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FOIA Number:
2006-0 198-F-4
FOI
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the William J. Clinton
Presidential Library Staff.
Collection/Record Group:
Clinton Presidential Records
Subgroup/Office of Origin:
First Lady's Office
Series/Staff Member:
Speechwriting
Subseries:
Christine Macy
OAJID Number:
17205
FolderiD:
Folder Title:
HRC I VITAL VOICES SPEECHES
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�NoaA. Meyer
Record Type:
To:
06/10/99 06:13:02 PM·
Record
Christine N. Macy/WHO/EOP@EOP
cc:
Subject: person
you should talk to at USIA, per Joyce Kravitz, is Pen Kembel! at 619-4742. She says he's the mastermind
behind CIVITAS and should be able to give you some good guidance.
�First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Vital Voices Speech
·
Jnly 11, 1997
.Vienna, Austria
Mrs Clinton: I want to start by thanking Ambassador Hunt for her service to the United States,
but more than for her leadership and commitment to human rights·and the work she has done here
in Europe on behalf of raising voices of women so that all can hear them. I would like to thank
the other conference sponsors for supporting this very important meeting. And I would also like
-to thank the Austrian people and their government for their willingness to serve the cause of
peace and democracy. Home to the.United Nations and other criminal international
.
organizations, hosts to important suinmits of the Cold War, haven for refugees, Austria has given
the people of Europe and the world a safe place to come to so ~hat we can hear out and
understand one another so that together we may shape a common future.
This conference is held in that same spirit. ·We are here to advance the cause of women and to
advance the cause of democracy and to make it absolutely clear that the two are inseparable.
There carinot be true democracy unless women's voices are heard. There cannot be true
democracy unless women are given the opportunity to take responsibility for their own lives. The
cannot be true democracy unless all citizens are able to participate fully in the lives of their
country. We have seen great progress in this region of the world. ·our previous speakers this
morning, from Bulgaria, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic shared with us some of the progress
they have seen in their own lives. How they were able to take advantage of new opportunities to
seek new responsibilities on behalf of themselves and to further
!
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t:he t.ame of demoeraey in their countries. We come at a point in time ,JI'Iben tbi udli~e of revolotion is
nearly CODlplcro In Eutope. The old order is bciD& rop!aced _by dc.m.oc:natio ~oua aud opta mad:ct.s, of
~ prca.. fu.actioniug parJ.iaments, patilica1 pUties. Baslo rial* of as~~e~Dbly and association aro becoming
&eu of life. Last month Russia joiDed the eommaoity of creditor naliozu. 'I'his week the Czech Repu.bUc,
Hungas:y and Polan4 were invited to join NATO, and at tbo dmc the &DDOuncemont WI$ tDI.de, itwae dear
thai: those were the. Gr6l invitatiOD.St oot the last invitations. T()day my huabllld is in Pol111d aod Romaaia to
n:itc:mre Ameriea'a support for de=octac::y's prOJresl. ADd I tbblk. b: Ia a1so slgtliftoant that ,on are gathered
here in Vlom:ut. to tccogaize. both tbQ cruciAl rolo that women haw played uu.i will play in contht.uiug Chat
democratic progress. But.also in talldng and working togetber to d!Wise strategies and le~am from one another ·
about bow we caa c:ontiaue to overcome the obstacle5 that 6tillllo ahead. ·It is dear, I t:blnk. to all Of us, to
&Omeone Ulee me who comes from a demoency that has been world:ng ~ perfeetiug its union for more ~n
220 years, and to those of you 'Who come from much newer demorzac::ies. that domocracy is very hard wark.
'You cannot flip a switch PDd expect to j2ave a dem.oc:racy aa we dream of.· L. my own COUDtry-., s
·
·every~.~h the challenges tbt are posed to dem:oetag'. We have to work very hard to ~~
our ~pic arc given the opportuoity to participate fully in the life af our democracy. We U1eot new ohallonp
~...d!y... So the workOIGinioeracy i£ never fiJU,shcd...aad-all of us :who~~--~e today are· c::ommitted to
continuing that work, no matter what the o~acle~ we face .• Beca.use eveu though you may have a free pr'es$
or a fUnctlOiiiilg parliimeot, oveu tho\lp you may ~ c1cctioU that !lfC fa!r-~~y,
democracy depends 011 more tban that. It dcpeads _9n.more than J~.~tten coostitotion. It depeJlds upon
· mo~_than even economic ~ess. Democr_!.cy_~C\5 ultimately on whether democratic values are rooted
· in thc;:.Acart.J of men and women. Whether all cidzcu believe .that .all-.people .are oati~~-~ bo accorded the
~ -··rcspec;Uo lifo re.volutioo. eoosists muchbein.·gs $bou.ld .be 2!~!e. !O_d.em.and.. .AJJ. aof looks a.ud image:&." ~.a.tl<r.'for
everyday, wbicll each of us as. human more of the ...... thhlp. of sowds, Ctoatlan writer once So CYCD.
6DI8D.
[
mstitp.tioas
of. democra(!)' fllncti01'1ing, evea tho~gh we_ ~y see the lmap
refl.ected-Df~ DW~ and t:he l)l"'gress \'1/e are makiDg economically, we adJl u~ ~ alWU& Will have
work to do, ~o·mah ~ .W.t Alcxis... c:IC?.. .1~~-canCCI-iihC. habit& oft~ heart" that really.aro. at tho
center of a democratic in&titutian or a democrarie mtmtry arc cultivated ud passed on from generation to
tbougb we· m~ look and see the
-..
;en~
' ·----
. · If we look at where we are ill the world today, we soe that one of tho sounds that is most importut to ensuriDJ
that domoaacies take root is tho sound of womCil•s voic::os, thoao vital voices that we colobrato here. On my
visits to Central and Eastern Europe. 1 haw heard the sounds of those YOices. I ha~ heard women from uum.y
eouatrle$ articuJating their dreams for tho world and their Jive.c aft:er com.muuisltL. ~espite the differellces
betwoen thca:t. evcryooe seemed to apeak the $&me moth=- tongue - the Jaasuaac of ftcodotD and hopo. I
!Ieard ..,......, """"' in
l>llcn I vis!~~ Is duo lir1t in thll
oll'or a broad.._
of health s~ces for wom.eu. I heard them in. R.omanla hen I met with teachers who arc dcvoloplng a new
pedagoS)' that emphasizes civio participation an
wloes. 1 b&ard them in Ukraine when I met with
nuraea who had jnst: started their own professional orgaaitatiou. I b.eatd them iD Hungary whe.a.l ~ted a
cemer that is helping tho mmorlty Roma oommunity oYetCOme barrfo:a to edncation, omployment and full
participation in Hungarian society. I he8td them in tbe Cr.ech R.epu.blit: wbe:n I m.et with leaden of nongovernmental organlzadona who are Jmolw<llD 10Rl proje(:U to protea: the rJghts of cldldrca md to 5afogyard
the enviroDJl\ent. I heard them in Belarm \When J. $poko with wom.ect health profesctonals Atruggting to bring
quality health care to the cri.tic3lly ill ehildren of Cbernobyl. I heard them in Russia wheo. I tilted ewer lbo
radio with UsteD.CI'fi throoghout the oountry oo a 'WOmen-owucd radio ataUon. ['heard the wlcea of women
asldna •what do we do 001111 We are educated; how do we use that education to be part of dcmoaacy?" And
I heard them in Poland when I sat around a table with women representing dift'cmnt po11dc:al points of Yi.cw
and participated in one of the most important of democratic act$., dis~ with one araother respec:tfu1Iy•
Est-
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as Wll debated the sues that were important to m. And l heard women's Yital voicc.s in Bosaria where I was
to!c! by a teacher bow she kept trying to keep her srudcara leamias despite a horrific war. HD'IIV I waa told by
health professionals tbe strugles that they faeed treating the wound(:(( and bow they were all comtnitted to
rebuUdiug thelt lives. Yriu briJJs theac voices hen; thac; voices that I have. heard, and now we mll$l dctmmine
what we do with
those voic::u.
