Lena Madesin Phillips, feminist of the early twentieth century, realized, before women even had the right to vote, that they would never achieve equality with men unless such equality were established on economic grounds.
In 1919, bucking tradition, apathy and ignorance, she founded the Federation of Business and Professional Women, bringing American working women together for the first time.

A Measure Filled, drawn from her unfinished autobiography, weaves in and out of one of the most troubled, yet challenging, periods of America's history, ranging from 1881, the year of her birth, to her sudden death at Marseilles, in 1955, on her way to a conference with Arab women in the Middle East.