As more women claim their own strengths and move forward in more public arenas, this continually evolving world will benefit. The ground under so many turf wars will have a better chance of becoming a strategic playing field. Mansfield says that "women are closer to reality."

The contemporary reality is that NOW is the time in history for rational compromise and creative negotiation to solve interconnected problems that range from gross economic disparities to a battered environment; from global water shortages to lack of widespread multicultural appreciation of useful differences. Education in human tolerance is as important as education in family budgeting and both are currently in short supply. Coursework that envisions a courage-filled, peaceful planet must be designed to help children from around the world, see a world in which they can not only survive, but thrive, together.

Now is certainly the time for all human beings "closer to reality" to put their shoulders to the wheel of the work of the world. It is past time to reduce the decibels of shouting and turn up the volume of hearing; to restrain from shoving and use our combined energies to reach strenuously for a much less fearful and bullying vision of the world.