Many of us who have adopted from outside the U.S. have adopted girls. Although they are not allowed to hold the office of president or vice-president, they can be elected to any other public office in our country. That is the good news. But here is the bad news: women just aren’t getting into public office enough.

Here are some sad facts:

• The Supreme Court of the U.S. is made up of eight men and one woman.
• In the current U.S. congress, only 16% of the seats are held by women. Countries like Tajikistan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Uganda have a higher percentage of women in their government.
• As of February 21, 2008, of the 1,193 mayors of U.S. cities with populations over 30,000, 187, or 15.7%, were women.
• There are eight women governors leading the following States: Michigan, Kansas, Arizona, Washington, Delaware, Connecticut, Hawaii, and Alaska.