I was never a spy. I was with the OSS organization. We had a number of women, but we were all office help.
My daughter was 10 years old when she told me she hated computers. As someone who has spent her career helping build one of the largest tech companies in the world, I was in shock. Suddenly an issue I faced repeatedly at work - the lack of women in tech - hit squarely at home.
What women have to stand on squarely is not their ability to see the world in the way men see it, but the importance and validity of their seeing it in some other way.
It used to be if you wanted something nice to wear, you would sew it yourself for your body type. Women before the 20th century didn't have this problem. Now, it seems we're all squeezed into random designs. They're designed for no one.
Men have not stacked the decks against women.
When working men and women have secure jobs with living wages and social protection, they can invest in the economy at levels which will increase demand and help overcome the twin challenges of ageing populations and economic stagnation.
I'm tired of someone being called 'quirky' because they tripped or got a stain on their shirt. It's like a beautiful blonde lady who's quirky because she has bedhead, or she's quirky because she sometimes says the wrong, cute thing. I like it when women are quirky as human beings.
I was nurtured by Ralph Farquhar and then, later, by Sara Finney-Johnson and Vida Spears, two black women. So, I actually was nurtured by my culture, in a safe environment that allowed me to build my confidence. And Debbie Allen was one of my mentors, along with Stan Lathan.
I want women to see, especially us big women, that you don't have to let them cut you and suck it out. You don't have to let them staple you up. You don't have to let them give you a pill. You don't have to let them put a band around your organs. If you just put the work in, baby, I promise you, it comes off.
Women in country music have always been a staple and always been important.
Sometimes women feel uncomfortable when men stare at them when they try on shoes.
Women always feel like they're being stared at and judged, and rightfully so.
Women are responsible for their children, they cannot sit back, waste time and see them starve.
It took so long to make it in America. The year I arrived was a bad year for women singers, the record company told me. So I starved. I lived in a hotel so dreadful I can't even talk about it.
The press always causes a certain amount of hesitance for people who are considering entering public life. So simply encouraging women to enter politics, on any level, not just on the state level, is extremely important.
I started writing stories at a young age, but not once did it occur to me that I could grow up to be a writer. Who could I look to? My favorite authors were Ann M. Martin and E.L. Konigsburg and Judy Blume, Beverly Cleary and Lois Lowry and Norma Klein. They were all white women, and they seemed so stately to me, so elegant. A whole world away.
When I was younger, we'd stay at stately homes, and at the end of dinner, women would have to leave the table. I used to sit there. I wouldn't leave. I felt England should come out of the Victorian era.
If we mean to have heroes, statesmen and philosophers, we should have learned women.
It's no secret that women's cricket needs India performing on the global stage, and any male support is welcome - with key voices like Sachin Tendulkar stating that women's cricket is critical to the future of our game, hopefully people will listen.
Until women themselves reject stigma and refuse to feel shame for the way others treat them, they have no hope of achieving full human stature.
