The New York Times: Letters to the Editor
Marie C. Wilson
June 18, 2010

Ross Douthat ends his June 14 column, “No Mystique About Feminism,” with the assertion that the emergence of the most recent round of conservative victories is a happy consequence of the victories of the women’s movement. He is right: the women who won this month have the feminist movement, and especially the ’70s liberal wave of feminism, to thank for opening the public world of politics to women.

What gets lost in Mr. Douthat’s analysis is the slippery slope that we may find ourselves on if the policies that made it possible for Carly Fiorina et al. are not supported going forward. Women must have choices about how many children they can support, affordable child care options and the ability to earn a living that will allow more of them to run for office and lead in other sectors as well.

Women make up only 17 percent of political leaders today, and the White House Project’s most recent research, “Benchmarking Women’s Leadership,” shows that across 10 sectors of American culture, women on average are only 18 percent of its leaders. If the full range of health, economic and safety options is not supported by the women who advance, then they will pull the ladder up behind them.

Marie C. Wilson
President and Founder
The White House Project
New York, June 14, 2010

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