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I don't have a steady relationship. That's something that women in politics deal with. For some reason, men in politics seem to have a larger charisma, and women drop around their feet. I haven't noticed that so much for me.

I think sometimes women are not driven by the same, albeit, testosterone power thing that pushes men to get into politics.

As a young woman in politics, with few women around, you start to subconsciously behave like men in politics. That comes across as quite hard, tough and humorless, but you're trying to be taken seriously.

Women have more to prove than men when it comes to politics.

Politics is a very male-dominated, male-driven profession. I was not just a woman but a young woman, and I suppose you end up trying to behave in a way that you think is expected of you.

Many female politicians get intimidated by the aggressive behaviour of men. I don't. Not because I am a courageous person or anything, but because I see international standards, and I see that they are worth fighting for.

Inflammatory passion and selfish interest characterizes most men, whereas ambition characterizes men who pursue and hold national office. Such men rise from the people through a process of self-selection, since politics is a dirty business that discourages all but the most ambitious.

Every congresswoman surely endures the same strains that drive some of her male colleagues to have affairs: lots of travel, families far away, heady work that makes a domestic routine seem distant and boring. But the stakes are much higher for women, because they are still judged by a different standard.

When men organize themselves into groups, and they make rules based on common or self-interest, it's always tangled and political.