From left to right: Glamour Editor Cindi Leive, Chelsea Clinton, Amy Holmes, Christine Quinn, Abby Huntsman Livingston, Sandra Fluke, Stephanie Schriock (Courtesy of Joyce Culver for 92Y)

The United States ranks 78th in the world for the percentage of women in a nationally elected office – we are tied with Turkmenistan. With just 17 percent of Congress made up of women, and just 25 percent of all state and local politicians being female, women are sorely misrepresented in politics.

Since 1964, while women have voted in greater numbers than men and, since 1980, a great percentage of women have voted in every national election, “there’s clearly a disconnect and 20 years after the so-called ‘year of the woman’ in 1992,” former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton said Wednesday night at an event at 92Y in New York City. “We’re either clearly not having the right conversation or we’re not being heard loudly enough, – whether we’re running in heels, or flats, or boots.”

Related: 2012 Election: ‘Add Women, Change Everything’

Clinton was the moderator of a panel of high-profile women in politics for an event entitled “Running in Heels: Where are the Women Candidates for 2012 – and How Can We Get More of Them?“ presented by 92Y and Glamour Magazine. Panelists included:

• Christine Quinn, speaker of the New York City Council
• Nicolle Wallace, best-selling author of Eighteen Acres and It’s Classified, political commentator and former White House communications director under President George W. Bush
• Abby Huntsman Livingston, daughter of former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman who most recently worked on his campaign and previously worked for ABC News and for Good Morning America
• Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics
• Amy Holmes, former CNN contributor and news anchor for The Blaze and GBTV
• and Sandra Fluke, the former president of Georgetown University Law Students for Reproductive Justice, who recently entered the spotlight when conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh verbally attacked her for statements made before Congress on female contraception and health care.

One large conclusions made was that women are often their own worst enemies.

Christine Quinn

“I don’t see at all, any evidence, that gender holds us back. I think what holds us back is ourselves. We decide what we can’t do. We decide what we can’t risk,” said Quinn.”There’s tremendous potential – we just have to decide only to listen to ourselves and only to people who are encouraging to us.”

But Wallace, who was already a political veteran before joining John McCain’s presidential campaign during his 2008 run, said she never once felt that women were second-rate in her field until she started working on McCain’s team; there were many high-ranking women in Bush’s administration. “It was the first time in my politics career of being on the sidelines,” she said. “It is humbling and puts you right back to square one when you’re a professional woman who has been doing this for a decade.”

Related: Meghan McCain: ‘I Just Love Any Sort of Ballsy Women’

We need more women in politics not just because they are underrepresented, but because a female’s voice is necessary to elevate issues of importance to our communities. And we’re not just talking about women’s health or education or issues relating to children – a woman adds a very unique perspective to other issues, as well, including national defense and homeland security, budget and tax reform.

“We have to ask each other to get involved and do this because when it does happen, we know that the policies that come out when there’s more women involved, are better for our communities and our families,” said Schriock.

But Fluke noted that structural barriers in the United States are what prevents many women from attempting a run at politics – expensive child care, for one, and not all women having access to affordable contraception being another.

Related: How Women are Using Social Media to Voice Political Opinions

“We have to think about how our public policies create these barriers for women,” she said. “Let’s have more support for childcare that allows women to have these careers.”

Sandra Fluke

Other conclusions included:

• Women often doubt their ability to achieve just as much, if not more, than men.
• Women need to not listen to the critics who tell them “you can’t,” but surround themselves with voices of support.
• Women are often reluctant to be a target for criticism. “For women, I think that can be a little more difficult decision than it can be for men,” Holmes said. Men like to “put scalps on their wall” and enjoy the competition, she added, but “to be a woman in public life certainly is not easy – you have to have a very thick skin and be prepared.”
• Women can also be each others’ fiercest competitors; they need to boost each other up, regardless of their personal politics. Women don’t get behind women just because they’re women,” said Wallace. “There is no one more vicious on their own than conservative women versus conservative women – it’s our own form of domestic violence.”

But there is also a very different burden for the woman who holds office than there is for the man. For most men in politics, their days may end when they get home after putting in a day in the office. They may continue to check email or take phone calls, but for the women – after putting in a 12-hour or more workday – they are often returning home to help kids with homework, make Halloween costumes, bake cookies or cupcakes for school, or cleaning the house.

“There is still a burden women place on themselves to do it all,” Wallace said. “It is not just structurally more challenging, but it is morally different for a woman who leaves her kids in the hands of others, who leaves the household in the hands of others.”

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Part of map showing where venues will be located

The 2012 London Summer Olympics will be the premier event this year; London is the only city in the United Kingdom to have ever hosted the Olympic Games. In fact, London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times, having previously done so in 1908 and 1948. The Games begin July 27.

This week, some of the world’s best cyclists will test out the track in the Velodrome before 25,000 spectators to compete in the UCI Track Cycling World Cup sponsored by Samsung. Cyclists will not only be competing for the cup, but to accrue points toward the UCI Olympic Track ranking and to secure starting spots for the 2012 London Olympics.

Related: What Fuels Lance Armstrong’s Passion For Sports?

Pictures of 'Road to 2012: A Local Story'

I visited the Olympic Park in London last fall to take a look at the progress being made on the construction. Visitors can walk around the perimeter of some of the main venues and see for themselves just what goes into making the Olympic Games happen. And, of course, they can pick up all sorts of London 2012 trinkets, t-shirts and other memorabilia near the construction sites.

