Former Playboy CEO Christie Hefner has a lot to say about the state of women in the economy. With men getting laid off at a higher rate, women are occupying more space in the workplace. In fact, recent data shows that since many men are getting laid off in the male-heavy industries such as finance and manufacturing, women are fast becoming the dominant breadwinners. As of last November, women held 49.1 percent of the nation’s jobs.

And that, says Hefner, indicates women’s economic needs will soon take center stage.

"It’s a changing face" of the American workforce, Hefner said Wednesday morning on MSNBC. 

While passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was seen as a huge step forward for women in the workforce, they still don’t earn as much as their male counterparts, particularly since it’s often women who take time off to care for kids. But as more women get hired and promoted, Hefner says, they need to be sure they’re getting their due. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, for one, has vowed to fight for the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would allow female employees to look at their male peers’ paychecks and make sure they’re being equally compensated.

"I think issues like pay equity and flextime are going to come to the fore in this economy," Hefner said.

Hefner made a name for herself working for dad Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Enterprises. She joined Playboy in 1975 and was named chairman and CEO in 1988. She stepped down from her top post in January, but during her tenure, she led Playboy’s transition from a domestic magazine publisher to a profitable global lifestyle and multimedia company. But there seem to be increasing signs Playboy is in financial trouble. Asked Wednesday whether she thinks print media can survive, Hefner said she was hopeful, so long as companies realize they have to brand themselves in a multimedia fashion to make the cut.

"I think you’re going to wind up with fewer publications and stronger, but there will still be a strong print component," Hefner said. "Without trusted brands, the Internet is a cesspool."

Hefner is now working with the think tank Center for American Progress. A Chicago resident, Hefner was an early supporter and fund-raiser for President Obama, going back to the days he was campaigning for the U.S. Senate seat in Illinois. She said she always knew he would go far.

"I felt from his work in the Legislature he would be, far and away, the best senator, and I said ‘I want to work for you,’" Hefner told MSNBC. "We all recognized there was a convergence where the country was at, the kind of candidacy he offered, that just propelled him."

So can we expect to see her make a move into politics? Probably no time soon. She says she wants to help mold and develop political leaders of the future, not be one herself.

"My husband and I love living in Chicago," Hefner told Portfolio. "So even the question of taking a job in the administration, which is similar to but different from running for office, is not something that appeals to me."

Oh, and if you’re wondering if she wears anything Playboy, the answer is an emphatic "no."

"I avoid wearing the Playboy insignia because it makes it inevitable someone will recognize me," she told the magazine. "I’m remarkably successful at being invisible, until I pull out a credit card and somebody says, ‘Oh, how’s your dad?’"