·
Do we merely use our "Voico for our own porsOJ\al advaataso2 Do we take our education-. do we take wbatavu
fortll!late adVIllleeS we have been given at this point in history, and only work for ourselves? 'I'hal is a perfec:tly
legitimate choice.. To be a svceessful politician, to have power for oocsclf, to be a laWJW or a Judact to be a
busmc.s.s leader, to ha'WI e«JQOmic gain !ot. oneactc in a dem.ocraey -- that is our cboice. But I hope that tho ·
vital voices represented here will do sometbina else as weU. To use out experience. our 'YOicee, to speak on
behalf of all people, to give voice to the wictless. Because we knaw very wei ia m.y COWlty and in oac::h county
represoutcd here that then: a.re many women who do not have the education we have. Thc:re are IDI1lY women
who are held down by culturBl and historical uaditiOD&t prcwu.lc:d from cxcn;.isi.ng the choices they might want
to JPake. We kraow there ace poor people who ean oftly dream of eoming to Vierm.a. or d.ttmg ma hotel 'I'OOID
looking down at Manhattan. And we know, or we sbould know, that we iporo tho needs of ldl om people
ar our peril, that part of the sreat clWJengo we faroc in our democracies is to be· sure wt;; create cooditicms fDl'
aU m~.m and women to make the cholces that are right for their live&. Aa.d women partieularly have an
opportunity at this point in history to express that commitment·of conscle.nce, to make. clCiat that, yes, 'M walll:
f.o be successrul ciu our own, we w.mt to be hdd acco\IJltablc and respon$iblt~ for the choices we makt~ bocauso
w~ want to be seen u full human beings. But that iA ftot aU we want. we do want to help create aoc:ictie£ arid
a world wbere the oppormDllle.s for all chiJdrc.n, young boys and yowg girts. are available to them in ways we
could not have even drc::amod a few yean •go.
\Vhcn we met, JDaD.Y or us In this .-oom, tog~cr in B=ijing we c:am3 to d~ in clear BDa ua.cqulvoaal temm
that women's voice& rau.st be heard. and we otfered a clear proposition that a i:larloD!A progreu depends on the
prDBreSS of woxa.en, that the strength or political system depcm:la on the iu.cllliiou of wom.en. Tbat tho vibrancy
of an ecxmmo.y dcpeads on tho full c:oatributioa. of women. That the Dclme$1 of cMl society depeDds on ~e
particlp*n of wom.ea.. That human rightl ate women's ·rights, ud women•a rigbtll are human rights. And
I hne been asked what did 1 mean when I said that. And I have always been au:nucd. that 1 would be asked
SliCb a ~tiaa.. 1 was on a Voice ol America caU-ir& program <me day, and I received a call from Iran, .ud
the speaker on tho other cad, a man, &lid that be had ~eard ·that 1 said that. What could I baw meant? And
I said,. -weU, I meant what I said IUid if you will just sbut your eyca and imagiJle the rights that men ha'YO, those
ere the rlghts women .should have as well.• Amd the reason we want those rigbta is not merely to make a
statement, not to be part of a political movem.etlt. but bocawo we, want. our cf.i8Wty. to be rosp«tcd U: bWI18D
. ~ and we want to be p$21 of buildin.s a democratic world.
·
We ba~ 1een cb.angos sin~ Beijing. Here in Central and Eastern Europe. we ba.ve seen ia Albania the bl.rt\
of a parUamentary Q\lCU$ devoted solely to issues affecting women. In BulgariA, a non~cntal
organization is teaching judges and lawyers 11nd citizec ]urOl$ abou[ tbe lepl rights of women. hi UkraiM,
there baa been a new 10\'CI:IUneftt rrs.ini.stry devoted to women's affair&. rn· Uthuania, new sel'Vices are being
given to support the Deeds of elderly women. ln Pola.ad, we haW!. ~n created one of the largest microenterprise n.etworks in the wodd, a new ag~nc:y :5ponsored by th~ Polish and American govennnents and tbc
World Bank who&e sole ~ion is to teach wo.nen important new job skills and to help them rmd weU-pa)'itlg
jo~
.
And yet, despite the progre.ss. since the faU of the Berlin Wall, since the conference in Beijing. we have a lot
�of work to do. Bc;cause tho ttanaitioa from eommnaism to free marteu ad democracy has created llCW
obUades to women'& realization of their Ood-gi.'ftlil poteatial. We have ~ · ut:.w ~ and sac::rific:a
irllpoeed on women. Throughout the rcgi~ cum in pcmiou. ad ~dcare, ldlldergartens aad health eare has
XDCBDt that \1110mCD are shouldering 11 double burdCD that was heavy enough to beaUt with. The oppreai.Vc
structures of oommuW.m may have been tom dOwn. but tbe oew struCCW'CIIIld &taadards ne1»Uary to advocate
lor wotDGn'& righta and to. protect womea from. exploitation arc DDt yet fully c::ollStnic:tocl. Tho hard wort of
building these polldcal. legal. aDd eco.uomic st.aadatd& aod stnu::turec mUll .ia.clude women. aDd it ia wbat you
ha1r'e been speaJdaa about he.rc. '.rlult is why this ~ coma at aucb. an important time,. for it ia enabliDg
us to share practical ideas and methods to adwD.ce the prosc:ace of womrm. lD. tho polltlcal, legal au.d bu.$incas
sphcma. · Exr;:bangiag ideas and stratqpci, cuablea 116 to learn froPJ. one uotber and take those ideas home.
But that is tQO rare: ia our OWI1 world. When I am privjleged to trawl as I do. I always meet with groups or
women for iftf01"11181 dlscuuioDS.. Whether I am iD B&Dgladesb. ltOIDI.Ilia, Poland, Nicaragua or CbJle, I fiDd
that women have much JDom in coaunon than might appear oa the surface. And yet I also find that eYCD in
.those. cities where I un meetmg with women who represent the academia or the profeasiou or busiDCU or .
polities, they onon. do not speak to one another. They IODlCdmca do aot even bow one another. Thsy arc
a'lltPriscd to learn what the woman down the street is doi.D,g to aSskt them in their work. We. carmoe buDd
strona cl'Yil societies without working together· and creatiq usoclatioas that enable us to make progrosa on tbo
Issue& we caro about. Tbat: is why this coilferencc has tho potential for eteatiag new aetworb Alld associatiOns
ol support, witbin QCilllltrics •nd
[
b~tweeu
counttica.
The United State& govcrall1Cnt. 1arsely tbrougll tbD Aprtt for IDternatioaal Development, will c:Ontinue. to
support a broad :range of programs tbat prcwide graats, traiuin& and techntcal asslstanca to citizoll6 to
sh'CJl8then democtacy at the grass roots. We WBDt to be put of buildb!a doalocrac.y, and we espeeially want
to be. part of ouabJ.iaa woJDCU to po.rl:kipatc In that proeeu. Today we build on the commitmeDt we hat1e
made, a «'mmitment to low groups that are worklDg to protect tho emironmem:, or imprDVC health ac:rviula.
or spark economic development, teaching children basie democratic valoea. Workins to create that area
between tbe market and tho gove.mmel\t which i& crucial to tha continuation BDd progress of democracy. We
eall tbat •avn $1'.'1dety.• Anc1 it is only civil society that can inculcate the valuoa of domocraey, thos~ habits of
the heart. It is only thro\igh our famili"' our ~ orsaniradcms, our a.uociations at the civic ud the
neighborhood level, our trade unions, our other groups where we come· tot\ether voluntarily joi:a.lng in forums
to create better opportUnllie& that f t will really acaro democracy. The market place can do letter than aay
other ila$titution tho work of creatiag wealth.. But tho marlccr plaec, whleb. knows the price of c~ bowa
the wlue of nothing. That is not tho market plaee•sjob. The. goverPDlCnt has to prcseno ordor. bu to provide
the basic: services, bur it cannot reach the: heart. It can 6tir tht omotions. lt can. .11$ we all know, Cir'OIItti
demagoguery, but it eaDDOt in those very small aacrod pla.ce.s of the heart do the work that caa orlly be done
voluntarily through the a~ sodety. And 10 the United States Ap~ for llatcmattoa.l DevelopmcDt bowa
tbat. and that ~ why so much of ita wort bas beea aimed &,t tbk middle, this important part of every·
democratic sodt!ty. And today I have the honor of annotmcing that the United Stat" will commit three million
dollars Del¢ ·year t0 proj=d:S that will directly support the objedives of rhis coDference.. These funds, which
ore entirely oew ftmds, Will be reserved solely for efforts that heJp women enter and asc;cnd tho realms of
politics, law and bt.lshtess. Moreover. we· will oootlnue to see to it that wom.oa bavo mU ed c::omplete aeeeu.
to the ontit.o ra.ugo ot democraey ed buciae.u programs that we. support. These efforts will suppk:ment tho
work of this conference and the wort that you do everyday. We bow what the aymptorna of iaequa1ity aad
oppression look like in rullife. We 5ee them whoa women are beaten or sold or denied credit or refused a
job because of gender or passed over for promotions or treated with· di.vl;:$poet and not Ji$teoed to. But Wl'l
have: to do wbat we i::ara to alleviate tho:se &ystems, those sym.ptoDui of inju.sdce. ADd yet we cannot lose &i3bt
of their root cause. - disreapeoc for women's spirit aa human beinp a.o.d citizens.
