Cokie Roberts Examines Changing–and Unchanging–Roles of Women

Cokie Roberts discussed the writing and updating of her book We Are Our Mother's Daughters, and her research into the roles of women throughout American history for it, before a crowd of about 700 at the PLA President's Program. "I, of course, use libraries all the time in doing research on these history books," Roberts said. "It is amazing how much info is there and how helpful people are in getting it out.” In the book, Roberts said, "I ask what is a woman's place. It's every place, because we're needed every place." She observed that women have always performed many tasks at the same time out of necessity, citing her mother's simultaneous dictation of a speech, while making pickles and cradling a baby. “Multitasking is just a made-up guy word to describe what women have done all along," Roberts declared to a roar of laughter. Roberts observed that women have made some gains in politics; her mother Lindy Boggs was the 16th woman in the U.S. House when she took office in 1973, while today there are 76 women. But she also noted that women have always played an important role in politics, citing political activities by First Ladies. Martha Washington, for example lobbied Congress for veteran's benefits, and Dolly Madison was recognized as a formidable force in her husband's election. Roberts was careful to include Laura Bush as an active political figure, noting that she was the first First Lady to deliver the president's radio address, using it to call for Afghan women's rights, and that she was the only First Lady to take the microphone in the White House briefing room. "She remains an incredible fighter for human rights, and really gets little play for it," Roberts said. Progress is coming more slowly in many fields than it should, however. Roberts told of talking to tennis legend Billie Jean King and arguing that the status of women in athletics had made great strides with scholarships and media coverage. "Yeah, things are better," King said. "We get about eight percent of the coverage on sports pages. But seven percent goes to horses and dogs." But Roberts celebrated women such as King and astronaut and physicist Sally Ride, who not only made great achievements in their fields but also worked to make it easier for other women to follow in their path.