Breaking the ultimate glass ceiling

UPDATED:Jun 08, 2016 08:58 GMT

Hillary Clinton has gained the support of enough delegates to make her the first woman to clinch the nomination, presumptively, of a major party for president of the United States. CNN asked a group of illustrious women to weigh in on the meaning of this moment. The opinions expressed in these commentaries are theirs.Gloria Steinem:

Now it's up to us as a teenager, I volunteered for Adlai Stevenson, and was told to hide in another room if the candidate happened into our campaign office, because he was that unacceptable thing, divorced, and couldn't be seen with women who, of course, could only be perceived in one way.

As a grown-up activist, I learned to campaign with movements outside various presidential campaigns, since those campaigns rarely knew how to talk about issues of gender, race or both, even when candidates were representing those for whom such issues were key -- a national majority -- better than was their opposition.

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  In this Democratic primary, Hillary Clinton has beenelected by the race gap and the gender gap because she represents this national majority of thetoo often excluded -- as did President Obama. BothObama's and Hillary Clinton's victories mean we are finally moving toward a democracy in which people who make decisions look like and represent the people most affected by them.

  Now, it's up to us to elect Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most experienced presidential candidate in history, to the White House where we need her to be. Unlike Obama in his first campaign, she is already well-known, not a new face on which we can project unrealistic dreams. She's been part of a democratic process that by definition doesn't come out with perfection for one group.

  What we do know is that wherever she has been, she has made the outcome more fair than it would have been without her. That's why we would need her, no matter what Republican she could be running against, and especially against the unfair, bellicose, divisive and globally embarrassing Donald Trump.

  This campaign is going to be hell -- but the result will be worth it

When Barack Obama entered the White House, a building partly constructed by slaves, that sight alone was worth a lifetime of campaigning. When Hillary Rodham Clinton enters the White House, the sight of a woman honored not just as a partner or mother of someone else -- but for her own brain and heart and work -- that sight will begin a new era, too.Gloria Steinem is an author, activist and co-founderof The Women's Media Center.

  Alyssa Milano: A platform to change the worldWomen, in all our profound glory, can change the world if given the opportunity. I didn't really realize this, my own innate power, until I had my daughter and I was witness to her power. She has changed my world with her compassion and strength.

  I know if given a platform without boundaries, she can change the world.This isn't about politics, it's about my daughter. It's about my daughter realizing her power while she's still young enough to have the energy and passion of blind hope. It's about her feeling she can be anything because she is smart and strong and nothing divides us.And at the very least, maybe she will be able to breastfeed in public without being judged and made to feel like she is doing something wrong. Oh yeah -- reality.

  There's so much more women need to accomplish to feel like we have arrived in American culture. Hillary Clinton's nomination is hopefully the beginning.

  Alyssa Milano is an actor known for her starring roles on popular series such as "Charmed," "Who's the Boss" and "Melrose Place." She is a philanthropist and serves as a national ambassador for UNICEF, and an entrepreneur who started TOUCH by Alyssa Milano, a line of licensed sports apparel for women. She is the host and a judge on Lifetime's hit series, "Project Runway All Stars," a wife and mother to two young children.

Barbara Ehrenreich: I support Bernie, but...In 1984 I dragged my 13-year-old daughter into Manhattan to a rally featuring Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. I was no fan of the Mondale/Ferraro ticket and had supported Jesse Jackson in the primary, but the sexist attacks on Ferraro -- the suggestions that menopause would make her scatterbrained and flighty -- got me going.

  My daughter, who was being sullen in an age-appropriate way, pushed toward the front with me to get a good view. "That could be you someday," I told her, and I detected a tiny glint in her eye.

  Thirty years later, after Abu Ghraib, Condoleezza Rice and a host of Hillary Clinton transgressions, I have even less reason to imagine that women are the morally superior sex. I am a fervent supporter of Bernie Sanders, as my granddaughters know.But if Clinton wins we will watch the inauguration on TV and I'll say the same thing to them: That could be you.

  Barbara Ehrenreich is founding editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and author of, among other books, "Nickel and Dimed."Donna Brazile: Everything is possibleFor the first time in our nation's history, a woman isthe presumptive presidential nominee of a major political party. This is a moment of pride for all Americans, regardless of their political preferences.