�..
Here in VJ.eftD.a in 1.993. leaders fto111 around the. world garoered to gUt the United Nationa Doc:laratioa. ou
the Pl!n.inatiou. of Violeace Agaiast Women. This Ia 'llllhat th6)' called for, tho unive.nal application to WOI:Iltm.
of the rights .ud principles with regard to equality. securitY, libertY, integrity and dipity of all buman. pctJODS.
That word dignity is essondally t:hC premise on whJeh our dcmoc:catic oft'ort.s ln our respective countriel will
stand or fall. It is time for us as a global c:omm.unity to undCI'&tml.d oaClCI and for all. we baw nm out of
excasea. lfere "We are at the azd of the twentieth ~. at the heart of a continent that baa boon ar:.on;hed
by wat timo and time aga.iA. If the historY of this c:ent\U'y tea.clles us anything. it is that whcacw:c tbe dipity
of any group i.s compromised by a derogation of who they are., of .some cssontial attribute that thq poaeas,
then we leave ourselves open to having our O'WI1 dipity quc1tionod. Where we do not respect tho dignity of
othen;. we do not make the dig;nity of any of us safe. fJ'om attack.. II this century has a lesson tbat is rcde~n&
it ia that by ellteodJDg tb.e ci.rc:le of citizenship and human dipity to iPdude everyotlc without exception, we
have the hope that can come to those of us who believe that by work:lag together we ca.o create a better ~
for OUrselveS and our children. If M take seriously What you arc talklng about here 81 th15 conler~~:mcr:;, and .
you so bOJUCI and br.lng tb~ 1D.C$Sap ~F e.xcitemcat ud .solidarity that you have achieved here, you will not
ch.anp an)'thiua' ovefDi&bt. But your voi<!e and your work. added to tha inexorable. incremental steps that are
· nCCCS$8J'Y for change iu a democracy wlll create the C'OJldi.d.ons for clumgc. And then we willlutvc a gll.mpse
of seeing what a ncwuoom and a courtroom willlooJc like with women full}' participating. What th& corporate
board room and the political back room will coat of when ~n take thcit rightful plaCO$. We will BOO
more clearly what call happen. in the home wb.c:n women arc Given tho rospect and dignity they doserve..
l am very much in awe of the stories of many of you. I C3Jl only imagine th~: str~sth that it took to bave done
what you havo done in this audience, to join CbiP1or 771 to ma,rcb for Solidarity, to expose human rights abuso.s,
to make freedoro 1s voiee. ·carry over the head.c of those who would silence you. I tbink of aU this. and .J ask
Dl}'&e1f how you kept your focus through those years of totaUtarian oppression on wh.t W. I:DO!t hnportant in
. tho human heart. Pe:rba.ps the ~ lies in a speech that was given in AU$tria seven years aso, just after the
fall of commumsm. Part of it goes as tollaws:
•Many or us who in recent years strove to speak the truth in spite of everything, were able to ~ainta.in an inner
~ a wi!llftgness to endure_ a ~cue of proportion. an ability to understand and forgi.vo others ·and a
1igbt heart, only bcoauae we were ~pealciua the t.riatb. otherwise we might have perished from despair.• ·
Havel. talki.ng about the totalitari.ea lies that recently
preva.Ued in this part of the world 8.lid of the heroic individualls like so many of you who struggled against them.
Those words are jllSt u true today, e.\lea though the burdcM aad obstade:s arc nowhere near what oppressed
Europe for $0 many ::years. Buc we Jmowtbat it taka streDgtb to keep your voice heard. We mow that it takes
cour-se to stand up fat those without 'VOices. All of you who· tore dowD. .comm.uniSJ.n did $0 because you
belicYcd in dcmoc:racy and freedoJil 8I1d the huuum heart and spirit. Now you fight for women's rlshts boca\lae
you believe in the same valu~ Ou barrier is rubble. rbe othet is crumbling. With the Btrength of our
c::o~ent and the power of our voicc5 tbat barrier, too, will surely falL If we keep faith with those values
that brought you to this day, if we work with one anothor, if we ellable all of the voice& of m.eil ~md women.
who believe in freedom and hope to be beard.. then the dteUDS th.at brought us here will. be rcll.l.ivJd and ""'
will be able to look back 8l this t:anferencc and say to oursel'IIC& "Women's vita) voiocs played a role in creati.Dg
the killd of. world I am proud to eall my own: Tbllltk you very much.
Many of you will rocngni7e the wordS of President
1
Question and Answer Seuion after the Firll.t Lady's Speech •t the Vital Voices Conference July 11, 1997
(Pirst portion of ~ scGtlon inaudible due to cc:.ntral audio Cc:e:d problem)
,:
:I
\}-
�MRB. CLINTON: Anyt:hillg
many, 11UJD.Y women. But I
we can do to creato sood opporf'llftldes for gtds and wom.ca.. 1 think. will belle&
alSo btAieve rhar in muy dift'crcll:lt scx:iat.ics for d.i.l'tbrcnt r~ • individual
womao'$ cluuwes for~ her own dream$ wiJ1 be epb•noed If other 'tiPDIIIe2l work to,ether to cbanae aod.al.
historical, and cultural c:ondiliODS that hold 'WODlea bact. There &l'e mny 'W'O.tDeD who haw. attaiaed a sood
edneatioD. md tben. are told that they c:au.uot l:.ftlcoeed 1D thD atea th,ey wish to v.oork in for artillcial reasoas.
So the iDCli\'lduai wom.au bu to do what abo can to prcparo hcncJt, but thu. as part of our vital voices we have
to mako It pos&iblc for every women to be able to pw:suc whatlm:lr l1cr a:mbl!iou or dreams might be. l ab!o
lhb:lk tbr.r:e ia another element. and that is tho sort of p$)'Chalogica1 barriera that are the interoal barriers to
numy WOlDen's success. Women who feel that they are not entitled to pUI'IUCI their own dreams. Women who
feel rl:aQt, it they make a choice to pursue ~ oducatioa or to pursue a job. they are makblg a choice not to
pursue family or rclaticm.5hiPL So l think we have to eJ!ablcl wommn to fcc1 that they can attain that balance
betwccn 'WOrk and family that is sq difficult in all societies, "Wbidl ~ of as Jaavc worked oo for muy yean,
and support young
W'QIIH:Jl
so that. rbey feel comfortable making tb.cse choices.
OUBSTION:· There"t a Jot ofvioleace oo TV in America, which aL;o inil~ o\U' wltwes.. What can you
do to stop it?
MRS: CUNTON: Well, I agree wlrh that: J deplore rhe violence that is depia:ed on Amerlcan television aDd
in American movie&, and We:- my husb:and and the Vicc--Presideat aD.d Mrs. Gore ad I.~ have worked very
hatd over the last several years withln the system that 'WC have, which i& a DOt oaly a £rec and open-market
place of ideas. but with our first amendment to the Constittation,. we have very bfoad protectlODS for ~
thai: is ~ ~ &pcccb, which Jnost tclCYisioa plogra~Da aud movica ate. ADd you may haw heard that
jWII: two weeks ago, out United States Sup!'eme Court strock dOWil a law that t&e Conpeas had passed and the
PreaideDt bad signed, try.i:ftg to limit PD.rDOIZ'IPhJ on the I:Dtcmct iD the U!llted Sl8.tt$.. So they take a very
broad view of what is protcctod under our COD.Stir:utiOD.. So, witbln a limit. we have triod to do sovoral tlili1gs.
The Preside.ftt bas advocated that a computer chip be built iato naw televisiou sa that. prosrams can be
blocked ou.t by ~(;llts c:D;rc:i5iag authority ovor tJmir tcl.maioo set. au tbal the telcvlslon set can be
progr&~Uled in aueh a way that ee.rtaio statioN llllld pr08J."'IlD$ canuot be ae&l. So, tlud 'Will 'WQJ'Ic £or )'OUDger
c:h:i.lc:lrcu, but then we know older eb.lldrea will spend their tiJne figuring out how to break the system. but at
least.·you. bow, for a few~ pateats will have the ill'&llion·of COD.trol ewer l:bcir childre:DJlSaiD, and e"¥CD an
Ulusicm. in these clreumsraac:es is eomfottiDg to some RteD.t. A.Jld we've also warted with the teleYiaioo to
create labels for tele:risioA programs. so that parents ean make· better declslons ~ut what they permit their
childrea to wateh. Aad finally, we have encouraged tbe CIDtertainmeDt mduatry to create different kinds of
programs. Naw, I think hav:i.as aaid an that, I am Dot bope&d :about being able to limit the violence OD .
