Our Shared Shelf discussion

I would like to formally submit that while the Day of Girls changed the power structure in some places, it did not change the individuals. In other words, having electrical power did not change our various protagonists and how they deal with problems.

- Allie stayed behind the scenes, trying to influence or manipulate people around her.
- Margot prepared, experimented and worked until she was ready to reveal herself.
- Roxy was Roxy Monke. Her name and her connections took her far, but it was her strength of will that saw her through.


Thoughts?

However I think that the power gave them more confidence to chase their goals. They weren't that confident before. The electrical power made them FEEL powerful and that made them rise.
The story didn't really show how the characters behaved under such conditions. This is something I didn't particularly like because i got the feeling that the author didn't want us to dislike the protagonists. In my mind they were capable of being more ruthless but they didn't get a chance to show that.

Absolutely. 100% agree.

The Day of the Girls was a global acknowledgment that the power exists...and in girls. They weren't aware that it can happen to all women (well, the majority of the women, and some men). I don't think it would have a huge change in character.
Think of it as Women History Month. We still go to work. We still do the same things we normally do on a regular basis, we just celebrate that we have more freedom now than we did then. Then over time, we make our dreams come true if we're lucky. But rarely does a person do a complete 180 because of a day, unless that day happened to be rock bottom.

I ran across this blog post that really spoke to this topic.

Do you know why women and POC often lack confidence? Maybe it's not always imposter syndrom.

Maybe it's because we know we'll be punished as soon as we display confidence. We'll quickly be "put in our place."

Consider that the next time you tell us we "lack confidence." From Sonia Gupta

I think for the first time the Power gave women confidence but also something to back it up with.

Pam wrote: "I think for the first time the Power gave women confidence but also something to back it up with. "

That's a good way of putting it.

I think power is a software and individuals are hardware. We need to understand that power is something that is gifted and we cannot grab it. But we can follow the footsteps of the power and fight everyday against all sort of unfairness against women. We all need to stand up altogether to fight for the power of those who are thinking well for a society and women,especially.

Pam, I agree with you to an extent. I think the characters where able to reach their full potential when they weren't going to be put down or held back by men. Roxy's rise to power was only because she was stronger than her brothers - even if she had the business savvy before The Power emerges. And even then we see how her male dominated family reacted to that....

Margot always disliked her governor, but only with The Power did she feel the confidence in herself to stand up to him. She no longer felt limited as a "woman in politics".

Allie did continue to stay in the shadows, but she definitely used The Power to gain advantages.

Awesome insights