it worth the struggles and did it pay off? Rosiska Darcy de Oliveria, journalist for the "United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Courier," believes so. She states, "women's rise to power and their participation in politics are the vital signs of a healthy democracy," which would make good sense since the United States is a free country where everyone is suppose to be equal to their neighbor (26). However, others believe that "political women are causing great harm to their character” (Oliveria 28). Oliveria states that, women in positions of power must constantly prove that they can behave like men. They keep quiet about having to look after children, run a household and care for elderly parents. Bringing those issues out into the open would mean admitting “'flaws'” that men do not have… Women have changed, but the world of work has not and they are reacting to the point of exhaustion (27).Just imagine the women in power of today - Elaine Chao (Secretary of the Department of Labor), Gale Norton, (Secretary of the Department of the Interior), Ann Vereman, (Secretary of the Department of Agriculture), and Christine Todd Whitman, (Director of the Environmental Protection Agency). Not to mention the numerous women senators, state legislatures, judges, governors, and mayors. With the exception of a few, the vast majority of these women fall between the ages of thirty-five to fifty years old. In today's society it is not uncommon for women of these ages to have young or teenage children at home. These high authority political figures are expected to work from seven in the morning to ten at night, five to six days a week. They are also supposed to be responsible for the daily expected tasks of the traditional woman - cooking dinner, cleaning the house, running little Billy to baseball and karate and little Sally to ballet, and still look zestfully clean with a smile on her faces for her husband. "The do...
