Women Count

Join The Call For a Presidential Commission on Women

On the day that President Obama was inaugurated I had a really sweet moment happen with my 3 1/2 year old daughter. After waking from her nap that day (having spent a busy morning watching the festivities on TV) she came in and sat next to me. I was watching the parade and she was quickly enthralled with it as well. So much so that she didn't even want me to change it to Dora. As we watched the new President wave and smile my daughter asked me a question. "Mommy, when I grow up can I be President like Barack Obama?" I could feel pride welling up and I looked at the the TV and then at her and answered, "YES, you can."

I didn't feel it was the right time to explain to her about the struggles of women suffrage. Or Hillary's failed attempt at accomplishing the same feat my daughter was beginning to consider. Its hard to know what to tell her. Because I want her to have as much a chance of being President as any boy her age will have. But will she?

I like to think so. As long as women really come together as they once did to demand the right to vote. I see it on the communities like Twittermoms, Twitter itself and all the other amazing bloggers and other great women that I've come to know in the last year.

Women are coming together and finding a united voice. A voice that is a force to be reckoned with. It seems that now the time is right for women to step up and demand their place in the world and in Government. That's why I was so happy to find WomenCount.org.

A great group that is ready to take the new Women's movement to the web and help unite women everywhere in making our voice heard. But the message is a new one, because time have changed. 2008 has shown us just how far we've come and how much more we have to travel.

The first step? Well taking the lessons learned in 2008 and moving forward. As taken from the WomenCount.org website those lessons are,

• As the economy became the single most critical issue in the election, the role that women play in our economic structure has never been clearer. Women are the backbone of the nation’s workforce and control 70 percent of its buying power.
• The candidacies of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, while inspiring women and girls around the country to imagine what can be, exposed extreme gender bias in the media and throughout our culture.
• Women, who make up 56 percent of the voting population, were targeted as never before as the critical bloc that would determine the outcome of the election.

One of the first things President John F. Kennedy did after being elected President was convene the first Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as its chair. That was 47 long years ago. The time was right then, and it's right again.

Join WomenCount and myself in signing your name to the petition to encourage President Obama to create a Presidential Commission on Women. It's our time to take control and make sure that opportunities for women continue to grow. Do it for yourself, for your sisters, for your friends, for your motehrs & grandmothers who fought so hard as well, and for your daughters.

Help me in ensuring that when I tell my daughter that Yes, she can be President, that I am telling her the truth.

Visit WomenCount.org TODAY and sign your name so that you can make the next chapter in the Women's movement one that counts.

With last week's historic passing of the historic Lily Ledbetter act and President Obama's pledge to make women's rights's a priority now is the time. Please join me by not just signing the petition, but encouraging others to do so as well! Tweet about, blog about it and let's spread the word ladies!

Our time us NOW!