Alllericall. television or iD. Amoric:.an moW:s. We ha"VC too ml.l'dl ftccdam that il. fP.vtm for good reason to bo
able to prevcut that. And ;t sells, unfortuaarely. People watch it. It's like drlvizls by 8ll automobile aeddCJ~t. .
You know you shouldn't, but you slow down and you Jook ud are interested and stimulated by such J)f08ram.s.
So we. ate doing what we caa from the govert~.mentallewt 1.11 fXJY book '"It Takes A vnlage,• I ur.ccd pare.o.t&
and other oiti%ellS to boycott certain prosranm. not lo buy tbo products that are advertised on programs. to use
citi1:e11 aetion to make a statement about what
e;hould or: Jwuld uot "'" ·~ 011 our tc:levl&ioa. But
I think that maay of you in eonntriel with different legal S)'Stems will haw to be working \'ery hard to try to
create a situation In which you are not flooded by the m05t Yiolc:.nt tdc:.vision progriUIIJDi.Dg from. our culture,
arid J ocmtiaue to try in the United States botb to limit it add to get oitizeas aod especially parents to exercise
more authority with cbildrc::.a ancl to try to limit tbe cfr~t of it. I thiDk il is oD.C of our·JIKJSt serious problems
because it i£ part of the ~ntlict that is developing between •ll:l"e WD eruting in Ollr IIOQOtf citizens or .
couumers,.• and it is a very difficult problem.
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�QUESTION: Spealdng of your book, I Jikr;cl your book· about raising ~o. Do you agrc:c that women
should cmpha,sRc our eentnal tQ!e. in the family ~ 81 we advocate our rigbr.s7 · ,
'MRS. CLINTON! I do, because I asn very committed to family and to my particulu obtigadona as wife qc;\
mother, but 1 don't think every woman baa to beCOll'le a 'Wifo and a mother. llwe are ta1kina about dcn:aociaey,
it is very bnportaut to ma1co c:Jear that womCD should ha\'e a range of c;hoices. There aro 'lllfOfJleJl who wish to
be full-time IJIOthers and eoramit th~ to tbat talk. That &bould bo a respected choice. There are
womCD who do not ehoose to marry, or if they tnan)'. do 110t cl!ose to have chlldren. That should bC -a
respected choice. So, the vast majmity of women in our countries will try to do botbt as I havo and as most
of you have, to have a family and to bave work that ls important and meaningful ro me. That balancing act
tbat we'rtt all eagaged in must eJso bo respected md more support must be gi.WIJl to women who are ~ttempting
to do that. But the larscr pomt I would mako be,ond Uadlvid\181 '!liTOD'le'll'a choice& aad being respected for these
choku. is that whether or not We Dl8kc any or these cboiees, efle'rf oDC of us· baa an obligation to do what we
caa to make sure our dWtkoJl arc well raised. and tbat our dlildrcm. have the health care_ the education. the
safety, sUibility, aad all the conditions that will enable them to gr09I to tbelr own potontlal. So, w'heth~t or not
a pM'SOft i.e a parens:. or howei'/Cr DliiDY childrea a pcrso11 lw, evct')' one of us will ba affected in the qUlillty
of our life by how our ddldtc:n and the ttcxt pacrati® ~ treat~ So. I thiok that goes beyond the lndividual
c:holco, and keepiag the impOrtaDcc of raising child~ central to our political and economic and social
eonsideration is not jUst a Wnily's responsibility, it is the entire 1ociety's reaponsfbiUty. ·
AMB. HUNT: Before I ask you the last question and ask you to close your rell'larks with that question, I waot
to thank you per$01U111)' for coJDioe, and l wlnt to ·tell you that this eonfen:nc:e. which ha& been b\ljJely
successful. would uQt ·~ happened without soano very seneroua help ftm:tt orgardl:atiou like. Bau Austria,
A11totriu Airlines whiCh flew about 160 people here, Nestle Corporation. the U.S. Government, the Buropean
UnioO. the Soros FoundatioA, and a host of others. AA.d llrcnow that you are a& bnprcssod as I am with their
pucrosity, too. If you coUld just say two scmteaees About the key q\\CStioa of t1Us. coi1ference: Wlw cao
Ame.rieaus learn from. our eoxporionce as Eastern and Central E'&U'opeans? What ean Amc1i.cam lcant from
Ce'Ptral and Eastern BuropeaDS?
CLINTON; Thank Y®t. whoever asked that question. Beeat!$8 I tbink there is a groat deal that
Ameri(;aD.Ij can Jeam from your experica.ce$. I think, Cu-st, ~ it take& courage and ~ to both win
8D4 bop a dcmoc:racy, that the buildlag of a democracy 15 lUI cmgoing challenge ad strugslo, 8Dd that wa can
JJM~er take it for eranted.: And that miD)' of you iD thi& I!'OOm aod io tbc eoUDtrica frQC which you come, have
a much clcuer idea of the importtmc:c of the Values that underlie democracy thaD many people. in my anustry
do today. Becaase WtJ have many people who have sottcv very complaceot in the 'Ualtcd States. They don•t
take: the trouble to vote. They don't defend tho. freedoms. that we have fouaht for, aad people iD ptevious
pn.era.tions. haw died for. So, ma}'be it is a good thing that a sodoty sets to the point of the United Srate:s
and tnllllY of the Enropeat\ countries, wbcro freedom ts 5o blgrained in the fabric of life that wo don't have to
worry about it or fight over it any more. I this1k there's always a danger .when people become COID.PJ•cent. .
because there•s aJ:waya 'be risk that demasopos aud autl,wrltuiau vAll assort theansolvea 11110. iofluoa.e. the
mind$ of people ud take t:wet the poUticaJ aaid ecoaomie attnctures again. So tlW: i& OJle important thb:ig.
The second point I would make i$ this strussJ.e lhal l mcmxl lo carlio,, lll the .ur:w global ceonomy, in the
Informacion Aw:- in which we are lMng, how do we Ii\oe as human bridgs? How do we c:usure that ~ are able
to dMl with tho eootlDOQs a.u~ of eboiees that we have? Many gf you came &om countries where =dc::r
communism, you bad oo c::boiees. Now in milD)' couu.triea we have· ao many choic:ca that people. arc often
bewildered about what is the rigbl. cboK:c that they should be mUb:&g. How do we cret~.te the. right COllditions, ·
the balance betWeen govcnuneat and the marketplace, a balance of power that wiU create jobs and p!!
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incomes and eeonoudc opportunities, but will also provide support for people iB a social safety act and wiU
creu.to an enviroru:nea.t in which tlafll marketplao& doe:s·nat detetmiae everyt.biDs. So. as you are st:rugg1.l.q to
~~lab those choic:ea. we in the Unltcd. Stab:ll wD1 be watcbiJlg J011 aad supportinc you, .&Del togetbcr I hope that
we will enter into the twe.aty-first eet1tury with a •uch clearet 'lll:ld.erstrutd.iag of 8lld conunitme:nt to those bade
~ values that we baYe worked on for so many Jfi8J"', but that you. now kold as a trust for m~ niSI. of
IlL. Because. how you deal with de.moC~-acy*~ aew dlall=ga will af£eet tba Uded StAtes u.d tba elltU-o world.
(llad transcript)
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First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Remarks atVital Voices Conference
Belfast, Northern Ireland
September 2, 1998
Thank you. Thank you very much, Fiona, for that introduction. and even more for adding your
vital voice to this conference.. I'm sure if you need a note to be excused from school there's
about a thousand of us that. would sign it. I want to thank Sue Tibballs and Rosemary Fairendon
and Inez McCormick, not only for what they have said here this afternoon, but for their
commitment and dedication to the issues thatbring all of us here to Belfast.
. Lord Mayor and MinisterMcFaul;Assembly Members; Mrs. Trimble;.Ambassador Lader;
Consul General Fort; and from Dublin, Minister Wallace and Ambassador Kennedy-Smith; and
· conference participants and distinguished guests.
It is a great honor and a personal delight for me to b.e back in Belfast. I feel embraced by, and
greeted by the sounds of so many women's vital voices. From the reports I have received while I
was in Russia, and the ones I just heard, this conference has ah·eady succeeded in bringing people
together .and enabling them to share ideas, and plot together to make the hoped-for peace a
reality. Like all successes, this one, of course, is the product of many hands.
· I want to thank everyone assOciated with the planning and implementation. I particularly want to
thank Theresa Law who has moderated this afternoon's session for her hard work. I want to
thank Secretary of State Mo Mowlam, who brought to this task vision, dedication, and, according
to my sources at Hillsbourough Castle, her skills as a party hos.t and dancer. par excellence. ·
I also want to thank the new First Minister of the Assembly David Trimble and the Deputy First
Minister Seamus Mallon. Not only for sponsoring and speald,ng at this conference on Monday, ·
but for their leadership in making sure that the seeds of peace, once planted, 9an grow. I was
pleased to learn that the first reception the Ministers held together was at Stormont in honor of
the women delegates from this conference~ And to Lord Mayor, the Belfast City Coiuicil and the
entire city of Belfast, thank you for being such wonderful hosts.
