Most of us are living out the unlived lives of our mothers, because they were not able to become the unique people they were born to be.

I haven't been in a job situation in which I was competing with other women. As a writer, you're more likely to be treated as an individual.

Unequal access to money and media plus bias, external and internalized, and male-dominant religions and illegality at the polls - all those are reasons for women's wildly unequal political power.

Any insistence on equal pay is crucial and any redefinition of work to include caregiving work so that it also has an economic value, at least at replacement level, that's crucial. So change does come from the bottom up, and it will come from girls and women and men who understand that for us all to be human beings instead of being grouped by gender is good for them, too.

The only thing I can't stand is discomfort.

You can't be what you can't see, so it's harder for women to say, "I'm going to be a [presidential] candidate," so we need to go to women who would be good candidates and say, "You would be a good candidate and I'll help you." It's not a passive question, it's not when will it happen, but an active question, when will we make it happen?

Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself.