Hillary Clinton

Being a woman in many professional fields can be challenging, but being a woman in politics seems like it could be pure, unadulterated hell.

The woman most likely to try again to become the first female Leader of the Free World spent Wednesday morning highlighting her efforts to boost women’s rights around the globe. 

Appearing at a Clinton Global Initiative forum in New York City, Clinton called women’s equal participation in society “the unfinished business of the 21st century” and announced that she will lead an effort to evaluate progress on equality issues in 2015.

Hillary Rodham Clinton took to a Toronto stage in June before about 5,000 supporters, many of them women and many looking for a hint that she might run for president in 2016 — and she gave them one.

“Hypothetically speaking, I really do hope that we have a woman president in my lifetime,” Clinton said coyly, making an implicit nod to the history she might make herself. “Our country,” she added, “has to take that leap of faith.”

Photo: Many expect Hillary Clinton to make a bid for the White House in 2016, but she could face some major hurdles. Photographer: Elise Amendola/AP

By Suzanne Goldenberg on Saturday 29 December 2012