The days of Donna Reed are long over, Mr. Romney.

I'm not sure what irritates me more about Gov. Mitt Romney's response in last night's presidential debate as he attempted to answer a question from an audience member about equity in the workforce for women. It a toss up between his "binders full of women" comment or the fact that he expects me to go home and make dinner.

Here's the portion of his answer I'm calling into question: “And – and so we – we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet. I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women. Now one of the reasons I was able to get so many good women to be part of that team was because of our recruiting effort. But number two, because I recognized that if you’re going to have women in the workforce that sometimes you need to be more flexible. My chief of staff, for instance, had two kids that were still in school.”

He continued, saying that his chief of staff couldn’t work late because she had to be home “making dinner” and “being with them when they get home from school.”

First off, Mr, Romney, if you can't find women who want to work with you, that says a boatload, especially because women have been playing key roles in politics for quite some time now.

But I attribute his perspective to the fact that Mr. Romney is the father of sons. Obviously he lacks knowledge of what it takes to raise a daughter. Not just raise a daughter, but instill in her confidence, strength, independence, and intelligence. As the father of five boys, Mr. Romney is not accustomed to hearing his daughters say they were picked last for neighborhood teams because they were girls. That they have to work twice as hard to be taken seriously at school in math and science classes. Or that we, as adults, can do more than pop out a few kids and make dinner.

Listen, my Republican friend, I work full time. I have a master's degree, which I earned while working full time. I'm a successful writer of more than 20 children's books. I'm a great mom. I volunteer my time for a women's leadership program (thanks, by the way, for giving us a topic to discuss at our next gathering!). And, yes, I can make one awesome porter pot roast that will knock your Brooks Brothers' socks off.

But do not deign to assume that I'm the only one in my house that's raising our son. Don't be so small-minded to think my husband doesn't scrub toilets and wash dishes. That he doesn't pick our son up from day care each day or check in with his teachers. We're a team. We work together. We're equals.

One of the many things that separates Mr. Romney from President Obama is their stance on women and women's issues. Mr. Obama was raised by two strong women. He married a strong, independent woman and is raising two bright daughters that by all accounts are smart, well spoken and well rounded. Being surrounded by women gives one the insight that we are more than capable of making our own decisions.

Mr. Romney, the days of Donna Reed are long gone. You might want to take notice and start giving women the respect they deserve.