Marianne Schnall Discusses a Woman in the White House

Nine departments at Roger Williams University will come together on September 30 to host author and executive director of Feminist.com, Marianne Schnall. Schnall will speak about her 2013 book, What Will it Take to Make a Woman President?

Inspired by her daughter’s question, “Why haven’t we had a woman president?” Schnall set out to interview politicians, public officials, writers, artists and activists to explore and uncover the subtle and not so subtle barriers that have held women back from the highest leadership post in the country and to examine what change is necessary to elect a woman into the White House. Her talk will not only address the glass ceiling on a female presidency, but alsowill include a conversation with the audience surrounding women, leadership and power. 

Schnall’s current interest lies in the development of women’s leadership. Partnering with Political Parity, a “nonpartisan program educating and engaging actors and allies to increase women’s political representation nationally” and Running Start, an organization that promotes young women’s participation in politics, Schnall hopes to develop a comprehensive leadership program that will bring women together to break glass ceilings in many industries. 

Schnall is a well-connected feminist whose other claim to fame is that the inspiration for V-Day, the organization spawned from Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, occurred at her dining room table. Schnall is also the founder and executive director of the 20-year-old Feminist.com, a website and nonprofit organization. Schnall is author of Daring to Be Ourselves: Influential Women Share Insights on Courage, Happiness and Finding Your Own Voice (2010), which is based on her interviews with an array of prominent women, including Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, Madeleine Albright, Natalie Portman, Jane Goodall and Alice Walker. Her writing has been published in O, The Oprah Magazine, TIME.com, In Style, CNN.com, EW.com, the Women’s Media Center and many others. She is a featured blogger at The Huffington Post and a contributor to the nationally syndicated NPR radio show, “51 Percent: The Women’s Perspective.”

Her September 30 presentation at Roger Williams University will be held at 6pm in the Feinstein College of Arts and Sciences building, Room 157, at One Old Ferry Road, Bristol.