Chelsea Clinton: “Who Sits At The Head Of The Table Matters”

Chelsea Clinton is doing her part to help her mom launch her presidential campaign. She's on the cover of Elle's May issue, and talks motherhood and the importance of equal representation in an exclusive interview. "We’ve made real progress on legal protections for women, but in no way are women at parity to men in our country in the workplace," Clinton told Elle editor-at-large Rachael Combe. "And, if we look in the political sphere, it is challenging to me that women comprising 20% of Congress is treated as a real success. Since when did 20% become the definition of equality?" With Hillary Clinton expected to officially launch her 2016 presidential campaign on Sunday, Chelsea stressed the difference between talking about supporting gender equality and actually doing the hard work of making it a reality. "We’ve seen again and again, when women have been in positions of leadership, they have had different degrees of success versus their male counterparts, historically being able to build more consensus so that decisions have longer-term effects, whether in economic investments or in building social capital. Who sits around the table matters. And who sits at the head of the table matters, too," she said. Clinton has spent the past several years working on projects with her parents' foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative, and last month released the No Ceilings: Full Participation Report, an overview of efforts to ensure full and equal participation by women and girls in society, all over the world. She also spoke about the birth of her daughter, Charlotte, now seven months old, and how becoming a mother changed her priorities and perspective. "Marc and I are like, “What did we do before we were parents?” My whole life is re-oriented around my daughter in the most blessed sense." The full interview will be available online on April 14 and on news stands on April 21.