Read What Will It Take to Make A Woman President?: Conversations About Women, Leadership and Power for Free Online Page A

wait—you’re one of us!” So there was that tension and conflict.
    But are we ready? We are ready, and I think Hillary Clinton has to be our next president. And I’m obviously biased. I think it’s going to get ugly when people start holding her to a real double-standard when it comes to the way she looks, because she’s aging. We have a real ageism problem in our country at this time. But she’s proved herself and I think there are enough women in our country—and men, for that matter—who would like to see her as president. She’s smarter than any other potential candidates that I know of on the other side. She so deserves to be there. She’s so capable. So at the end of the day I think she could be our next president.
    MS : What advice or what message would you most want to give to young girls on valuing their voices and seeing themselves as leaders?
    JSN : If you can see it, you can be it. But you don’t even have to see it at this point. You are it. Your voice matters, most importantly. Every voice counts. Every voice matters and that voice needs to be heard. And by not using your voice, you’re doing a disservice, not only to yourself, but to the community and to the world at large. So I actually like to approach it from, “It’s your responsibility, girls. Get over your looks. Get over your insecurities. You have a responsibility to all of us. We need your help.” I think girls and women are our heroes and they need to start seeing themselves as our heroes and to come help us out of the mess that we’re in.

PAT MITCHELL
    “What women don’t know enough is that when women run, they win as often as men do. In spite of the obstacles . . . when they do decide, ‘I’m going to do this because it’s important,’ they do win as often. What can we do about that? As consumers we can do one big thing: we can insist that the press cover a woman’s campaign in the same way as a man. And when they don’t . . . we can insist, ‘I’m not reading that paper anymore, I’m not going to that website, I’m not going to listen to that newscast until you give that woman candidate the same kind of fair and accurate coverage.’”
    P AT M ITCHELL’S DIVERSE background in media includes work as a journalist and producer and executive. She has worked in front of the camera and behind, anchoring the news and reporting for broadcast networks, producing award winning documentaries as president of CNN Productions, becoming the first woman president and CEO of PBS, and currently is the president and CEO of the Paley Center for Media, whose mission is to convene media professionals and media consumers for programs that explore the role of media in society. Mitchell was the first woman to launch, produce, and host her own nationally syndicated program Woman to Woman , and continues to be active in breaking new ground for women across the media landscape, including a current series of initiatives and programs called Women@Paley , which includes producingan annual TEDWomen conference in partnership with the TED organization. Her many awards include multiple Emmy Awards, five Peabodys, and two Academy Award nominations. The Huffington Post named Pat one of the Powerful Women over 50. She also recently was named one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century and Newsweek’s 150 Women Who Shake the World. The Women’s Media Center has honored Mitchell with the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award, an award that will be given annually in her name.

    MARIANNE SCHNALL : Why do you think we have not had a woman president?
    PAT MITCHELL : Because we, as women, haven’t decided that it’s time to have one and that we are going to make it happen. Truly, I don’t know where we can look outside ourselves. It is within our power to have elected a woman president.
    MS : You think so?
    PM : Absolutely within our power! We have the numbers, and we have had the numbers since we got the right to vote. And we have even more of them now,