At 96 I couldn’t wait to vote for a female president. I feel let down by America - Esther Diamond

I feel disappointed and I feel really let down, actually: let down by the voters, let down by America. Even physically I feel let down. It’s a bad day. Hillary’s defeat feels almost personal. I just don’t feel like doing anything today. I’m not a happy camper. But there’s nothing we can do about it, except have another Hillary come on the horizon.

I still feel very proud to be American, of course. But we have to see what Trump’s going to do with America. It’s scary.

I have a feeling Hillary might run again but talking to several people, including my daughter, they say no. And of course everybody is giving me condolences because I was running around supporting Hillary as much as I could. I tried to get the Asian vote in my building with the help of my neighbour, Mr Chen. I sat in the building lobby with a placard of Hillary. I tried to voice my opinion when people said they weren’t going to vote.

Hillary sent me a beautiful letter in last night’s mail thanking me. I think she saw me on the website iwaited96years.com. My eyes are bad so I couldn’t read it, of course, but I had someone read it for me.

I’ve always been a feminist – not realising exactly what a feminist was, exactly, but knowing that I was one. I had to fight my way through a family of five boys. I was the only girl. I was born in Russia and my family emigrated to America when I was a child.

I’ve always had to fight to progress; I grew up with that feeling, that you have to fight to progress. Whenever someone would say something bad about a woman, I didn’t let it pass. I wouldn’t let it pass. I taught my children to be feminists, to treat people equally, no matter if they were a man or a woman or black or white.

Right now this is all very fresh. I have to actually adjust to the fact that Trump is president. I’m disappointed, but I don’t think Hillary’s loss has set back women’s rights. A lady president won’t happen in my lifetime, but I’m still hopeful.

I certainly hope that my daughter, granddaughter and great granddaughters won’t give up. I feel that a woman will eventually be president. I feel it. I feel that my great-granddaughter could still be president one day. If Hillary’s just opened the door just a tiny, tiny bit, then someone’s going to go through it eventually.