Barbara Lee

Mother's Day is a time to reminisce and to look ahead. It's a reminder of our childhoods, the memories we have of the important maternal figures in our lives, how much they've done for us and how far we've come. It also reminds us why we find mothers so inspiring:...

Afghanistan, Rwanda and 68 other countries of the world -- many of them emerging democracies -- have more women in their elected legislatures than the United States. In a democracy as seasoned as ours, it should be impossible that women can make up more than half the population but win...

I recently had the honor of introducing the First Lady of the United States, who was in Boston for an event at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

The evening's opening act was a panel discussion about women's health with Stephanie Schriock,...

Last week I was cleaning out my closet and found sweaters and handbags that I hadn't worn in a decade or two (but who's counting). I decided to resurrect a few of my favorites -- and the young women I work with were full of compliments about my "new" clothes....

Last summer, shortly after Michele Bachmann stood in her childhood home of Waterloo, Iowa, to announce her run for president, I predicted that her campaign would follow a new playbook for women candidates capitalizing on women's unique appeal to voters.

Women, I argued, can actually have an advantage...

Women are being left off the page of every best-of-the-year list I have read so far. For starters, you have to be a princess to make it onto TIME's list of runners-up for "Person of the Year." Kate Middleton appears again on People magazine's "Most Intriguing" list and her younger...

Half of the United States' incumbent Democratic women senators are up for reelection next year. And as the Huffington Post's Amanda Terkel pointed out earlier this month, since women's political fate tends to be tied to the political fate of Democrats overall, next year's elections pose a very...

Women can't be trusted when it comes to sex.

That was the message in October 1991, when an all-male, all-white Senate Judiciary Committee interrogated a young African-American law professor named Anita Hill about her claim that her former boss Clarence Thomas had made unwelcome sexual comments and advances towards her...

I remember when Jennifer Granholm was elected governor of Michigan in 2002. It still was whispered that perhaps a woman couldn't handle the pressures of high office, or that the country wasn't ready for a woman to occupy the top job.

Even in 2006, a CBS poll...

Elizabeth Warren speaks passionately about the bread-and-butter issues that most Americans say they care about right now. Her compelling biography tells a story of success through hard work, skill, and determination. As a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, she is warm and earnest on the campaign trail, shaking...

One of the best parts of summer -- with its quiet weekends and long hours of daylight -- is catching up on the reading I've missed. Are you still looking for books to take with you on summer vacation? From my bookshelf to yours, here are a few of my...

2010 was a turning point in the Barbara Lee Family Foundation's 12 years of research on women's campaigns for governor. Women last year ran on a more level playing field. In fact, women candidates showed distinct advantages over men.

The foundation has studied and published non-partisan...

Somewhere among the estimated 1.7 million new college graduates of the class of 2011 is the future of American politics. By the numbers, this should also mean a surge of new women leaders on the horizon. But even though 57 percent of students enrolled in college are women...

This month's budget debate has shown the true nature of our country's stark political divisions. The veil of fiscal conservatism has fallen away as Republicans have fought to advance a radical ideology, rather than a sound budget.

Not surprisingly, commentary around the budget debate has dominated the news. But what...

Women leaders around the globe are creating freer, more open and equal societies. Succeeding where others have failed, they are healing the wounds of war and bringing their countries back from economic collapse. Countries with women heads of government demonstrate not only the strength of women's leadership but also the...

As someone who works to advance women's equality in American politics, Presidents Day begs the same question every year: What will it take for the U.S. to elect a woman president?

It's the same question that first interested me when, 12 years ago, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation...

When Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes for the first time five days after the shooting in Tucson, she saw her husband to her right and three strong women at her left. Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY), and Representative Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-FL) had been alternating holding...

"This is not a bake-off -- get your man-pants on."

So said Delaware Republican Senate candidate and Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell in a radio interview just days before the state primary. The message to Republican opponent Mike Castle was clear: Elections are tough. Get out there and...

Thanks to the perseverance of our grandmothers and great-grandmothers, today we celebrate the 90th anniversary of women's right to vote in the United States.

And how we've voted! Though men had been voting for well over a century by the time the 19th amendment was ratified in 1920, women began...

In winning South Carolina's gubernatorial run-off this week, Republican Nikki Haley also advanced the narrative of 2010 as the next "Year of the Woman" in American politics.

Slogans aside, 2010 is certainly an important year for women. The visibility and success of women candidates across parties matters--for women candidates,...