Clinton offered these practical actions everyone should do to achieve gender parity:

Speak up for other women in the workplace.

When a man repeats what a woman already said in a meeting as if he were the originator of the idea; call him in. “I like to say, ‘John, I’m so glad you amplified Mary’s point of view.’ Be a good colleague on behalf of other women—and it’s not just for women to support other women. Men also should support women.”

Vote in local and state elections.

“There’s a global pushback against women’s rights,” Clinton said. Just as authoritarian and repressive governments around the world are consolidating power at the expense of equity, so too are women’s health and IVF at risk in the US. “Do not be deluded. This is about controlling women’s lives and opportunities to choose their own path,” she said.

Be optimistic.

Clinton quoted Madeline Albright, the Secretary of State who had fled the Nazis and communist Czechoslovakia, and never took democracy for granted. When asked if she was an optimist or pessimist, Albright responded, “I’m an optimist who worries a lot.”

Clinton encouraged us all to fight for our freedoms, but always reserve a dose of optimism for better days ahead.

Here’s what Hillary Rodham Clinton told the Catalyst community about gender parity

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