For years, America has struggled with difference, especially when it comes to the tables of power. While there have always been those who eschew the value of diversity, the majority of Americans have come to appreciate our nation's unique distinction as the world's melting pot. Yet when it comes to...

When President Obama appeared last week at Notre Dame, he called for greater understanding on both sides of the abortion divide. While his nuanced approach deserves appreciation, what bothers me about the continued dissection of this issue is that it is not honest at its root.

The decision to...

Much to his credit, on Wednesday President Obama created a White House Council on Women and Girls to work across all agencies of government and "provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges of women and girls." It's certainly a step in the right direction -- but there is...

Last week in Parade Magazine, Barack Obama published a moving letter to his daughters--one that expressed not only his hopes for them but also his dreams for the rest of our nation's daughters. "I realized," he wrote to Malia and Sasha, "that my own life wouldn't count for much...

During an interview last week, a reporter with one of the top international media outlets mentioned to me that 2008 was being referred to as the "year of the woman." Well, I told her, we already had our Year of the Woman back in 1992--spurred on by the televised...

Mumbai's devastation came to American airwaves just as the Obama administration prepared to unveil its national security team. As I watched the images of burning buildings and police standoffs, I was reminded of a little-known parallel in our nation's own history: a time early in Janet Napolitano's career as governor...

The old adage goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words," and for the 2008 presidential election the phrase could not ring truer. Images spanning the globe have frozen in time the immense joy and pride that many have felt at seeing Barack Obama become our nation's first African-American President-elect...

I awoke yesterday to two widely divergent stories about race in America. The first - a deeply disturbing montage of cross-country video clips - illustrated the worst of racial prejudices against Sen. Obama. And as the narrative worsened with each clip, I felt the fear of where...

Tomorrow night, eyes will be glued to TV sets across the nation for the Biden-Palin political showdown. Though historic in its own right, the debate will not be a political first: in 1984, Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman candidate to hold her own in a vice presidential debate against...

This month, Rwanda made global history when it became the first nation where women outnumber men in parliament. And according to a newly-released UN study, there has been a marked increase in women's political participation worldwide.

Yet for all the advances women are making on the global front, women's political...

With yesterday's ouster of Sallie Krawcheck from Citi, the prostration of Wall Street's triad of powerful women was a mission completed. The announcement, amid a week of devastating shake-ups in the financial sector, hit a particular nerve: Krawcheck had asked that clients be paid back for Citi's defective investments -...

2008 will go down in the history books as a rollercoaster of an election season, one that has highlighted at times both the strong spirit of our democracy and the divisions among our nation's citizens.

Yet today, on the anniversary of 9/11, I'd like to remind our country of...

What's amazing about Senator John McCain's choice of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on the Republican ticket has nothing to do with her family, with her possible membership in the Alaska Independence Party (a goal of which was to move the state toward secession from the U.S.), her...

A pregnant woman in Georgia mourns the death-by-airstrike of her husband on the front page of today's New York Times. Below the heartbreaking picture is the equally gut-wrenching story of unnecessary and painful death in the hands of U.S. immigration authorities. Both are tragic tales which most of us who...

Last week, the 2008 election brought us a far cry from headlines worthy of a presidential race -- say, proposed policy initiatives tackling the escalating deaths in Afghanistan or our rapidly declining economy -- and brought us instead to a shameful low: a thoughtless and disrespectful narrative on race. Amidst...

It's a tragic twist of fate to read a headline that begins "Women Are Now Equal" and follows with "As Victims of Poor Economy" -- especially when you've been an advocate for women's issues for more than thirty years. But yesterday's article in the New York Times is yet...

Citing his close personal and professional relationship with Tim Russert, veteran anchor Tom Brokaw has stepped up to lead Meet the Press through the 2008 election season. It's a good interim move to maintain the respect and high level of quality which the show has become famous for.

What...

As the second Sunday rolls around without Tim Russert, and while Brian Williams will be standing in this weekend, I am remembering the influence Meet the Press has had on the leadership of this country, due in part to the seriousness and poise with which Russert treated both his guests...

Back in the 1980's, I was on the NYC Human Rights Commission that held hearings on the pervasive problem of sexual harassment in the construction sector. The most moving story I heard during that period came from a male construction worker. He talked about what a typical day looked like,...

When Senator Clinton decided to suspend her candidacy after eighteen months of rigorous campaigning last Saturday, I just so happened to be in Ohio, among nearly 100 women who had come together to -- of all things -- learn how to run for political office. Imagine the odds; after so...