Those who speak up, those who use their connections, are more likely to succeed than those who sit and wait.
— Madeleine M. Kunin
Many women do not want to venture out into the 'opinion world' until they are certain of themselves, the facts, and that they are right. They are afraid of being shot down. The result is often silence.
Life experience is not something to be denied, but to be celebrated.
When a man interrupts a woman in mid-sentence, it reveals much about him. First, it shows he hasn't been listening to what she is saying, and secondly, it indicates that he doesn't want to listen to what she will say. Her views are not important.
Why can't the world be like a summer day, when I thought that health care would be an ethical decision and wars existed only to be stopped?
When people have lost their jobs or are afraid of losing their jobs in the future, they lash out. They want others to know about their fears, their pain.
Susan B. Anthony must be turning in her grave if she knew that millions of women who have the right to vote are not exercising it. Why? Because they haven't got the interest or the time, or they have just given up hope.
When women and men can shed an equal quantity of tears in public, that's when we'll have equal power.
The political environment we create matters because a disturbed person cannot always tell the difference between explosive rhetoric and explosive actions.
Sometimes compromise is painful.
In Washington, the translation of E Pluribus Unum has been lost. The belief that we are one nation - united in purpose - caring about and for one another is no longer the practice.
Money often determines not only who gets elected, but what gets done. Which voices do lawmakers listen to, the banks or home owners, coal companies, or asthma sufferers, the CEOs or the unemployed?
As for a fantasy life, working women are more likely to fantasize about finding the perfect child care provider who she can both trust and afford. She might also fantasize that tonight her husband will both shop for and cook dinner.
You have to build your credentials as a candidate, not just as a woman. You also have to be willing to exercise power. We've been educated to be mothers, peacemakers, but we must learn that we can't please everybody.
I'm not going to be bullied or pushed around by the group of the day. You've got to have political courage. You've got to have your own inner beliefs.
There are not many female role models to guide voters, and the tradition that a Southern woman's place is in the home still lingers in some quarters.
Why is computer science a good field for women? For one thing, that's where the jobs are, and for another, the pay is better than for many jobs, and finally, it's easier to combine career and family.
There are no more excuses for leaving women out of the inner circles of power. Qualified women are everywhere. Women are ready for leadership; they just need to be identified and asked.
What works for a man, still does not work for a woman - both in terms of how they see themselves and how we see them.
We see the world through the lens of all our experiences; that is a fundamental part of the human condition.
The death of a famous person is different from the death of a loved one, whether it is Michael Jackson, Frank McCourt, or Walter Cronkite. We didn't know any of them personally, and yet, we experience a sense of loss.
If months were marked by colors, November in New England would be colored gray.
To equate a corporation with a person is a travesty of justice.
It's time for women to wake up, to use the power of the vote, to honor the suffragists who chained themselves to the White House fence so that women could vote.
Women in leadership cannot cry without raising a storm of commentary.
We assume in our daily lives that the world is both safe and sane. Otherwise, we could not carry on.
Compromise, contrary to popular opinion, does not mean selling out one's principles. Compromise means working out differences to forge a solution which fits the diversity of the body politic.
We're all basically made of the same stuff: generosity and selfishness, goodness and greed.
When we mention the 1 percent and the 99 percent, everybody now knows what we are talking about. It's part of our vocabulary. How quickly these numbers jumped from the sidelines to the center.
It is the future, of course, which politicians grapple with, and that is why politics is so disorderly. Only history clears away some of the debris.
Somehow I got the feeling at an early age that I had to do something important with my life.
The vice presidential candidate does not usually make much difference at the polls. But that may be changing as voters become more aware that the understudy must be ready to take over if needed.
'Power' is an explosive word, particularly when applied to women.
Video games seem to be mostly a boy thing - viewed by young boys and created by big boys. I believe that if more videos games were created by women, the violence in these games - especially against women - would be rapidly toned down.
To be political means to speak out, to risk being called 'catty', or worse. I don't hear men worrying about whether they may be right or not. They enjoy the fight, whether it is with words or fists. Women still tend to shy away from controversy, to be uncomfortable with competition.
Hugs are helpful, especially when women step out into a mostly male political world. Emotional support, at critical moments, enables women to stay in the race.
Poor privileged white men. Their stranglehold on power is slowly being loosened.
The very qualities that make it harder for women to get elected - not being part of the old boy's network - gives them the advantage of having fresh, and yes, clean faces.
Are there really good wars and bad wars? We thought so during World War II, and in retrospect, we were right. But in Vietnam, and Iraq we were wrong.
Remember what Susan B. Anthony said? 'Failure is impossible.' Failure is possible if women don't vote.
The Republican agenda is, and always has been, to repeal Roe v. Wade, and at the very least, erode it to the greatest extent possible.
Our right to disagree is precious but fragile. The best way to protect and preserve it is to let the other side speak without demonizing them or destroying their right to be heard. Such civil exchanges are the heart beat of democracy - essential to keeping it alive.
It's time to recognize what compromise means: no side wins or loses all.
Children refuse to compromise. Adults learn how.
Without putting the brakes on out-of-control campaign contributions from individuals and corporations - it will be business as usual, with 1 percent of Americans pulling the strings.
I hadn't thought that women were particularly dangerous golfers. Could that be the reason that the Augusta National Golf club refuses to take down its 'No Women Allowed' sign?
When facing the public, politicians constantly filter their ideas through a political sieve. 'How will this affect the environmentalists, labor, management?' Sometimes the sieve gets so clogged by political taboos that no new ideas pass through.
If being a woman is a factor politically, it's usually not because of a conscious bias, but because women are a novelty.
Common wisdom dictates that the vice president should provide balance to the ticket by representing a different part of the country, another set of experiences, or a basketful of electoral votes.
When I ran for governor, was I ambitious? Yes. Anyone, male or female, who goes through the trials of a campaign must be ambitious.
