Danielle Greene is 33 years old and just graduated from Stanford University with a PhD in education after five and a half years of study. Her program is called Race, Inequality, and Language in Education. We love it! Congrats Danielle!
YES. I must say, upon reading Danielle's tweet, my mind immediately went to the Sex and the City episode "A Woman's Right to Shoes," where Carrie points out that aside from getting married and having children, there really isn't any other time when adult women are celebrated. And you know what? It's so true!
BuzzFeed reached out to Danielle, who explained that she and her friend, Elizabeth, have known each other since their first day of college in 2008. "She’s always been an incredibly sweet person, so while I was surprised when she teamed up with another friend and my fiancé and asked me to make a list of things I wanted, I wasn’t completely taken off guard, because that’s just the type of amazing person she is!"
Danielle told BuzzFeed that she tweeted about the registry "without much forethought" and didn't expect so many people to read it, but she was "really taken aback" when it went viral. "I loved seeing people asking others to do the same for them, because we should be celebrated."
She also supports Elizabeth's sentiment behind the registry. "I definitely agree that we should be awarded beyond marriage and babies! There’s something really intentional about a gift registry, allowing people to tell others what they specifically need/desire is really meaningful. If I never were to get married or have children, does that mean I never get to ask for a really nice glass Tupperware set?! Ridiculous lol."
She continued, "To be fair, I’m not sure of a time where men and nonbinary people receive gift registries beyond marriage and babies. However, there is something that is key to Liz’s comment — women are expected to have their lives revolve around babies and children, above all else. Her statement is more of a rejection of that sentiment rather than a declaration that men get gift registries for things other than marriage and babies."
When asked what she thinks needs to change in order for women to be celebrated as more than wives and mothers, Danielle responded that there needs to be a "lowered expectation that women need to strive for domestic accomplishments, in isolation or at all. Let people be people first, not who or what they are in relation to other people. By celebrating each other, we can push past that notion."
Danielle told BuzzFeed that she's received plenty of gifts from her registry (as she should!!!) and is truly grateful. "I’m a book nerd and a fragrance girlie, so I’m most excited about my gift cards to Thrift Books and a Jo Malone perfume that was too expensive for me to splurge on while I was in graduate school."
