What Will It Take to Make a Woman President?: Sheryl Sandberg, Nancy Pelosi, Olympia Snowe and Others Weigh In

What Will It Take to Make a Woman President?: Sheryl Sandberg, Nancy Pelosi, Olympia Snowe and Others Weigh In

Nancy Pelosi, Oprah, Politics, Anita Hill, Donna Brazile, Gavin Newsom, Gloria Steinem,Jane Fonda, Joy Behar, Marianne Williamson, Maya Angelou, Melissa Etheridge, Olympia Snowe, Sheryl Sandberg, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Leadership, Women, Women News

"Why haven't we ever had a woman president?" When my eight-year-old daughter posed this seemingly simple question to me, I--despite my many years of writing about gender issues and running a women's non-profit organization--found it somewhat difficult to answer. Her question is a good one. Many other nations have elected women presidents so why not the U.S.? What will it take to chart the conditions to achieve that milestone? So I set out to try to find the answers, through speaking to some of the most influential journalists, activists, politicians and thought leaders of today for my new book, What Will It Take to Make a Woman President? Conversations About Women, Leadership & Power.

Many of the people I interviewed believe that the first step is to acknowledge the glaring inequities as a problem in the first place. Not only have we never had a woman in the Oval Office, but the United States currently ranks an embarrassing 77th in the world for the percentage of women in the national legislature--women make up only 18% of Congress. Even in the corporate world, women hold a mere 14% of executive officer positions and 16% of board seats. Half of our country's population is female, yet across almost all sectors of society women are not adequately represented when important decisions are being made. So in addition to seeing a woman reach that important milestone of becoming president, we need to see her be equally represented in other positions of leadership and influence in society. For this to happen, important cultural shifts need to take place.

Though the people I spoke with all had their own unique perspectives, there were several common and important themes that emerged. Here are five of the key points they shared about what we could do to get a woman in the White House and into more leadership positions--and why it's so important.