Chelsea Clinton on a Female President: 'Absolutely It's Important'

By
Elle Magazine

From a young age, Chelsea Clinton’s whole world has been shaped by the members of her family. As the daughter of two of the most powerful political figures on the planet, she has grown up with the combined pressures of a life lived both in the White House and in the spotlight. But now, the former first daughter has a new focus, her six-month-old daughter Charlotte.

"My whole life is reoriented around my daughter in the most blessed sense," Clinton told Elle editor-at-large Rachael Combe for this month’s cover story. "I now understand—this is something else that Marc [Mezvinsky, Clinton’s husband since 2010] and I talk about all the time—all of the enthusiastic, bombastically spectacular, wonderful things people say about their children, because we also feel and think all those things about Charlotte—that she is just the most remarkable little bubbly, perfect, chunky monkey creature ever."

Elle Magazine

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Clinton’s other focus these days is her work with the No Ceilings Full Participation Report, a "data-driven approach to gender equality" that she has spearheaded along with The Clinton Foundation and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"We've made real progress on legal protections for women, but in no way are women at parity to men in our country in the workplace," she explains. "And if we look in the political sphere, it is challenging to me that women comprising 20 percent of Congress is treated as a real success. Since when did 20 percent become the definition of equality?"

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You’ll have to read the Elle cover story to hear Chelsea’s thoughts on her mother’s potential presidential candidacy, but the former first daughter is adamant in her belief that the United States needs its first female president, no matter who it may be.

"When you ask about the importance of having a woman president, absolutely it's important, for, yes, symbolic reasons—symbols are important; it is important who and what we choose to elevate, and to celebrate," Clinton says. "And one of our core values in this country is that we are the land of equal opportunity, but when equal hasn't yet included gender, there is a fundamental challenge there that, I believe, having our first woman president—whenever that is—will help resolve...Who sits around the table matters. And who sits at the head of the table matters, too."

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