What Will It Take to Make A Woman President? Conversations About Women, Leadership and Power

by Schnall, Marianne

• ISBN13: 9781580054966
• ISBN10: 158005496X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-11-05
• Publisher: Seal Press

Summary

"I would love for my younger fans to read What Will It Take to Make a Woman President? by Marianne Schnall. It's a collection of interviews and essays by great women, including Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, and Melissa Etheridge. They will inspire you to become a better leader." —Beyoncé

Prompted by a question from her eight-year-old daughter during the 2008 election of Barack Obama, "Why haven't we ever had a woman president?", Marianne Schnall set out on a journey to find the answer. A widely published writer, author, and interviewer, and the Executive Director of Feminist.com, Schnall began looking at the issues from various angles and perspectives, gathering viewpoints from influential people from all sectors. 

What Will It Take to Make A Woman President? features interviews with politicians, public officials, thought leaders, writers, artists, and activists in an attempt to discover the obstacles that have held women back and what needs to change in order to elect a woman into the White House. With insights and personal anecdotes from Sheryl Sandberg, Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, Nancy Pelosi, Nicholas Kristof, Melissa Etheridge, and many more, this book addresses timely, provocative issues involving women, politics, and power. 

With a broader goal of encouraging women and girls to be leaders in their lives, their communities, and the larger world, Schnall and her interviewees explore the changing paradigms occurring in politics and in our culture with the hope of moving toward meaningful and effective solutions, and a world where a woman can be president.

Author Biography

Marianne Schnall is a widely published writer and interviewer whose work has appeared in a variety of media outlets such as The Huffington Post; The Women's Media Center; CNN.com; O, The Oprah Magazine; Glamour; In Style; Ms. Magazine; EW.com; Care2; Psychology Today; and a variety of others. She is the author of Daring to Be Ourselves: Influential Women Share Insights on Courage, Happiness and Finding Your Own Voice, which is based on her interviews with a diversity of well-known women, including Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, Madeleine Albright, Natalie Portman, Jane Goodall, Alice Walker, and more. Marianne graduated from Cornell University in 1989 with a BA in English, and she is also a graduate of the Women's Media Center's Progressive Women's Voices media and leadership training program. She does a regular radio commentary for WAMC's nationally syndicated show 51% The Women’s Perspective, which is carried nationally on NPR, ABC, and Armed Forces Radio stations. She was a contributor to Robin Morgan’s anthology, Sisterhood is Forever: The Women’s Anthology for a New Millennium. Marianne is the founder and Executive Director of Feminist.com, a leading women’s website and nonprofit organization. For over fifteen years, Feminist.com has been fostering awareness, education, and activism for people all across the world. She is also the cofounder of EcoMall.com, one of the oldest environmental websites promoting earth-friendly living. Through her writings, interviews, and websites, Marianne strives to raise awareness and inspire activism around important issues and causes.

Table of Contents

Interviewees:

Ana Navarro, political strategist and commentator

Anita Hill, attorney and academic

Don McPherson, NFL quarterback

Donna Brazile, author, academic, political analyst, and Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee

Eleanor Holmes Norton, Delegate to the United States Congress representing the District of Columbia

Elizabeth Lesser, author and co-founder of Omega Institute

Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor of California

Gloria Steinem, journalist and feminist activist

Governor Mary Fallin, governor of Oklahoma and former US Representative

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, actress and documentary filmmaker

Jessica Valenti, feminist writer and founder of Feministing.com

Joy Behar, comedian, writer, actress, and co-host of ABC’s The View

Kathy Najimy, actress and comedian

Kay Bailey Hutchison, former US Senator from Texas

Kirsten Gillibrand, US Senator from New York

Marianne Williamson, New York Times best-selling author

Marie Wilson, author and founder of The White House Project

Maya Angelou, author and poet

Melissa Etheridge, singer-songwriter and activist

Melissa Harris-Perry, author, television host, and political commentator

Michael Kimmel, sociologist and academic

Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and former Speaker of the House

Nicholas Kristof, journalist, author, and Pulitzer Prize winner

Olympia Snowe, former US Senator from Maine

Pat Mitchell, president and CEO of the Paley Center for Media

Senator Barbara Lee, US Representative for California's 13th congressional district

Senator Claire McCaskill, US Senator from Missouri

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

Soledad O'Brien, broadcast journalist


Quoted in topical spreads:

Oprah Winfrey
Donna Karan
Jane Fonda
Annie Lenox
Alice Walker
Eve Ensler
Maria Shriver
Tina Brown
Arianna Huffington
Sally Field
Amy Poehler
Lisa Ling
Isabelle Allende
Patrick Stewart
Natalie Portman
Sandra Day O’Connor
Melinda Gates
Madeline Albright
Anna Deveare Smith
Kerry Washington