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Women in Foreign Policy |
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| On March 11, International Women's Day, the Clinton administration announced several initiatives to improve the lives of women in the world. The president has declared that he is putting women's rights into the mainstream of American foreign policy and wants to see the Senate ratify the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. First Lady Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the first woman to hold that post, have made women's issues a priority and make it a point to meet with women in their travels. The following excerpts are from the Stanley Foundation's radio program, Common Ground, produced from the White House ceremony and interviews on International Women's Day. To order the complete transcript or cassette, visit our web site: www.commongroundradio.org. | ||||
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First Lady Hillary Clinton:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights puts it simply: all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and right. All human beings. Not just men. Not just those with particular skin colors or religions. And on international Women's Day we want to commit ourselves to expanding the circle of human dignity to encompass all human beings—men and women, boys and girls. One of the most moving experiences I had was in New Delhi when I met a young Indian woman who gave me a poem she had written. And in it she said, "Too many women in too many countries speak the same language of silence. There must be freedom if we are to speak, and yes, there must be power if we are to be heard." |
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Secretary of State Madeleine Albright:
In Afghanistan all the major factions are guilty of violence against women. But the most powerful, the Taliban, are determined to drag Afghan women from the dawn of the twenty-first century back to the thirteenth. The only female rights they seem to recognize are the rights to remain silent and invisible, uneducated and unemployed. Afghan women have asked for our help. We cannot and we will not abandon them. Of course, the situation in Afghanistan may be extreme, but it is not an exception. Today, around the world appalling abuses are being committed against women. These include domestic violence, dowry murders, mutilation, and the forcing of young girls into prostitution. Some say all this is cultural and there's nothing we can do about it. I say it's criminal, and we each have a responsibility to stop it. |
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Theresa Loar, Director, President's Interagency Council on Women:
I think it is fair to say that the advancement of women is a national security issue. If we look at what democracies are flourishing around the world and we look at how to help these democracies get on their feet, getting women an opportunity to play a role in public life, encouraging them to play their role as citizens, this is all very important. And the more we empower women and assure their economic self-sufficiency and have their health needs and educational needs addressed, these build strong democracies. And democracies generally don't start wars. So I think we can see a very clear line between supporting women, getting them on their feet, strong democracies, and national security.
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