As I arrived here a few minutes ago, I thought about how the River Lagan, which once carried
people away from these shores, now brings them back to find the rebirth of Belfast symbolized
by this stunning Waterfront. I have been privileged in a small way to witness this re-birth
starting with my husband's visit in November of 1995~ and my return here last October speaking
at the University of Ulster and speaking here to a conference of young people. I have seen in the
faces of men and women and boys and girls, a new openness, a new co:t:nnll.tment, a new
awareness of the road that has been traveled and the road that lies ahead.
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I kriow also that the songs ofU2 and the other great musicians have filled the Waterfront in
recent months, celebrating the transition that is occurring. But I also believe that from
workshops to speec];les to quiet conversations, nothing can compare to the powerful voices heard
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here over the last few days. Voices from every comer ofNorthem Ireland, the United States,
England, Scotland, and Wales. From every tradition. From every sector of society. Every age.
· Women and men. All blending into a powerful chorus calling for women to become full
participan~s in a secure and democratic Northern Ireland. A Northern Ireland that people have
· hoped for, lived for, died for, and yes, finally voted for. Tomorrow, my husband will come here
to the Waterfront to address your new Assembly, and to congratulate the citizens of Northern
Ireland for this hard-won peace that is yours.
The last few months have shown what people here have always known; the road to peace will
never be easy. But the world has also seen how no fires, bombs or terrorists will ever tum you
back. When my husband and I go to Oma~ tomorrow, we will pay tribute to those who were
murdered by the enemies of peace. They were mostly women and children. They were Catholic
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and Protestant, Union and Nationalist, young and old. They were people simply living their
lives, working at a drapery store, hanging out with friends, buying school uniforms for their
children.
The terrorists targeted the people of Northern Ireland and in response it was the people, all the
· people,.who bravely stood side by side to say: hatred and violence will no longer have a place
here.·_ We have chosen ballots, not bombs; democracy, not division. We have resolved to live in.
peace-and we will never go.back. We will only move forward. And as you do, please know that
America will stand with you.
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How appropriate it is that this conference takes place the first week of scliool--not only because
it's a time for new friends and new beginnings. But also because, ultimately, our children are the
reason we are here. For 30 years parents dropped their children off for school- tucked in their _
shorts, kissed them goodbye, and dreamed of a time they could play outside free from violence.
Dreamed of a time when their children's opportunities and destinies would never again be -- limited by their place of worship or political party or by whether they're a boy or a girl. Today,
there is real hope in this dream, once expressed through poetr)' and protest, it will finally_ be a
reality for children in Northern Ireland.
None of this would have been possible if it were not for the courage _and strength of generations·
of women. Though they may have worshiped separately on Sundays, seven days a week, they all
said a silent prayer for their husbands to return safely home. Seven days a week, they lived in .
fear that the unspeakable would happen, they would be_forced to bury their own child. And yet,
· seven days a week, they carried on with hope and prayer that the future would be brighter, free of
troubles and heartbreak.
Wives. Mothers. Sisters. Daughters. Few were household names. But, having seen their lives
and communities tom apart by violence, women came together as women have always donearound kitchen tables, at the market, in gatherings like this. It was women whose whispers of
"enough" became a torrent of voices that could no longer be ignored. If we listen carefully, their
voices still echo through this room and lift up ours today.
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If we listen, we can hear the voices of women who withstood jeers and threats, prejudice and
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violence to make themselves heard in a political world once reserved primarily for men. We can
hear the voices ofwomen in Craigavon, who, instead ofburrmving into their sorrow... used the
power of the pen to heal by writing and sharing their poetry, short stories, essays, and plays. In
. one poem, Madge Steele writes about finding common ground:
Weave the threads of real friendship with the colors of your life,·
Use the pattern of Peace and leave out the strife, .
Thread the friends that are young along with the old,
And you'll find on your loom a fabric of Gold.
If we listen, we can hear the voices of those who helped weave this fabric of gold, grassroots
activists like the late Joyce McCarten, who literally wove communities together through the
Troubles.. Three years ago, when I met Joyce at Ye Olde Lamplighter on Lower Onn.eau Road,
around. a small wooden table we sipped tea and talked about what had brought these women ·
together.. How they realized that history and religion were keeping them apart even when they all
. wanted the.same things:.goodjobs .and.good. schools for, their <:hildren, Streets you. could .walk ...
down safely.... Security and prosperity you could count on. A future you could believe in.··
· .. Ha:rdly a radical agenda. But for this, Joyce was called a ''trouble-maker." Well, she. had another ..
name for herself, and when she met me she proudly annoimced that she called herself a "Family· ·
Feminist" because saving families was the goal of all she did. I have met many family feminists
around the world. ·In South Africa, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, China, Nicaragua, Brazil, Pakistan, and
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India. Places that are riven with strife, by disagreement, by conflict caused by racial, religious,
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and tribal differences. Yet, in the midst of even the worst of times, there are women like these .
who stand up and say: stop for a minute please, think about what is really important for us and
our children.
. I met such women at the Vital Voices Conference in Austria, inspired by Ambassador Swanee
Hunt who is here with us today. I met thetn at the United Nations Conference in Beijing where I
remembered clearly the banners that were created by women from every part of the world. They
spread those banners across the Great Wall. Woven into them were the dreams of religions, and
·talked in different languages. But they spoke the same mother tongue--the language of freedom
andhope.
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And they sent a clear message. Economic progress depends on women's progress. Democratic
progress depends on women's progress. Human rights are women's rights and women's rights
are human rights. And this conference is part of an ongoing glowing initiative that is making
these points over and over again and in the process of transforming women's lives and societies.
What a better time to recommit ourselves to these basic truthS than in this year of the 50th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We're not talking about paying lip
service to the rights written down on a piece of paper and filed away. Rather, we're talking
about how we treat each other at home and work, at church and school and in political
assemblies: Are we valued? Do we have the food, health care, education, shelter, the income we
need to survive and flourish? Do we have the opportunities to help us reach our God-given
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potentials?
Now many of the women here in Northern Ireland and throughout the world With whom I have
.met know nothing of this Universal Declaration ofRights. But they know in their hearts and
souls, that in spite of all they are told by culture and tradition,. they are endowed with God-given
. rights, as surely as they were born into a human family .. And the reason we want those rights is ..
not merelyto make a statement, or to be part of a political movement, but because we want to .·
help create a better world, a world in which we can walk safely and we can live peacefully
· together with those who are like us and are unlik~ us, because we want our dignity and the
dignity of all hunian beings respected.
· In Beijing, I was particularly moved by the banner created by women of this island. On it, was a
picture of a red-haired woman standing on top of the world. And since that day in 1995, it's
amazing how far she has climbed in Northern Ireland alone.
, . . __ ................ Who•would.have.thoughtthe majority.of women.from: both .traditions would step' fonv.:ard and· .: •·· .
.vote .~~es':' on a .Peace.,Agreement? . . Who would have thought that when the.firstAssembly. · ·
....convenes,..its.seats willbeJilled with fourteen women? And,who would have: thought that the ..
Agreementwoulddemandasociety that is truly.inclusive?· Not just all religions. and political
parties. But all women and men alike.
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As my good friend, Secretary of State Albright likes to say, advancing the cause of women is not
just the right thing to do. It is the smart thing to do for any society. It was the smart thing for
women to clear the path for reconciliation which brought us to this day. And it is the smart thing
for women to play a central role in .the reconstruction that will usher in a Northern Ireland that
fulfills the promise of democracy, prosperity, and yes, peace, for all its citizens. Because as you
well know, the Peace Agreement was the beginning, not the end .
What you have been doing here is thinking through in practical ways what must be done to fulfill
··the promise of peace. You know better than I, it will take far more discussions, conferences and
reports. The hopes for peace will have to be translated into the hard work of practical action and
political compromise, not only in the Assembly, but in every comer of society. So the real
challenge of this conference starts as we leave. How will each of us work to fulfill the promise
of peace? That, of course, will be up to the men and women of Northern Ireland to decide. But,
based on what we know about the conditions that promote peace and prosperity, we, I think, can
agree on basic goals: All people must have access to the tools of opportunity-good educatipn,
quality health care. Good jobs, loan, and credit. .The kinds of 9pportunities that will give
responsible people of whatever backgrounds .the chance to move forward into the 21st century
with confidence. ·
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If we are to fulfill the promise of peace, we must translate into practical action what these gmils .
mean. How do we, for example, have an education system that serVes the needs of young people
moving in a very different world, dominated by a global economy? How do we make available
. the kinds of credit that small business people need to build thriving economy from the ground
up in the most depressed area in Northern Ireland? How do we make sure that, loans and .
