Why Women Should Rule the World: A Memoir

by Dee Dee Myers

Overview

What would happen if women ruled the world?

Everything could change, according to former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers. Politics would be more collegial. Businesses would be more productive. And communities would be healthier. Empowering women would make the world a better place—not because women are the same as men, but precisely because they are different.

Blending memoir, social history, and a call to action, Dee Dee Myers challenges us to imagine a not-too-distant future in which increasing numbers of women reach the top ranks of politics, business, science, and academia.

Reflecting on her own tenure in the Clinton administration and her work as a political analyst, media commentator, and former consultant to NBC's The West Wing, Myers assesses the crucial but long-ignored strengths that female leaders bring to the table. "Women tend to be better communicators, better listeners, better at forming consensus," Myers argues. In a highly competitive and increasingly fractious world, women possess the kind of critical problem-solving skills that are urgently needed to break down barriers, build understanding, and create the best conditions for peace.

Myers knows firsthand the responsibilities and rewards of taking on leadership roles traditionally occupied by men. At thirty-one, she was appointed White House press secretary to President Bill Clinton—the first woman ever to hold the job. In a candid look at her years in Washington's political spotlight, she recalls the day-to-day challenge of confronting a press corps obsessed with more than just the president's policies. "Virtually every story written about me included observations about my earrings, my makeup, my clothes, my shoes. And then there was my hair."

Recalling the pressures—both invited and imposed—of her West Wing years, Myers offers a hard-hitting look at the challenges women must overcome and the traps they must avoid as they travel the path toward success. From pioneering research in the laboratory, to innovations in business, entertainment, and media, to friendships that transcend partisanship in the U.S. Senate, she describes how female participation in public life has already transformed the world in which we live.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061363962
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	04/08/2008
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.87(d)

About the Author

Dee Dee Myers served as White House press secretary during Bill Clinton's first term. She was the first woman to hold that position. She is a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, a political analyst and commentator, and a lecturer on politics and women's issues. She lives with her husband and their children in Washington, D.C.

Read an Excerpt

Why Women Should Rule the World

Chapter One

Between a Political Rock and a Promise

"When a man gets up to speak, people listen, then look. When a woman gets up to speak, people look; then if they like what they see, they listen."
—Pauline Frederick

Just six days before Bill Clinton was sworn in as the forty-third president of the United States, he announced that I would become White House press secretary—the first woman, and at thirty-one, one of the youngest people ever to hold the job. Oddly, I can hardly remember the exact moment when it happened. I remember being at the Old State House along the banks of the Arkansas River in downtown Little Rock. I remember being surrounded by many of the friends and colleagues I'd worked with on the campaign across the previous fifteen months. And after checking old newspaper clips, I know that the president-elect introduced a handful of top staff himself, before turning the podium over to Mack McLarty, his newly appointed chief of staff, to fill out the roster of once and future aides, including me.

But like so many of my memories from that time, this one feels a little freighted. A moment that might have been grand and indelible and joyful is wrapped in strands of more complex emotion, like uncertainty, trepidation, and disappointment.

Of course, I was thrilled at the prospect of working at the White House. It was something I had dreamed about since I caught the political bug in college. A few years ago, my friend Red produced a letter I had written to him from France during my junior year abroad; the return address was"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." But I never really believed it would happen—certainly not as the White House press secretary. Yet here I was, getting ready to accompany a young and energetic new president to Washington. As part of the original campaign team, I felt I had a stake in this extraordinary journey, and I was eager to take the next leg. But there was so much more to this particular story.

When I went to work for Bill Clinton in December of 1991, he was the longest of long shots. George H. W. Bush was still popular in the wake of the Gulf War, and it seemed impossible that a cocky, young governor from a poor Southern state could win the Democratic primary, let alone defeat an incumbent. But I didn't care. I'd met Clinton a few times over the years, and he impressed me. He was talking about things that I thought Democrats needed to talk about, from heath care and welfare reform to lifelong education for workers to keep them competitive in a changing economy. When I interviewed with Clinton for a job as the campaign's national press secretary early that fall, he didn't ask me a single question about my background or qualifications; we focused, instead, on his vision for the country. Bill Clinton knew why he wanted to be president. Fifteen minutes into our conversation on a car ride from the Hollywood Hills to the San Fernando Valley, I was sure I wanted to work for him. A few days later, I was offered the job.

