Editor’s Note: Political analyst and Vanity Fair contributing editor Dee Dee Myers is the author of Why Women Should Rule the World, just published in paperback. Formerly the White House press secretary for President Bill Clinton, she is a popular lecturer on politics, the media and women’s issues.

When President Obama nominated Elena Kagan, Dean of the Harvard Law School, as the first woman to serve as solicitor general of the United States, stories of Kagan’s intelligence and humility immediately began making the rounds. All eight of her immediate predecessors endorsed her for the post that is often described as the "10th justice," the person who represents the U.S. government before the Supreme Court; one even described her as "awesomely intelligent."

But equally impressive to me was a somewhat less lofty anecdote. Once, while attending a conference off campus, Kagan stepped into the ladies’ room and found a basket neatly stacked with free tampons. "It’s such a small thing, but it says a lot about whether a place cares about its women," she said. A few months later, every women’s bathroom at Harvard had a supply of tampons.

A small thing, to be sure. But small things can become big things.

A few years ago, a couple of women scientists at UCLA got to discussing the different ways they and their male colleagues dealt with their demanding jobs. "There was this old joke that when the women who worked in the lab were stressed, they came in, cleaned the lab, had coffee and bonded," said Dr. Laura Cousino Klein. "When the men were stressed, they holed up somewhere on their own." Dr. Klein and a fellow researcher wondered if there was more to their observation. When they looked at the data, they found that when men are stressed, they get in someone’s face — or retreat into their proverbial caves. Women also experience this "fight or flight" response — but they were more likely to respond to stress by hanging out with their kids or talking things over with a colleague, friend or family member.

Why? In part, biology. When they are stressed, both men and women produce oxytocin, a hormone that increases bonding and decreases anxiety in some animals. But estrogen, the female hormone, actually boosts the effects of oxytocin, while testosterone, the male hormone, blocks it. So when women are stressed, their brains start cranking out the oxytocin, which compels them to reach out to their friends and families, which helps them relax, which stimulates the production of even more oxytocin. Next thing you know, they’re cleaning the lab, drinking coffee, comparing notes — and making scientific breakthroughs.

The simple fact is: Men and women often experience the world differently. And that experience influences what we buy, what we read and what we watch, who we vote for and how we lead. It shapes our priorities and values. It makes us who we are. And when we include — and respect — these different points of view, we broaden the dialogue, expand the scope of inquiry, change the way we think. We make business more efficient. We make government more responsive. We get better science, better schools and better courts. It matters that there will be a woman in the solicitor general’s office. And in the secretary of state’s office. And in the speaker’s office. And in countless other offices across the country.

It matters not only because the women can do their jobs as well as their male predecessors. It also matters because they see things differently. Even if those differences start with something as simple as a tampon.

Dee Dee Myers’s Why Women Should Rule the World is now available in paperback. Click here to purchase it.