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. microcredit financing are available? That the businesses, ihe government and particularly the
banks here will meet the needs of people anxious to demonstrate that they can build economic
opportunities for themselves?
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If the promise of peace is to be· fulfilled, then all people must be safe from violence. And in
particular, all women must be safe from violence, whether it happens in their homes or on the
streets. Domestic violence which breathes the conditions of violence and aggressiveness setting
one person against another must be seen for what it is: a crime, not a family matter. If the
promise of peace is to be fulfilled, then all women and men must feel free to make their voices
heard through the ballot box and the soap box. There are many goals and you have discussed ·
them all here at this conference.
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Surely, these goals require a guarantee of equal opportunity and democracy and that is what you
have .chosen. · Brit, as our country has learned, democracy is hard work. It is a never-ending
struggle; You never get it right, there is no perfect democracy, and its :success ultimately .
. ..depends.notjust onJaw:s.:and'institutions;.but on.attitudes:and:values~. Ongetting. along.with. _.. __ .
. . ., ..... :. people·with.whom:you have profound differences;. on the lessons we taught children as.they are. .·
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· Ifyou just think about women and girls, what are some of those lessons we want women and
girls here and throughout the world to be learning? We teach our girls that we value them, not
for what they look like, but for what they think, feel, do and dream. Will our businesses do more
to help women get child care and other tools they need to successfully balance work and family
so that no women ever have to make the choice between the job they need to put food on the
table and the time they must give to the children they love? When a woman speaks up in the
home, or the community, or the Assembly, will she be listened to as carefully and respectfully as
if she were a man? And, as women, will we finally respect each other's choices? Will we admit
that there is no model for women today that is one size fits all? That we can choose full time
work or full-time motherhood and home-making, or like most women, doing both at certain parts
of our lives? And will we support the choices ·that each of us makes?
As you struggle both with issues unique m
Northern Ireland and With ones experienced by
women everywhere, I want you to know that the American government, the American people,
and the larger worldwide community want to help you succeed.
What women have said over the last few days is they want the: tools to lift up their voices and the
lives of their families. And in this room are partners who want to help them do just that. We
already heard from two, The Body Shop and the Ford Motor Company.
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I want to applaud the more than $2 million in partnerships committed to the outcomes of this
conference. They come from all sectors of society and they are dedicated to diverse areas like
political leadership and media training, mentoring and most importantly economic development.
This is just the beginning.
We leave here today with a commitment from the U.S. Department ofLabor and the Northern
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Ireland Employment and Training Agency to improve women"s access to jobs, child care, and training. We leave here with a commitment from the Institute of Directors to help women in
middle management get the mentoring and training they need to succeed in E-uropean and world
_markets.
We leave here with commitments from corporations ranging from Xerox to MCi and from
America Online to Marrio~, which for example, will provide internships. for young people. in.the. __ .
tourism industry. And I have to say, as I flew from Moscow today, and was coming down to·
land over the landscape ofNorthern Ifeland, I thought to myself, this is one of the most beautiful
places of God's earth. A place that many people will.want to come to visit and see for
themselves .. We leave here with commitments from the President and Secretary of State of the
United States that our govemme~t will be vigorously engaged in turning the conference's
_ partnership into results.
And we are. encouraged .to Jearn that. our. Northern Ireland:partners are_ establishing a follow:·up. _.- ·
-mechanism to carrythis.allforward. :_·
--- ·· As weleave.here, let us: pledge to" each. other that this is only·.the·beginning;· That,.as ,the Peace · Agreementisimplemented;thevoicesweraised will never fade away. Instead, they.will spread _
into every community, and as Inez reminded us they will be joined by many others who are not
in this hall today.
)\
Because, regardless of whether a man or a women voted yes or no to the peace agreement now in
a democracy, every single citizen has a role to play in fulfilling the promise of peace. It will take
_businesses and non-governmental organizations. Churches of every tradition inspiring us to use
-our faith as a source of strength and unity. It will take men of all ages, because this struggle can
never and will never be won without them. !tWill take.allofyou here, the women of Northern.
Ireland speaking out whenever injustices arise, to point out opporhmities to face up to challenges
and to speak for those who are still voiceless.
It will take young people like Fiona.- Just a month ago, I had the opportunity to meet Fiona and
other young women and men who had come to Washington with _Project Children and the
Children's Friendship Project. Some of them are here today. One, Vicky Moore, interned in my
office and stood in the Forum elections for her constituency.
Another, Janette Rooney stayed in our nation's capital for six weeks, learning about leadership,
community service, and how to build the bridges of understanding between diverse communities.
But on the day before Janette returned to her home in County Tyrone, the Omagh bomb went off.
Several of her fellow students turned on CNN and saw their own friends being taken away to the
hospital. One of Janette's best friends was killed.
.. -····
When the director of the Children's Friendship Project called Janette at home a few days later to
extend her condolences, Janette's mother mentioned how her daughter had just received an
invitation to this Vital Voices Conference. How, during this time of suffering and unspeakable
loss, this conferenc~ gave Janette something to look forward to. And how proud her mother was
.·
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~~
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that her daughter was part of the solution... part of the new generation... partofthe future of
Northern Ireland. For that is what you are helping to create.
Tomorrow, I will visit along with theLord Mayor and others, one of the beautiful green spaces in
Belfast. It is the kind of place my mother or father would want their children to be able to play
freely. There's a new partnership being formed between an American partnership named
KaBOOM! and PlayBoard, a Northern Ireland organization devoted to creating safe
environments for children to play. They hope to create such an environment somewhere in
Belfast.
And what they build won't be some adult's vision of what sparks a child's imagination. The
children themselves will design this space. They will be the architects of their own environment;
in a way that is a metaphor for what's happening in Northern Ireland, isn't it? All of you are
now the architects of your new environment. You are ultimately those who will determine
· · whether the children of Northern Ireland can play like. children should-without respect to religion
or politics, .without stereotyping·. or name calling, without fear or violence .. That is for me the
-. ultimate dreamJsee.in my mind's. eye, as Uand here in your airport, as I travel the streets,.as l
look into. the.faces ofthe ,people. standing on the curbs waving at my car. I believe that will ·
happen, and when it does we. will think back to-this conferenc~: and·we will know that women's
voices played a vital role in fulfilling this promise of peace for all citizen's ofNorthem Irelandfor men and women, boys and girls.
May God bless you in this important work and the. future you build together.
Thank you very much
- - - - - - - - - - - __ j
�.
, .. ~:...-"
•.
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Remarks at John Eaton Elementary School
"Ireland Remarks Only"
Washington, D.C.
September 8, 1998
begin Ireland remarks
... And we just returned from Northern Iieland, and it was a stirring and very hopeful trip for my
husband and me, to see what is happening as the people there move toward real peace. It too, is
~ not an easy road to travel. But one of the things that struck me: so forcefully, is that most of us, .
whether it it working toward peace, or working for better education, knows what must be done it is just a question of whether we can put aside our differences to overcome the obstacles and get
about the business of doing it. That is what our. challenge is here today. Others face different .
challenges that are equally daunting in there. eyes. But we can do this, and the district deserves
no less. Thank you very much.
end Ireland remarks
.!
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Remarks by Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Congress
Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to thank all of the panelists for their
presentations and I want to thank all of you who are gathered here for this occasion.
1
was particularly interested in fitting in such a visit and learning more about the women's
political network during my very short trip to Montevideo.
I was interested for several reasons.
First because what you have done starting with your Declaration on July 22, 1992, is
unusual, if not unique, in politics around the world. It is rare that people, men or
' women, from opposing parties and different philosophies come together to seek common
ground and find ways to work on behalf of common issues. I happen to think that this is
not only important for women but is important for the future of politics in general. So I
~iew
this network as an example both of a very important step forward for women
. !
!
I
involved in politics, but also as a model for what both women and men in other political
systems should be considering.
Secondly, I am very interested in the specific issues that you ha\'e taken on to work on
behalf of this common network approach. Of course as we have heard, there are
differences between people of different political experiences and points of view. But
what is significant is how you 've worked on behalf of women 's rights, on behalf of
children, on behalf of issues such as domestic violence and family policies, on behalf of.
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ending discrimination in the work place, and because of ~~our presence, you have made a
difference in the policy of your country and in the pol idE~ of the various parties that are
represented.
