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"  I was one of the 18 million who voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, although I prefer to refer to myself as a person rather than a crack in a ceiling. I didn&amp;#039;t campaign for her, and I didn&amp;#039;t even give her money, but when she lost I was so frustrated that I&amp;#039;ve been seriously considering staying home on Tuesday, November 4th in protest. After 43 male presidents, I wanted one who actually represents me down to the chromosomes. But I didn&amp;#039;t vote for Clinton &amp;quot;just because she&amp;#039;s a woman,&amp;quot; an excuse often used by those who don&amp;#039;t like her even though they agree with her policy positions. I voted for her because she&amp;#039;s as qualified if not more so than Obama and she&amp;#039;s a woman.   I watched the Democratic convention\u2014as I will be watching the Republican one\u2014to see what my next best choice is. On Tuesday night, on what was supposed to be a celebration of Women&amp;#039;s Equality Day, I observed as speaker after speaker\u2014from Kathleen Sibelius, Governor of Kansas, to Virginia senator and keynoter Mark Warner\u2014didn&amp;#039;t even so much as mention the word &amp;quot;women&amp;quot; at the podium, much less take a stand for them. Until, of course, Hillary Clinton.  In the pre-game commentary on my public television channel, anchor Jim Lehrer had said, &amp;quot;There is no way in the world Hillary Clinton can deliver her supporters to Barack Obama.&amp;quot; I&amp;#039;d say that she came pretty damn close by clarifying exactly what draws us to her in the first place. &amp;quot;I haven&amp;#039;t spent the past 35 years in the trenches advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women&amp;#039;s rights at home and around the world ... to see another Republican in the White House squander the promise of our country and the hopes of our people,&amp;quot; she said. Watching her up there, I saw not just a strong, smart, and powerful working woman, a reflection of my highest aspirations, but a missed opportunity to change sexism in this country forever. Then I got incensed all over again that Obama hadn&amp;#039;t picked her as his running mate. But when I woke up the next morning, I was no longer angry, but I was still sad. In her speech, Clinton had asked, &amp;quot;Were you in it just for me? Or were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?&amp;quot; Both. I was in it for both. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a747/the-gender-gap-3822/>