she must have been back in her college days, before the suffocating reality of sexism set in. She and I talk a lot about how much has changed when it comes to women in the workforce—and how much more still needs to change. I’ve asked her if she felt angry back when she kept finding herself on the receiving end of so many closed doors. She says she didn’t think anger would have helped her plight.????

Recently, she set up a?chemistry lab in her garage for my daughter, her granddaughter, who wants nothing more than to major in, yes, chemistry. I love that she did this and that new lessons in chemistry are being learned. I’d also love to know what might have happened if Aileen had been allowed to play at the highest levels in her own lab. Knowing my mother-in-law and her world-class brain, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if she had become a Nobel Prize winner. But alas, that story will never be written.?

?Let’s help ensure that, moving forward, the world doesn’t miss out on one more scintilla of brilliance from women. Goodness knows the world needs all the trailblazers and help we can get.

?#tothetop