An advocate of women’s issues for more than 30 years, Marie C. Wilson is founder and President of The White House Project, co-creator of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work ® Day and author of Closing the Leadership Gap: Why Women Can and Must Help Run the World (Viking 2004).

In 1998 while President of the Ms. Foundation for Women, Wilson founded The White House Project in recognition of the need to build a truly representative democracy -- one where women lead alongside men in all spheres. She left the Ms. Foundation in 2004 after two decades, to devote her full energy to The White House Project.

In honor of her work, the Ms. Foundation created The Marie C. Wilson Leadership Fund, which will be under her sole advisement. She is also an honorary founding mother of the Ms. Foundation for Women.

Since its inception, The White House Project has been a leading advocate and voice on women’s leadership. Under her stewardship, innovative research and initiatives have been hallmarks of the organization. Highlights of the last seven years include groundbreaking research on young women’s political participation, an analysis of women’s appearances as guests on the influential Sunday political talk shows, the convening of women CEOs and executives for two national leadership summits, a bi-coastal conference of international women leaders, a partnership with Girl Scouts to launch the Ms. President patch and initiatives to influence popular culture.

In conjunction with Wilson’s national book tour for Closing the Leadership Gap in 2004, she announced the launch of The White House Project’s Vote, Run, Lead™, providing a roadmap for addressing the issues she raises in her book. Through this innovative initiative, The White House Project equips women across the nation with the tools they need to vote, run and lead. In 2005, she launched The White House Project’s Invite a Woman to Run campaign which encourages the public to tap women they think are presidential material to run for the nation’s top political job or other important offices from school board to U.S. Congress.

Over the last thirty years, Wilson’s accomplishments span becoming the first woman elected to the Des Moines City Council as a member-at-large in 1983, co-authoring the critically acclaimed Mother Daughter Revolution (1993, Bantam Books), and serving as an official government delegate to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995. And in 2000, in conjunction with Mattel, Wilson brought the world President Barbie.

Wilson has been profiled in The New York Times “Public Lives” column, has appeared on The Today Show, CNN, National Public Radio and other national programs and is quoted widely for her expertise. Born and raised in Georgia, Wilson has five children and four grandchildren. She resides in New York City.

Blog Entries by Marie Wilson

Sarah and I

26 Comments | Posted November 21, 2009 | 02:33 PM (EST)


This week, Sarah Palin burst onto the national scene yet again, with Going Rogue hitting bookshelves across the country. Given the work that I've dedicated my life to -- advancing women to lead, alongside men -- I've been asked repeatedly on my thoughts about Palin. Sometimes, I'm reminded of the...

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Add Women and Prosper

Posted November 9, 2009 | 03:50 PM (EST)


News last week of the establishment of The Women's Leadership Fund, created by Switzerland's Naissance Capital, Ltd made the financial world prick up their ears. Naissance has committed that the fund will only invest in companies with women in management and on their boards. The Fund will also take an...

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Why Dont You Do It, Honey?

3 Comments | Posted October 28, 2009 | 09:47 AM (EST)


Almost 11 years ago, when I first started The White House Project, some of the top minds in politics, business, film, and journalism came together for our inaugural meeting in Boston. Our mission was ambitious: to profoundly advance women's leadership in the U.S., all the way to the presidency....

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The Gathering Storm of Republican Women

14 Comments | Posted October 14, 2009 | 03:17 PM (EST)


When Sen. Olympia Snowe commented this week on translating the "empathy of your experience into legislation," she made a profound statement on what is currently missing in American politics. The pinnacle of such indifference to the average citizen's plight is seen today in the partisan stalling of health care. You...

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Women and the Recession: A Chance for Some Creative Destruction?

4 Comments | Posted September 29, 2009 | 02:49 PM (EST)


Are women about to become the majority of the paid workforce? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women are on the cusp of outnumbering men on payrolls across America. While the percentage of men working or looking for employment has been dropping, the opposite phenomenon is occurring amongst women...

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From Franklin to Snowe, Women Take Charge to Take Care

5 Comments | Posted September 22, 2009 | 01:55 PM (EST)


There's an old adage that says, "Men take charge while women take care." While the statement is more stereotype than salient truth, there's a spin that's taking root across the U.S. - women taking charge to take care.

From Mayor Shirley Franklin and Senator Olympia Snowe, to the thousands...

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The Battlefield to the Domestic Front: A Note on Women's Equality Day

Posted August 26, 2009 | 09:22 AM (EST)


"We literally could not have fought this war without women."

That's what John Nagl, a retired lieutenant colonel, recently said about the contributions of female soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet he could just as easily have been commenting on World War I -- a victory supported...

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The Inspiration of a Confirmation: What Sotomayor Means for Women and Girls

2 Comments | Posted August 6, 2009 | 08:09 PM (EST)


Earlier this summer, I traveled to my home state of Georgia to help train nearly 200 women to run for office. I was met with the customary excitement and energy that imbues our Go Run trainings -- dozens of diverse women who are eager to learn from and with...

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Inspiration From the Putting Green: A Call to Third Act Women

3 Comments | Posted July 21, 2009 | 03:26 PM (EST)


I'm not a huge fan of golf; in general, my Sunday viewing tastes skew toward the news cycle, not the sports channel. Which is why I was surprised this weekend to find my eyes inadvertently glued to the screen as Tom Watson staked his historic claim to victory at...

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Our Children Are Watching

10 Comments | Posted July 15, 2009 | 04:08 PM (EST)


It's day three for Sonia Sotomayor on the Capitol, and like many of us, I am dismayed by the politics and punditry surrounding the confirmation proceedings. Yet what troubles me most about the negative and sexist remarks is this: our children are watching.

Years ago, Dr. Carol Gilligan, whose work...

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A False Divide Between Head and Heart: What I Learned From Robert McNamara

2 Comments | Posted July 7, 2009 | 05:46 PM (EST)


The death of Robert McNamara, former Secretary of Defense and key architect of the Vietnam War, brought the controversial name to yesterday's headline news. I came to politics as a war protester and a civil rights activist, and it was not only McNamara's disastrous foreign policies, but his beliefs regarding...

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The Difference That Difference Makes

9 Comments | Posted June 4, 2009 | 10:37 AM (EST)


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...

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Why "Choosing Life" is a False Choice

227 Comments | Posted May 19, 2009 | 11:51 AM (EST)


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...

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Sitting in the High Seats: Bella, Me and the Imperative for Political Parity

Posted March 13, 2009 | 10:15 AM (EST)


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...

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A New Day for Women's Leadership? Obama's Chance to Get it Right

Posted January 19, 2009 | 11:45 AM (EST)


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...

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What Year of the Woman?

Posted December 9, 2008 | 05:08 PM (EST)


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...

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Beyond the Battlefield: Obama Cabinet Takes on Human Security

Posted December 4, 2008 | 03:56 PM (EST)


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...

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The Government in Exile: What Obama Can Do for Women

Posted November 6, 2008 | 05:45 PM (EST)


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...

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Two Tales of Race in America

Posted October 16, 2008 | 10:51 AM (EST)



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...

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Showdown in St. Louis: Gender vs. Agenda

Posted October 1, 2008 | 05:28 PM (EST)


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...

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