Jessica Valenti Quotes

I have to tell you, my seven-year-old granddaughter said to my daughter, her mother, 'So what's the big deal about Grandma Maddy having been Secretary of State? Only girls are Secretaries of State.' Most of her lifetime, it's true. But at the time it really was a big deal.

For me, personally, it has been humbling since I became First Minister to speak to women and girls and have them tell me how much it means to them to have a woman in the top job in politics in Scotland.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most influential woman in Washington - for what she has accomplished and for what she may yet do: win the presidency.

People didn't think that a woman could be the Secretary of State, when my name was out there...but then the Arab Ambassadors at the UN said 'We have no problem dealing with Ambassador Albright, and we would have no problem dealing with Secretary Albright.'

As we have more women in power, so the plays and the TV dramas are reflecting what's happening.

It is with tremendous excitement and pride that EMILY's List endorses Senator Hillary Clinton for president.

It took us 200 years to elect the first Democratic woman to the Senate in her own right, and that's Barbara Mikulski. Six years later, we had a grand slam: We elected four new Democratic women to the Senate. Sen. Mikulski now has some company.

Prior to my election, young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.

When it comes to getting more women into parliament, politicians have at least started to take active measures. The British Labour Party introduced all-female shortlists in 1997.

And because of President Obama, more women than ever are serving in the Cabinet and on the Supreme Court.

With more women in power, the world would be better off.

So many other countries have had female leaders, in fact the U.S. ranks 61st in female representation in government and I think it is startling and sign of a change that needs to be made.

The political power of women today is greater than they are using.

When I had a group of undergraduates in the room, I would say to them, 'How many of you want to run for office someday?' And almost every male hand in the room would go up. And very few of the young women.

In everything I do, I like to set the idea for girls that they can do anything. I was really moved by Hillary Clinton's speech when she lost the election - she didn't want young girls to feel like it wasn't possible and wanted them to know a female president will eventually happen. That's important.

Of course it would be wonderful for Hillary Clinton to be the first female president, but I think she would be the first to say that she wouldn't want people to vote for her just because she's a woman.

It is long overdue that we have a woman as a legitimate contender for the White House. But Hillary Clinton is the definition of the establishment so many are determined to reject.

So I hope women will consider a life in politics. We need women, you see. We need them.

If Hillary's the first woman president, well, in England we already know what a Margaret Thatcher is. It's not an end unto itself to be the first woman president.

Hillary Clinton must have been as aware as anyone that by entering the presidential race she was kicking off a long-awaited social experiment.

To the extent that I can serve as a role model or mentor for other women in what might be traditionally viewed as a male-dominated field, I welcome that.

I would absolutely classify as being incredibly progressive the fact that I am the third female prime minister.

Thinking I'd be in politics just wasn't something I'd thought of as a younger woman. There just weren't a lot of role models there.

I will not allow my experience to scare off other young women or girls from running for office. For the sake of all of us we cannot let that happen.

Every single day I've been governor, I hear from a little girl who thinks it's the greatest thing ever that we have a woman governor.