I sat in the huddle of a dozen people all analyzing the present state of national affairs, all concerned about the negativity and mean-spirited tone that now colors what was once called “The American Way.”

Most of all, the social deterioration that went with the culture wars worried everyone there. We were sitting at a table where one generation, whose lives had developed in a very different kind of society than is shaping younger generations now, judged the future of the country to be poor.

Very poor. Until, suddenly, the younger man to my left sat forward in his chair, raised his shoulders, straightened his back, and declared with full throat, “You’re all forgetting something,” he said and paused thoughtfully. “The women are coming. Just look at the numbers of women being elected to positions everywhere—and women are not going to allow this mess to go on.”

Well, if the education statistics are correct, more women than men are enrolling in college and going on for more graduate degrees or professional certifications than ever in history. If the rise in the number of women politicians is correct, there is a clear presence of the women’s agenda in public decision-making arenas now. If social trends are correct, most women now engage in paid work as commonly and for as long as their male counterparts. And, in addition, if self-reliance is still an American value, the younger generation is either marrying later or marrying less.

Indeed, sisterhood and the community of female support, understanding, organizations, and goals that have emerged in the process are now a phenomenon, barely one hundred fifty years old in the making. For a confluence of reasons—higher education, social change, urbanization,

and systems—women, too, for the first time in history, also meet, talk, plan, and figure out their lives together. From the Women’s Suffrage Movement to the Me Too moment, women have been searching out like-minded women to learn from, connecting with women leaders and encouraging one another to become a force in society. Independent of men. Distinct from men. Despite men everywhere—in politics, business, education, and even the churches. And they

are affecting every level, dimension, and direction of society with them. More slowly than they would like, surely, but faster than any previous generation—physically separated from one another as well as the world—was ever able to do.

Younger women today take these things for granted. They have their eyes on positions and places of power. They want change but not just any change. They want development that honors their own experiences and aspirations. They want to live fully human, human lives. They want to get the woman-man balance right. They want to be seen as disciples of Jesus, called to do a mission—even in the church.

Then they are amazed to find out that the glass ceiling is still a ceiling, even for them. Less visible now, yes, but no less there.

The questions they are asking themselves as they go sound the knell: Tomorrow will no longer be a repetition of yesterday. They are bent on figuring it out for themselves.

And so we have the following dialogue about it…between me and them.

                        —from Dear Joan Chittister: Conversations with Women in the Church (Twenty Third Publications).