Pelosi on women in politics: 'This is a marble ceiling, it's not a glass ceiling'

Nancy Pelosi spoke about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s departure from the Democratic presidential primary during her weekly briefing on March 6:

REPORTER: What does Elizabeth Warren’s withdrawal from this race say about the willingness of Americans and the Democratic Party to put a woman at the top of the ticket and see her be president?

 

HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI: I so wish, every time I get introduced as the most powerful woman, I almost cry because I think, ‘I wish that were not true.’

 

I so wish that we had a woman president of the United States. And we came very close to doing that, a woman who was better qualified than so many people who have sought that office and even won it.

 

But I do, I think that the American people are ready. I never thought we would have a woman speaker of the House before a woman president, because if you want to talk about tradition, or whatever that is, this is a marble ceiling, it’s not a glass ceiling.

 

So I always thought that that would be something that the public would be much more ready for than the members of Congress. Well, we won, so.

 

But I think we had great candidates that represented different points of view: Amy, more moderate and middle America, heartland of America, articulate spokesperson for her point of view. We’re so proud of her.

 

Also Elizabeth to get down to the final two who were still in the race. Elizabeth, so knowledgeable and the rest.

 

It’s just … I don’t know whether men think about being president from the day they’re born and start running then, but I don’t know that women do that, and maybe we should, somebody should.

 

But I think the American people are ready for it.

 

It’s a competition. You run and you make your pitch, and people respond to it.

 

I do think there is — well that’s a whole other subject for another day, but you and I do not have time for right now because I have to go to Georgetown and talk about women in power, and how important that is — but I do think there’s a certain element of misogyny that is there.

 

And some of it isn’t really mean spirited, it just isn’t their experience. Many of them will tell you they had a strong mom, they had strong sisters, they had strong daughters, but they had their own insecurities I guess you would say.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.