There are large, helpful, colorful maps and boards around the area, giving visitors details about each venue, such as what sporting events will be held in each one, and what those venues will be used for after the Games. Visitors also can enjoy life-size portraits of some of the Olympic and Paralympic athletes participating in the Games, as well as those working behind the scenes to make the events happen, in an exhibition entitled, “Road to 2012: A Local Story.”

WATCH: ESPN’s Tom Farrey on How Sports Impact Society

Here are some pictures of what the main Olympics Park area looked like last fall. For more updated photos via Web cam, please check out the official 2012 Olympics site:

Click on each slide for an enlarged photo. All photos courtesy of Liza Porteus Viana.

What Olympic events are you most excited to see in London 2012? Share below!

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My 19-month-old has turned into a picky eater. Although I meet moms every day who are going through the same, frustrating phase, it’s still stressful for most moms worried their child isn’t getting enough to eat. No matter how many doctors tell you it’s fine, or how many books you read saying this is just a phase and “kids will eat when they’re hungry,” it doesn’t much ease our minds.

So, when my son, Luca, and I accompanied my husband on a work trip to London recently – we spent the following week in Ireland for vacation – my son’s picky eating habits cast a pall over the trip. How was I supposed to feed him sufficiently in a tiny hotel room? He barely eats meat – so am I supposed to feed him pasta every night at dinner? Even if I went to the store to buy some kid-friendly food, much of the pre-made toddler food sold in those countries are full of meat or fish – so likely, Luca won’t touch it. What if he was so out of his comfort zone, being in a different country, that he was turned off to all food? How could we go out to dinner as a family since, not only is he a picky eater, he won’t sit still in restaurants these days, either?

In the end, we opted to rent an apartment for the week instead of a hotel room, which not only had two bedrooms for baby and parents, but also had a kitchen and a lot of space for Luca to play. I also took up valuable real estate in my suitcase to bring some of his reliable standby foods made by good-ole Gerber – Graduates for Toddlers Lil’ Entrees (they have veggies and the only meat he will eat is in these meals), and their Pasta Pickups. He ended up eating a lot of bread, fruit and yogurt – and pasta here and there – but never once seemed to send the message: “Mama – I’m starving!”

It was, in the end, a learning experience for me – albeit not without stress – but one in which I still tried to tell myself: “It will be OK, he will eat when he’s hungry – even if he doesn’t quite know what he’s eating.”

Here are some tips I learned from traveling with a picky toddler that I hope can help you as you navigate this frustrating phase with your child, as well!

Liza's son Luca with some of his favorite snacks

1. Bring some familiar food. The Pasta Pickups and other meals I brought were a godsend, not only because I knew Luca would eat it (even though they have vegetables and meat!), but I think it brought a little bit of familiarity back to him while staying in strange hotels, bed & breakfasts, and other places for two weeks. I even brought a meal to a restaurant in Galway, Ireland, with me, and hesitantly asked the waitress to heat it up for me after Luca rejected the first three options we offered him from our plates.

2. If possible, choose to stay in a place with a refrigerator and microwave, at the very least; a kitchen is, of course, ideal. I was able to buy groceries and make Luca pasta, toast, and other meals I otherwise would not have been able to because we stayed in an apartment with a kitchen. I could also store reliables like yogurt. Not only did it make more foods available for him to eat, it also saved us a lot of money! (Hint: Vacation Rentals By Owner – vrbo.com – is a great resource when looking for places to stay for more than a few days.)

3. If you’re staying in a hotel, opt for the buffet breakfast, where available. The buffet breakfast at the hotel we stayed at in Dublin, Ireland, was fantastic, since there was a plethora of food we could offer Luca to make sure he at least ate a good, hearty breakfast. You also may get more for your money than going out for breakfast (especially if you have to buy several different breakfast foods after having your picky eater reject each and every one). Plus, I was able to stash away a banana or two from the buffet for Luca to eat later during our travels.

4. Have a lot of snacks on hand. While traveling around London and Ireland during the day with Luca, I always brought snacks in my bag – snacks from home (familiar items like animal crackers and yogurt melts), and snacks I bought there (veggie puffs and sticks, which he loved!). If you meet fellow moms on your travels that are native to that country, ask what snacks are popular with their kids at the local markets or stores. Then at least you know the snack has traction among some of the local toddler community. My mind was at ease that no, he would not starve.

5. When going out to eat, ask the waiter/waitress what they can make for kids, even if there’s not a separate menu. We had several waiters in London and Ireland tell us that their cooks could make kid staples like pasta or chicken fingers, or grilled cheese, even though it wasn’t on the menu. This gives you more restaurant options, instead of hopping from one to another, looking for a good kids’ menu (like we did). Just ask the waiter or host/hostess what’s available if you find a restaurant mom and dad don’t want to pass up.

6. Relax. It’s obviously easier said than done, and I still haven’t mastered the craft (many moms can’t!). But keep reminding yourself that they will eat when they’re hungry, and, hopefully, this, too, shall pass!

For related stories on genConnect:

• Top Chef Susan Feniger, Ming Tsai on Healthy Back-to-School Foods
• Jane Lynch: ‘Laying Down the Law’ With Child Cell Phone Use (VIDEO)
• How to Help Your ADHD Child, by Margery Fridstein
• Helping Your Children Control Their Impulses Makes Them Better Students
• Are You a Bossy Mom? By Laurie Puhn

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