“Many younger women don’t know what we did,” says sculptor Barbara Zucker, who co-founded A.I.R. Gallery—the first artist-run gallery for women in the United States—along with Susan Williams, in 1972. “In a sense, that’s a great thing. They should just be making work. They should just be recognized.”

It’s largely thanks to the activism of feminist artists like Zucker and Judy Chicago in the 1970s that the art world is beginning to make strides toward gender equality today. Here, Zucker is joined by artist and activist Faith Ringgold, figurative painter Joan Semmel, early new media pioneer Lynn Hershman Leeson, and art advisor Todd Levin. They reflect on the barriers that women faced back then, and the women’s support networks that helped to advance their cause. Featuring (in order of appearance) Barbara Zucker, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Faith Ringgold, Joan Semmel, and Todd Levin.