Nancy Pelosi: What Will It Take to Make a Woman President?
A Conversation with Nancy Pelosi about what it will really take to make a woman president
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Four years ago, when I first began writing my book, What Will It Take to Make a Woman President? Conversations About Women, Leadership & Power, there were no female candidates running for president and that benchmark seemed distant and out of reach. So it was incredibly exciting a few months ago to be able to witness Hillary Clinton mark the milestone of becoming the first female presidential nominee of a major political party.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, this is a symbolic breakthrough we can and should all celebrate together, just as we did with Barack Obama’s historic win, as a positive sign that we are moving towards greater diversity and a reflective democracy.
In the interviews I conducted for my book, many interviewees reflected on what having a woman president would mean for our country, culture, and collective women’s leadership.
The consensus was that having a woman break the presidential barrier would have an undeniable positive impact on women and girls in this country. The symbolism alone would be incredibly powerful, especially for young women and girls who would see first-hand that it is possible for women to be successful, respected leaders — especially the highest leadership position of them all.
That’s the reason I decided to write my book in the first place: my daughter.
The book was inspired by my eight-year-old’s seemingly innocent question after we were celebrating Barack Obama’s historic win: “Why haven’t we ever had a woman president?”
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House, shared that sentiment in this interview, below, excerpted from the book.
I look forward to the day when our daughters don’t have to wonder why there have been no women presidents, but when there have been several for them to look up to and learn from — and when they too can easily imagine that they might very well be the next.
NANCY PELOSI
“It’s about equality, but it’s not just about equality. And the reason it’s necessary to have more voices is because that strengthens the debate and it strengthens the decisions. It isn’t that women coming in are better than men; they’re different from men. And I always say the beauty is in the mix. To have diversity of opinion in the debate strengthens the outcome and you get a better result.”
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 113th Congress, is focused on strengthening America’s middle class and creating jobs, reforming the political system to create clean campaigns and fair elections, enacting comprehensive immigration reform, and ensuring safety in America’s communities, neigh- borhoods, and schools. From 2007 to 2011, Pelosi served as Speaker of the House, the first woman
