<p><span>It s a pleasure to be with you today to talk about a subject that I experience directly—women s labor force participation.</span><span> I come to this issue with a similar perspective to this Commission, being from a heavily rural state and a small farming and ranching community deep in the Flint Hills of Kansas. But I also have roots here in Arkansas, my husband s family is from Hardy, and my father s mother was from Little Rock. It s really nice to be back in an area where I spent a lot of time growing up.</span></p>