On May 31, 2007, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to iVillage President Deborah Fine about issues facing women today, from the political to the personal. Read on for the results of our exclusive interview:

Having just visited the Women's Empowerment Conference, what do you view as the biggest issues impacting women today?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I think that it very much depends on where you are. For women who live in conflict areas, such as the Middle East, it can be as important as basic political rights. Women are not able to express themselves or to express their views and their desires unless they can vote. At the conference, we talked about advocating for women's political rights and their ability to serve in government and to be elected to office.

Secondly, women's economic empowerment, which I think is an issue in a broader range of countries, because even in the most advanced societies it's the case that women are not always economically empowered.

And then finally, we talked about the key to all of that being education, starting with girls' education and going through women's education -- because unless you have education you can't take advantage of any of the opportunities for economic or political empowerment.

NEXT: The issues closest to her heart