As I joined the campaign, I thought I had little to lose. Four years earlier, I'd been a state press secretary in the Dukakis campaign; now I would be national press secretary. It was a huge step up in responsibility and visibility, and I knew I'd gain valuable experience. If Clinton lost, I'd be well positioned for the next presidential cycle four years later, when there would be no incumbent. And if he won? Well, my mind could hardly go there.

I spent most of the next year on an airplane, as Clinton survived a series of political near-death experiences, won the Democratic nomination, and was elected president of the United States.

Winning was a new experience for me, as virtually every candidate I'd ever worked for had lost. I remember standing in a bar somewhere in Little Rock on election night—basking in the novel glow of victory, cocktail in hand—when it occurred to me: We have to work tomorrow! So I rounded up the members of my team, and we came up with a plan to staff the press office beginning at eight o'clock the following morning. Our department alone got nearly 900 phone calls in the next two days.

The long and competitive campaign had taken a toll on the candidate, the staff, and the reporters who chronicled our every move. But as soon as the race ended, we had to dig out from under our exhaustion and start a new, equally intense mission: preparing Bill Clinton to assume the presidency at precisely twelve noon on January 20, 1993. There had been some transition planning at the top levels of the campaign in the weeks leading up to the election; after all, Clinton had led in the polls since the Democratic convention in July. But it had not trickled down to many of the people who would be expected to run the day-to-day operations of a president-in-waiting.

It took more than a week for the transition staff to be officially named. The delay was discomfiting, but the actual news did little to clarify my future. I was told that I would be press secretary to the transition, but that I shouldn't infer from that that I would be White House press secretary. The blunt message stunned me. I certainly didn't expect that my role in the transition would guarantee me a particular job in Washington. And while I wanted to be press secretary—and I'd earned my stripes over the previous decade, particularly during the recently ended campaign—I knew I didn't have the perfect résumé. I was thirty-one years old, I had never lived or worked in Washington, and I was a woman.

As November became December, I tried not to focus on the personnel rumors that swirled in the absence of any real news. Myers is in. Myers is out. Clinton doesn't know what to do about Myers. Bit by bit, Clinton pieced together his cabinet, unveiling his choices in a series of press conferences. But as the holidays approached, the White House staff remained a missing part of the puzzle.

Why Women Should Rule the World. Copyright © by Dee Dee Myers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Why Women Don't Rule the World

Chapter 1 Between a Political Rock and a Promise 15

Chapter 2 Why Can't a Woman (Be More Like a Man) 39

Chapter 3 Biology, Ideology, and Difference 61

Part II Why Women Should Rule The World

Chapter 4 If the Three Wise Men Had Been Women 85

Chapter 5 The Nature of Violence 105

Chapter 6 Getting to Win-Win 129

Part III How Women Can Rule The World

Chapter 7 Plugging the Leaky Pipeline 153

Chapter 8 Closing the Confidence Gap 175

Chapter 9 Seeing Is Believing 197

Chapter 10 Reaching Critical Mass 219

Acknowledgments 241

Notes 245

Bibliography 267

Index 271

What People are Saying About This

Douglas Brinkley

“Just like Dee Dee Myers herself this jewel of a book is sober minded, funny, and most certainly timely. . . . Myers makes a spirited case that “women power” is the most neglected political recourse in our arid times.”

Editorial Reviews

Just like Dee Dee Myers herself this jewel of a book is sober minded, funny, and most certainly timely. . . . Myers makes a spirited case that “women power” is the most neglected political recourse in our arid times.

Douglas Brinkley

Dee Dee Myers, news watchers will remember, was Bill Clinton's first press secretary; in fact, the first female press secretary in our nation's history. She was also the youngest press secretary ever. At her last briefing before she left the post in December 1994, the still youthful Myers was asked if she was planning to write a book. Now this feisty memoir delivers the answer to that question.