Keesee-Forrester describes what it was like to be one of only nine women serving in the North Carolina General Assembly during the early 1970s. Here, she emphasizes reactions of male legislators to the women representatives. Whereas some of the men often mistook the women representatives for secretaries or wives of male represenatives, others were fearful of what they believed must be some sort of hidden female agenda. On the other side of the coin, Keesee-Forrester describes how efforts to make women feel included were often so overzealous as to seem isolating. Nevertheless, she alludes to a general sense of progress and growing acceptance of women legislators during those first few years.