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The work-family divide is the biggest issue for American women. But in some ways it's amazing how adjusted society has become to it. In the 1970s, as women began to take more jobs, society was reeling.

I think women as well as men are concerned about jobs and the economy and spending and, and other issues. They're concerned that when their kids graduate from college they have an economy and they have a future in this country and they, they have the same opportunity that we've had and our grandparents have had.

Perhaps there is no greater issue facing contemporary women than the choices they must make about balancing home and work.

I'm working for the women in the world, today; that's my essential issue.

That's not to say that women's priorities are better than men's. Rather, when women are empowered, when they can speak from the experience of their own lives, they often address different, previously neglected issues. And families and whole communities benefit.

The history of American women is all about leaving home - crossing oceans and continents, or getting jobs and living on their own.

I have a theory that women are generally given space and appointed to jobs when the situation is tough. I've observed that in many instances. In times of crisis, women eventually are called upon to sort out the mess, face the difficult issues and be completely focused on restoring the situation.

I am now concerned with women's issues in a different way: women from Afghanistan, from Cambodia.

I think that American women are further along than any other women in the world. But you can't have peace in a world in which some women or some men or some nations are at different stages of development. There is so much work to be done.

I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be a woman working in America. It looks very different to be a working woman in other places in the world.