COKIE ROBERTS: Does it wear you out to see what people call the mommy wars?
GLORIA STEINEM: It does drive me crazy because what about daddies?
ROBERTS: There are daddies. Yes, and that's particularly true in the political world. So a female candidate is asked who's going to take care of the children, and a male candidate is never, ever asked that question.
STEINEM: Yes, absolutely, and a male candidate is applauded for considering the family and what's going to happen to his, you know, deciding whether to run for the Senate or president or something. If a woman did the same thing she is often kind of disqualified by that.
ROBERTS: And we're seeing it right now. Paul Ryan saying that as a condition of taking the speakership that he needed to spend time with his family. And everybody said, “oh, isn't that sweet?”
STEINEM: Yes, right, I recognize that as progress.
ROBERTS: So, though much has changed, much has not. What about the biggest possible change? A woman president. Steinem endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2008, but didn't think the country was ready for a female commander-in-chief.
STEINEM: What made me feel that way was actually seeing big, grown-up friends of ours, guys in the media who are perfectly serious people, saying things like, about Hillary Clinton, I cross my legs whenever I see her. She reminds me of my first wife standing outside alimony court. Looking at a powerful woman made them feel they had been regressed to childhood. Because the last time they saw a really powerful woman they were eight. So they behaved like eight.
ROBERTS: So, do you think 2016 the country is ready for a woman commander-in-chief?
STEINEM: Yes, I do.
