Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him.

On behalf of NARAL Pro-Choice America - and our one million member activists - I am honored to be here to talk to you about what's at stake for women in 2012. I am proud to say that the Democratic Party believes that women have the right to choose a safe legal abortion with dignity and privacy.

What I'm doing is writing stories about women who care about justice. They are women who think about the difference between right and wrong what's legal and illegal ethical and unethical moral and immoral.

Truly I never thought of myself as writing legal thrillers and I still don't think I do. I write stories about women.

The Myth of Male Power dealt much more with the political issues the legal issues sexual harassment date rape women who kill and those issues were very much more interfaced with the agendas of feminism.

I have written about the dispossessed immigrants the condition of women who do not enjoy the same legal rights as men the Palestinians who are deprived of their land and condemned to exile.

Learning while at school that the charge for the education of girls was the same as that for boys and that when they became teachers women received only half as much as men for their services the injustice of this distinction was so apparent.

The Finland of the 21st century can thrive only if women of learning - in common with their male counterparts - are guaranteed the opportunity to use their creative potential to the full.

I love talking about women because they are a constant study and you're always learning.

Today when I think about diversity I actually think about the word 'inclusion.' And I think this is a time of great inclusion. It's not men it's not women alone. Whether it's geographic it's approach it's your style it's your way of learning the way you want to contribute it's your age - it is really broad.

Studying literature at Harvard is like learning about women at the Mayo clinic.

The Company of Wolves is about how society teaches young women to look at themselves and what to be afraid of. It's about a girl learning that the world of sensuality and the unknown is not to be feared that it's worth getting your teeth into.

I used to be scared of women. When I was very young they terrified me but discovering the female universe was incredible and still is to this day as you never stop learning about them.

I have often thought of it as one of the most barbarous customs in the world considering us as a civilized and a Christian country that we deny the advantages of learning to women.

Women have to harness their power - its absolutely true. It's just learning not to take the first no. And if you can't go straight ahead you go around the corner.

In some countries we have had the right to vote for less than 100 years so the entry of women into political leadership has caused a tsunami.

Leaders of the future will have to be visionary and be able to bring people in - real communicators. These are things that women bring to leadership and executive positions and it's going to be incredibly valuable and incredibly in demand.

Actually I don't ever think there will be a men-only team of leadership in the Labour party again. People would look at it and say 'What? Are there no women in the party to be part of the leadership? Do men want to do it all themselves?' It just won't happen again.

The school made it very clear that women were entitled to positions of authority. That sense of entitlement allowed us to feel that we have a natural place in leadership in the world. That gave me a mental and emotional confidence.

Even after such milestones as Kathryn Bigelow winning an Oscar there still seem to be few women in leadership roles.

I've been the co-chair of the Non-Partisan Women's Caucus and vice-chair for several years taking a leadership role in this women's organization.

The Leadership Training Institute of America trains and equips young men and women to be leaders with high standards of personal morality and integrity.

As a vibrant force in civil society women continue to press for their rights equal participation in decision-making and the upholding of the principles of the revolution by the highest levels of leadership in Egypt.

Clearly no one knows what leadership has gone undiscovered in women of all races and in black and other minority men.