Michelle Obama on Women

NEW YORK -- A striking woman, at about 6-feet-tall, Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama, is warm, engaging, and apparently used to speaking before a broad strata of society.

In a recent visit to New York, first at the New York Historical Society's Women in Public Life Luncheon, the Ivy League-educated lawyer and mother of two touched upon the things that women share the world over -- taking care of children, juggling the household, not taking enough time for themselves, and holding the family and community together.

"The stories and struggles of women are universal," Obama, 43, says. "Every woman that I know -- regardless of their education, their income, their background -- is struggling to keep our heads above water."

Louise Mirrer, president and CEO of the New-York Historical Society, said that Obama's speech was one of their most successful fundraisers ever.

"We chose Michelle Obama because the luncheon traditionally honors or features a woman is exemplary and we could think of no one more fitting," said Mirrer. "She's a very substantial and successful woman in her own right and she is also very much in the public eye as the wife of a presidential candidate."

During her 20 minutes before the Historical Society, Obama said that it is she who keeps the Obama household together, from rescheduling meetings when children get sick to taking off when the plumber is called. She says that this country tells women to dream big but women have to "figure it out" in order to make those dreams happen.

BV Poll Results For This Story

Q: Do Women Do Too Much?

89% said "Yes, but what else is new?"

11% said "No, women need to do more."

Total votes: 2,241

"With the exception of the campaign and life in the public eye, I'd say my life is pretty much like yours," she said, addressing a gathering of mostly New York's social elite. "I wake up every morning wondering what miracle I have to pull off to make it through my day."

Obama says she worries that her daughters Sasha, 6, and Malia, 8, will have to pay a price for "having it all."

"We've made some great strides as women in society," Obama says, "and because of the strides made, I know my daughters can be anything. But I often wonder about the unspoken cost that this takes on us."

"We often don't have enough time to take care of our own mental and physical health," she says. "There just aren't enough hours in the day."

Obama was received with polite applause and laughter at the Historical Society when she told of how her daughters call the secret service the "secret people." Later at in Harlem, she received a more raucous reception when she spoke to a crowd of about 400, according to the New York Amsterdam News.

NOTE: Poll results are not scientific and reflect the opinions of only those users who chose to participate. Poll results are not reflected in real time.