Finally I believe strongly that there is a great movement that is a global movement in
which women are coming to recognize our common intell'ests. Certainly Beijing, which I
agree was a seminal, historic moment, not only for women but on behalf of human rights
and issues related to the opening of opportunities for all J)eople and the alieviation of
poverty, set forth a platform that we are still-hoping to implement in our various
countries. But if one looks at what is sweeping the world today, there is a growing
awareness on the part of many people, but particularly women, of first, the importance
of the political process for the realization of many of our hopes and dreams. And
secondly an understanding that although we may speak different languages, hold
different religious believes, be of different racial or religious backgrounds, we have much
more in common than what divides us. If you look at what is going to be some of the
great challenges of the 21st Century, it will be how do
WE!
bridge the differences that for
too long have divided human kind. Certainly one of the great differences has been the
inequality between men and women. And attempting to address that difference and
create conditions of equality will be, I believe, essential to making the 21st century a
more peaceful, prosperous and stable place.
But there are other differences as well. Racial difference,, religious differences, ethnic
differences, political differences where we will have to continually be seeking ways that
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we can find in common tC>:. address. our problems. So I vic:!w what you are doing with the
network as a very important effort here in your country, but I think it is more significant
than that. I think it is a real model of how we are going t,o have to work together in the
future. All different kinds of people who will have to leat·n how to put aside their
strongly held beliefs in order to reach compromise, in order to make it possible for more
people to have the opportunities they deserve to have to make the decisions governing
their own lives.
Now you know that I am here for the Vital Voices Conference and this is the third of
such conferences that we have held, sponsored in part by the United States government
but also by individuals and businesses and governments in other countries as well. The
idea behind these Vital Voices Conferences is to literally 1~ive voice to the aspirations of
women in different cultures and settings around the world. And I am very grateful that
the media finds these voices worth covering and listening to. We held the first of such
Vital Voices Conferences in Vienna, Austria, and it was held for women who were from
Central and Eastern Europe who had been part of the forrner Soviet Union. Many of
those women were very well educated but they had little experience with freedom, with
a marketplace, with a political system that was democratically based. So much of what
we focused on in Vienna was how to create conditions that would empower women to
become full political participants in these new democracies in Central and Eastern
Europe.
The second Vital Voices Conference was held a few week:s ago in Belfast, in Northern
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Ireland. It was held to further the peace process because it was one of the very first, if
not the first, opportunites for Protestant and Catholic women to meet together. They
had very little contact over all the years of their troubles. They did not work together,
they did not go to school together, they did not visit in each other's homes, so the
conference was a setting for women who cared about th'!ir own families, about the
future of their children, about increasing opportunites for women in the work place and
the political system, to put aside their religious differences and learn to talk with each
other in order to create a common peaceful future.
Now this third Vital Voices Conference is held to bring women who are from every part
of the Americas together to talk about the progress that women have been making in our
hemisphere and the problems that still exist. Montevidec> was chosen deliberately as the
site for this conference because of the educati~nal level here, particularly of women, of
the way that women are entering into the business and financial affairs of the country,
and what an incredible example of development, despite the diHiculties that still remain,
that Uruguay represents in our hemisphere. What we hope to do is address those issues
that you have addressed through the network. Issues of political leadership, of economic
opportunity, of education, of health care, of credit, the ways that we know women are
still disadvantaged and held back. Some of it is a matter of education, some of It is a
matter of changing laws, some of it of enforcing laws, some of it changing attitudes.
And let me end with just one example that I think is very important to mention. And that
is access to credit.
Access to credit we now know is one of the surest ways to change women's lives around
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the world. If women have access to credit, women are alble to start their own
businesses, expand businesses, take what is a particular talent they might have, such as
baking or sewing or some other creative activity and tur111 it into a business that generates
income for their families. In both the formal market and the informal market, equipping
.
women with access to credit literally transforms lives and changes communities and, I
believe, eventually countries. Now how do we get more access to crediH Well,
unfortunately, many commercial banks do not see poor women as good credit risks.
They are wrong about that because in every setting where women have been given credit
in the poorest countries of the world, they pay their loans back at rates between 95 and
99 percent. But they take more effort to service, there is; more technical assistance that
must be given to them, they just don't seem as good a risk or as worth the time and effort
that a company might. I have said to many of my banker friends that a lot of the
investments that they have made over the last 30 years that have not turned out so well
would have been better if they had invested in poor women around the world.
But we need to change attitudes and we need to provide more credit. But how do we do
thaH Just think about the steps required to providing more credit to women in any
country, including my own, where we are trying to expand credit to poor women. First
you need to change attitudes of people with money. Most people still with money are
men. Most people still with money are educated, affluent men who don't think much of
poor, uneducated women's chances to be economically independent.
Secondly, you have to change political attitudes. You h;ne to have people in positions of
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...
power at all levels of government who understand why access to credit is a critical
component of advancing women's rights and opportunities.
And, finally, you have to have people who understand how to equip women to take
advantage of those opportunities because there are many women who do not have
enough self-confidence to be able to take advantage of opportunities if they are
available.
So there are many different strategies that have to be employed at one time. Hut clearly
you cannot advance the cause of women without active participation by women in the
political process and without a critical mass of women wolling to be active in their
parties, run for oftice and accept appointed office because until that critical mass occurs,
many of these attitudes will not change significantly enoUlgh to create the circumstances
that will give more women the opportunities that we are seeking for them to have.
So I hope that what you are doing here will continue to influence the direction of policy.
I was very impressed with what the Minister said about the National Action Plan for
Equal Opportunity in the Work Place. It is that kind of effort that she has brought to
bear, being the first woman in that particular cabinet position. And I think that all of
these issues that were raised by all of the panelists need more attention and more effort
and they do not need to be seen as women's issues. And that will be my final, final point.
It is not a woman's issue to equip women to be self·sufficient and economically
independent. That is an economic issue. It is not a wom•m's issue to make sure that
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domestic violence is treated as a crime. That is a legal issue. So on each issue that we
can look at we need to be making the argument that ther·e
then everyone else's
issue~.
There are
i~sues
~re
not women's issues and
that cut across all sectors of society that
impact in different ways on men and women, but it is to the benefit of society that there
be transparency in the labor market, the best person should be chosen for the job,
pregnant women should not be discriminated against, women with small children should
not be pushed out of jobs, it is what I think of as old thinking to think of those as just
women's issues. And we will be, I believe, successful in the 21st century by bringing
women together in netwo~ks such as you have done here to advocate on behalf of issues
that have a disproportionate impact on women, but to make clear that these are not
marginal issues, these are mainstream issues, these are issues that will benefit the entire
society. And then once that argument is made over and over and over again it will not
seem surprising or unsual that a woman is a minister, because a woman or a man who
cares about t.he right issues will be in the position to malce a difference in moving the
society forward.
So I am very grateful that you have invited me here to be part of this exciting concept
that you have created with this network. And what I would really like to do is have the
chance to hear more about how it works and what you are doing and what the people
who are involved are hoping to accomplish so I can tab that message back to my own
country as well.
Thank you very much.
�~
-.
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First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Remarks at-Vital Voices Conference
Belfast, Northern Ireland
September 2, 1998
Thank you. Thank you very much, Fiona, for that introduction and even more for adding your
vital voice to this conference. I'm sure if you need a note to be excused from .school there's
about a thousand of us that would sign it. I want to thank Sue Tibballs and Rosemary Farrendon
.and Inez McCormick, not only for what they have said here this afternoon, but for their
commitment and dedication to the issues that bring all of us here to Belfast.
Lord Mayor and Minister McFaul; Assembly Members; Mrs. Trimble; Ambassador Lader;
Consul General Fort; and from Dublin, Minister Wallace and Ambassador Kennedy-Smith; and
conference participants and distinguished guests.
It is a great honor and a personal delight for ine to b,e back in Belfast. I feel embraced by, and
greeted by the sounds of so many women's vital voices. From the reports I have received while I
was in Russia, and the ones I just heard, this conference has already succeeded in bringing people
together .and enabling them to share ideas, and plot together to make the hoped-:for peace a
, reality: Like all successes, this one, of course, is the product of many hands.
I want to thank everyone associated with the planning and implementation. I particularly want to
thank Theresa Law who has moderated this afternoon's session for her hard work. I want to
thank Secretary of State Mo Mow lam, who brought to this task vision, dedication, and, according
to my sources at Hillsboutough Castle, her skills as a party host and dancer. par excellence.
I also want to thank the new First Minister of the Assembly David Trimble and the Deputy First
Minister Seamus Mallon. Not only for sponsoring and speaking at this conference on Monday,
but for their leadership in making srire that the seeds of peace, once planted, can grow. I was
pleased to learn that the first reception the Ministers held together was at Stormont in honor of
the women delegates from this conference. And to Lord Mayor, the Belfast City Council and the
entire city of Belfast, thank you for b'eing such wonderful hosts.
