Hillary Clinton May Wear The Pants(uit), But Her Agenda Is All About Women
Posted by: Nikki Dowling
Filed in:
news
2:10PM, Tuesday August 18th 2009
It’s about time someone started focusing on women’s rights, at home and abroad, and it looks like Hillary Clinton is just the woman for the job. On her 11-day trip to Africa, Hill first gave the smackdown to a guy who oddly asked her what Bill thought of something. Then, according to the Washington Post, she went to oodles of women’s dinners and mentioned women a ton of times in each of her speeches. Clinton is different than other Secretaries of State because she wants to “elevate people who, in their societies, may not even be known by their own leaders.” And she proved that she’s not just talking the talk—in fact, she spent twice as long in a housing project in South Africa as she did with the country’s president.
But it’s not going to be easy to make big changes abroad. Although Clinton has a bunch of networks of feminist activists, Africa’s governments have been institutionally sexist for a long time and it’s going to be hard to change the misogyny that is so deeply rooted in this society. There’s a lot of violence and rape in this area, particularly in eastern Congo. Clinton is trying to get the Congolese president to offer $17 million in funding for rape victims, but who knows if he’ll comply.
Sadly, Hillary is facing opposition in the U.S., too. Some are criticizing her for focusing on women instead of broader issues like terrorism and nukes. Hillary’s women-oriented policy could make her appear sexist or as though she’s pandering. She has made some progress, though. This year, Congress appropriated $250 million for women’s aid programs in Afghanistan.
Tell us what you think! Is Hillary focusing on women at the expense of more important issues or is it about time someone gave us attention?
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Riley
wrote on August 18 2009 @ 01:58 pm: [report]
I think her goals in Africa are just. It is a terrible climate for women, no doubt. She should not focus solely on those issues; there are plenty of pressing matters internationally.
As for “us” getting attention, I think the industrialized nations’ women give enough to themselves. I don’t think you can/should lump yourselves into the same boat as women from Afghanistan or the Congo. Just like I cannot even fathom what it is like to be a male in either of those societies, nor do I particularly care to.
electricaldaisy
wrote on August 18 2009 @ 02:01 pm: [report]
As a woman, I think it is wonderful that our Secretary of State is bringing attention to the oft-forgotten issue of women’s rights. Women in developing countries suffer from a slew of problems like high maternal mortality rates, sex trafficking, lack of education and healthcare, and much more. This is half the world population we are talking about—how could it not important? Women are people too! Investing in the quality of life of women outside of the United States is a worthy effort and deserves our attention.
Jessica Wakeman
wrote on August 18 2009 @ 02:06 pm: [report]
I’ve always believed that if societies elevate the status of women — educating them as well as boys, providing health care, teaching them financial literacy, etc. — then it would impact other serious issues, like terrorism.
Trixie Firecracker
wrote on August 18 2009 @ 06:11 pm: [report]
Jessica—Agreed! I read a book* somewhere where the author pointed out that in a lot of societies where women lack rights, said societies also have significant problems with fostering terrorism.
*The J Curve by Ian Bremer. I think he was talking about Saudi Arabia.
bogart4017
wrote on August 19 2009 @ 08:07 am: [report]
Her agenda for women is nothing new. She has always been on the case where that is concerned. It was just easier for the press to take cheap shots at her over minutiae.
Trixie Firecracker
wrote on August 19 2009 @ 04:22 pm: [report]
Check out this link on the NY Times Magazine, it’s got a series of articles about how improving the condition of women and girls can have an positive effect on economic development and the curbing of extremism: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23Women-t.html?_r=1&hp;