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A few years ago, Dee Dee Myers' daughter Kate, who was then at nursery school, declared that only boys could be the president of the United States. "Girls can be president's wives," she added. Given that Myers had been the first female White House press secretary, she found it particularly telling that her little girl assumed that the presidency was a male preserve, and that exchange became one of the inspirations for her new book, Why Women Should Rule the World. In it, Myers argues the case, socially and economically, for more women in public life and considers how it might come about.
At present, women only account for 17% of members of national
parliaments. "You can't leave out half the world's experience
and expect to address all the problems," says Myers. "Women
communicate differently and process information differently, which
leads them to resolve conflicts differently."
The book is particularly relevant in the US just now, as Hillary
Clinton's presidential bid continues. Myers notes that her daughter's
views have changed radically during Clinton's campaign - at eight,
she has declared herself a Hillary supporter. For Myers herself,
it has been compelling to watch Clinton's quest for office turn
into a magnified projection of American attitudes regarding women
and power. Though not all Clinton's problems have been gender-related,
there is no doubt that misogynists have had their moments during
her campaign, heckling her with signs that read "Iron my
Shirt", for instance. Even if Clinton doesn't win, says Myers,
she "moves the ball forward. She has already been the first
woman to win a presidential primary and I think she has proved
a woman can run a really good campaign."
In Myers' opinion, no woman with the short CV of either John Edwards or Barack Obama would have been taken seriously as a contender. "Two years in the senate and eight years in the state legislature," she says, referring to Obama. "I think people would have gone, 'What are you, sweetie? Go home and get yourself some experience.'"
Now 46, Myers served as Bill Clinton's press secretary from 1993-1994, before working as a talk-show host, a consultant to the West Wing television series (the character of CJ Cregg is said, in part, to have been based on her) and now a commentator. She is thoughtful company and says that she is not interested in knocking men - she is married to one, and has a son - but she is interested in women taking powerful positions alongside them.
One of the more controversial aspects of the book is its references to biological essentialism, citing brain science that suggests that women are wired to defuse conflict, for instance. "I think many differences are rooted in biology and reinforced through culture," says Myers, "so it's important to acknowledge that. Because if you say men and women are the same and if male behaviour is the norm, and women are always expected to act like men, we will never be as good at being men as men are."
Myers walked on to the national stage at 31, when Bill Clinton appointed her White House press secretary. Clinton was under pressure to appoint women to government positions, so she believes that on some level she got the job, "because I was a woman. But then I was being set up in a way that happens to women. You get a job where you have more responsibility than authority."
Unlike previous press secretaries, for example, Myers was ranked only as a deputy assistant, and with that came lower pay and often less access than her predecessors, which led to her being criticised by the press for withholding information she had never been privy to. She also found herself faced with the classic double bind: women in power are expected to act like men, and when they do (as Hillary Clinton has found) they are accused of being unlikeable. "I definitely felt trapped by these competing expectations," Myers writes. "I was supposed to be authoritative, but at the same time had to be likeable, a quality that is a bonus, not a requirement, for men in the same position."
Eighteen months into the job, Myers learned that a male deputy assistant with less responsibility was making $10,000 (£5,000) more, and resolved to ask the chief of staff, Leon Panetta, for a pay rise. His response was to refuse, partly on the basis that the man had to support a family. Myers was shocked. "I didn't expect him to say 'You're right, let me do it right away.' But I never expected to be told flat out, 'No'."
It was dealing with such obstacles that eventually formed the seed for Myers' book. She started thinking about the other issues that women faced: a lack of family-friendly policies in corporations, for instance, and exclusion from informal male networks such as the weekly golf game. She was also determined to look at why the skills developed through motherhood aren't considered relevant to a woman's CV. Myers is amazed that while sporting prowess is considered a key indicator of leadership potential in the US, bringing up children - which builds skills such as diplomacy, team-playing and flexibility - is undervalued.
Myers doesn't believe that it's just sexism that keeps women out of power. At times, she says, women undermine themselves. "We don't raise our hands for promotions, we don't take credit for our accomplishments. I can't tell you how many times you'll say to a woman, 'Oh God, what you did was so great', and they say, 'Really? I didn't think it was that good.' No, it was your idea, you worked hard, claim it."
Researching her book, Myers interviewed a number of successful women, including the late Anita Roddick, who said that women have a tangible discomfort with power. "They see what it's done to men and they want no bloody part of it," Roddick said. When Myers asked women if they considered themselves powerful, they tended to reject the term. "But if you asked them if they like the ability to make a difference, they loved that."
She is interested to hear about Conservative leader David Cameron's "aspiration" that, should he ever come to power, at least a third of his cabinet ministers will be women. "I don't say you have to set strict quotas," says Myers, "but to say you have a goal, to work really hard to expand the applicant pool, when you do that, it's amazing the women you find out there."
Would Myers consider running for office?
"I would never say never," she says, and she is optimistic that more younger women will step on to the public stage, motivated partly by seeing other female power brokers. "Women in senior jobs still represent all womenkind and aren't allowed to fail quite as much [as men], but I am encouraged to see women are being elected in Chile, Argentina, Liberia, Ireland." She pauses briefly. "More is more."
