understand that we don’t have the luxury of putting just any woman into office — we have to get women in from the top to the bottom who want to make progress for other women. Without certain policies in place, such as economic security, safety and full health options, women absolutely cannot actually lead because they will always be subject to these restraints. So, we can’t put women in power who don’t bring other women along by supporting those policies and actually being for women. Electing a woman president is a matter of pipeline, visibility and the political will to raise women up.

Female candidates encounter a double standard, such as the emphasis on Clinton’s looks or Palin’s family obligations. How can our first female president overcome this obstacle? 

Again, the double standard is a direct result of not having enough women visible in politics and public life. However, one double standard that will never fade unless it fades from American life is the image of women’s role in the family. Until families are provided with more support and society views child rearing as a community affair, women will always be judged differently.

How can women, who aren’t in political office, ensure their voices are heard? 

For starters, women need to take the time to make their opinions heard. There are so many outlets now to speak out — it’s just a matter of deciding you have something to say and saying it. The other thing is that we need to ensure that each other’s voices are heard. It took me a while to really understand how important that was — for those of us who have the opportunity to say something and be heard to bring other people into the conversation. That’s the way to make our voices mean something — by saying something together.

Where will you spend election night? 

At our staff party at my home. I want to be with the women whom I’ve been working with all year to see that we have a really good political outcome for women.

The 15th floor of the New York Times building overlooks Port Authority Bus Terminal and what seems like an endless landscape of fragmented construction sites. At 7:30am, giant, generic cranes stand frozen above a crumbled checkerboard of unfinished foundations and broken buildings. The buzzing crowd of energized, empowered women inside is waiting for NYWICI’s latest event, The Spin Room: Gender, Politics and Media in the 2008 Election, to begin.

The backdrop to our November 13 panel couldn’t have been a more perfect metaphor for our nation and the subject at hand. Now that Barack Obama is president-elect, we wonder about rebuilding the country. Mainly, who will lead the construction and how will it affect us?

This was addressed by the panel, which featured Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post; Geraldine Ferraro, former U.S. Representative and the first female Vice Presidential nominee; Marie Wilson, President of The White House Project; Lesley Jane Seymour, Editor-in-Chief of More magazine; and Carol Jenkins, President of Women’s Media Center. And in discussing sexism, media, politics, gender and the future, nothing was more crucial than exploring the political and cultural conundrum American women face in the aftermath of the election.

“She isn’t going away,” Seymour said of Governor Sarah Palin. “There is a group of women out there who love her, who think she’s a feminist; she thinks she’s a feminist. Listen to her talk. She is a post-feminism feminist in many women’s eyes.”

“Women are hungry to see people fight, to see people be confident, to see people stand up and say things,” Huffington continued. “Even women who deserve confidence don’t have it.  So, when a woman stands up like she did at the convention and speaks with confidence fearlessly and also has children, it’s very appealing.”

Of course, the panelists stressed that we must remember Palin’s true anti-feminist nature, but the conversations about her did not end. There is something very significant in the fact that Palin dominated a discussion at an event of educated, motivated feminists and it begs the question: Is Sarah Palin setting the agenda for modern feminists?  When did we go from leading the movement to reacting to it? And ultimately, where does the feminist movement stand in 2008?

When the discussion turned to Senator Hillary Clinton, the commentary remained somewhat unsettling. “The way Hillary gave her final speech of the primary was very significant because it showed women, who are so terrified of failure, that you can fail magnificently, that you can fail and still succeed in so many ways,” Huffington revealed. “When she said that there was no resentment or bitterness, despite whatever she may have been feeling, she came across as somebody who was ready to move on and be in the future.”

While it’s true that Clinton’s conduct spoke to women and set new standards, how did she become an example of graceful failure and how is Sarah Palin considered bold, confident and still trying to win?

“This is the culture, this is much bigger than the media,” Wilson pointed out. “The issue isn’t really how you’re going to change sexism in the media; it’s how you’re going to change it in the culture. This is what keeps women from moving up.”

“Women are going to be in power. It’s obvious. We are going to have power, we are going to get to lead,” Wilson declared.

Yes, women are going to be in power. It’s an exciting thought. But Wilson herself has argued time and time again that it’s not the number of women in power that matters, but that women bring other women along. When we look to the future, will the women leading the country be the Hillary Clintons and the Valerie Jarretts or will they be the Sarah Palins?  What will that mean for women here and abroad? Is this an accomplishment of the feminist movement, or is it a conflict?

Whatever you believe, this event spoke to the urgency and relevance of feminism in 2008.  The panel proved one thing — that truly feminist, intelligent women must be involved in drawing up the country’s blueprints and maneuvering the cranes of change in the next four years. Donning political and cultural hard hats is the new feminist imperative. This is our chance to build a future, where all people can flourish equally. And it’s about time to get to work.