~~
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As 4gived here a few minutes ago, I thought about how tp.e River Lagan, which once carried
people away from these shores, now brings them back to find the rebirth of Belfast symbolized
by this stunning Waterfront. I have been prj.vileged in a small way to witness this re-birth
starting with my husband's visit in November of 1995, and my return here last October speaking
at the University ofillster and speaking here to a conference of young people. I have seen in the
faces of men and women and boys and girls, a new openness, a new commitment, a new
awareness of the road that has been traveled and the road that lies ahead.
I know also that the songs ofU2 and the other great musicians have filled the Waterfront in
recent months, celebrating ~e transition ~at is occ~ng. But I also believe that from.
workshops to. speeches to qmet conversations, nothing can compare to the powerful vmces heard
'
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�......
· ·· ··-\
-'
here over the last few days. Voices from every comer of Northern Ireland, the United States,
Engl~d, Scotland, and Wales. From every tradition. From every sector of society. Every age.
Women and men. All blending into a powerful chorus calling for women to become full
participan~s in a secure and democratic Northern Ireland. A Northern Ireland that people have
hoped for, lived for, died for, and yes, finally voted for. Tomorrow,_my husband will come here
to the Waterfront to address your new Assembly, and to congratulate the citizens of Northern
Ireland for this hard-won peace that is.yours.
The ~ths have shown what people here have alwa~s known; the road to peace will
never be easy. But the world has also seen how no fires, bombs or terrorists will ever turn you
back. When my husband_and I go to O~agh tomorrow, we will pay tribute to those who were
murdered by the enemies of peace. They were mostly women and children. They were Catholic
and Protestant, Union and Nationalist, young and old. They were people simply living their·
lives, working at a drapery store, hanging out with friends, buying school uniforms for their
children.
The terrorists targeted the people of Northern Ireland and in response it was the people, all the
people,. who bravely stood side by side to say: hatred and violence will no longer have a place
here. We have chosen ballots, not bombs; democracy, not division. We have resolved to live in
peace and we will never go back. We will only move forward. And as you do, please know that
America will stand with you.
i
/
Ho~ appr.QJ2riate it is that this conference takes place the first week of school--not only because
.
it's a time for new friends and new beginnings. But also beca·use, ultimately, our children are the
reason we are here. For 30 years parents dropped their children off for school- tucked in their
shorts, kissed them goodbye, and dreamed of a time they'could play outside free from violence.
Dreamed of a time when their children's opportunities and destinies would never again be
limited by their place of worship or political party or by, whether they're a boy or a girl. Today,
there is real hope in this dream, once expressed through poetry and protest, it will finally be a
reality for children in Northern Ireland.
~-ofthis-wouldJuiVe]Yeen·p~sibleifiLwere.notJor-.thecourag~and:strength~of::generations:J
of women. Though they may have worsliiped separately on Sundays, seven days a week, they all
said a silent prayer for their husbands to return safely home .. Seven days a week, they lived in
fear that the unspeakable would happen, they would be forced to bury their own child. And yet,
·seven days a week, they carried on with hope and prayer that the future would be brighter, free of
troubles and heartbreak .
. Wives. Mothers. Sisters. Daughters. Few were household names. But, having seen their lives
and communities tom apart by violence, women came together as women have always donearound kitchen tables, at the market, in gatherings like this. It was women whose whispers of
"enough" became a torrent of voices that could no longer be ignored. If we listen carefully, their
voices still echo through this room and lift up ours today.
·
·
~isten;=We-can~hear:t~ices-ofw_omen_whof-Yithstood~jeers·and·threats;:ptejuaic.e:ano5
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violence to make themselves heard in a political world once reserved primarily for men. We can
hear the voices of women in Craigavon, who, instead ofburrowing into their sorrow ... used the
.power of the pen to heal by writing and sharing their poetry, short stories, essays, and plays. In
one poem, Madge ~teele writes about finding common ground:
'
.
Weave the threads of real friendship with the colors of your life,
Use the pattern of Peace and leave out the strife,
Thread the friends that are young along with the old,
And you'll find on your loom a fabrjc of Gold.
lif.~@,_~we
can hear_the Y..oices~oflhose who helped weave: this fabric of gold, grassroots
activists like the late Joyce McCarten, who literally wove communities together through the
Troubles. Three years ago, when I met Joyce at Ye Olde Lamplighter on Lower 0lll1eau Road,
around a small wooden tablewe sipped tea and talked about what had brought these womeri
together. How they realized that history and religion were keeping them apart even when they all
wanted the same things: good jobs and good schools for their children. Streets you could walk
down safely. Security and prosperity you could count mi. A fhture you could believe in.
)
/
Hardly a radical.agenda. But for this, Joyce was called a "trouble-maker." Well, she had another
name for herself, and when she met me she proudly announced that she called herself a "Family
Feminist" becaq.se saving families was the goal of all she did. I liave met many family feminists
around the world. In South Africa, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, China, Nicaragua, Brazil, Pakistan, and
India. Places that are riven with strife, by disagreement, by conflict caused by racial; religious,
and tribal differences. Yet,.in the midst of even the worst of times, there are women like these
who stand up and say: stop ~inute please, lliiiiK aoout what is really important for us-an(f"
ourc:children.~
I met such_wom~n a.t th~ Vital Yokes CQ.nference in• Austria, .inspired by Ambassador Swanee
r
.
Hunt who is here with us today. I met them at the United Nations Conference in Beijing where I
remembered clearly the banners that were created bywomen from every part of the world. They
spread those banners across the Great Wall. Woven into them were the dreams of religions, and
talked in different languages. But they spoke the same mother tongue--the language of freedom
and hope.
And_jhey_s~clear
message. Economic progress depends on women's progress. Democratic
progress depends on women's progress. Human rights are women's rights and women's rights
are human rights. And this conference is part of an ongoing glowing initiative that is making
these points over and over again and in the process oftransfom1ing women~s lives and societies.
~at ~~r time to recommit oursel~ ~truths than in this y_(Lar_of.the.::5_Qth~
anniversary~of_th~niversarDeclar~~tHuman.Rights. wi~·re not tJking ~ut paying lip
service to the ~ften <:fownon~p~e of paper and filed away. ~. w..e~re,.talking
about fiow.::.we=treat~each~o.~~ wotk,,.aLchurch~and=school=andjn~golitiG.~l""
assemolies:=A:re:::.We:v:alued? D.2_~a~ the_fo.od,:health,car.e,::;.e.ducation,-=shelter,Jhe.i~ we
need,to:sur:v.-iv..e:and-:-flourish? Do_we.ha~e.:the~opportunities=to:ohelp:us:r.each-our;God:::g~
�potentials?
Now many of the women here in Northern Ireland and throughout the world with whom I have
zhet know nothing of this Universal Declaration of Rights. But they know in their hearts and
sbuls, that in spite of all they are told by culture and tradition, they are endowed with God-given
\ 1
ri ghts, as surely as they were born into a human family. And the reason we want those rights is
hbt merely to make a statement, or to be part of a political movement, but because we want to .
h61p create a better world, a world in which we can walk safely and we can live peacefully
tclgether with those who are like us and are unlike us, because.we want our digruty and the
dignity of all human beings respected.
In Beijing, I was particularly moved by the banner created by womeri of this island. On it, was a
picture of a red-haired woman standing on top of the world. And since that day in 1995, it's
amazing how far she has climbed in Northern Ireland alone.
WhG'Iwould have thought the majority of women from both traditions would step forward and··
vote "yes'' on a Peace Agreemenf? ..Who would have thought that when the first Assembly
convenes, its seats will be filled with fourteen women? And who would have thought that the
Agreement would demand a society that is truly inclusive?· Not just all religions. and political
parties. But all women and men alike.
As my good friend, Secretary of State Albright likes to say, advanCing~the-cause.:.OftW..Omen is not
just th~<-right_tqji_lg to do. It is the smart thing to do for any s&;iety. It was the' smart thing-~
wonfento=cle·ar·the·path-forr1:conciliation which brought us to this day. And it is the smart thing
for women to play a central role in the reconstruction that will usher in a Northern Ireland that
fulfills the promise of democracy, prosperity, and yes, peace, for all its citizens. Because as you
well know, the Peace Agreement was the beginning, not the end.
What-yoU:liave-0een:ooing.here.is_thinking_through.in_practical_ways whC!t~musthe_done to fulfill
th~,~~e. You know better than I, it will take far more discussions, conferences and
reports:-'fhe-hopes~forlpeace will have to be translated into the hard work of practical action and
political compromise, not only in the Assembly, but in every c:orner of society. So the real
challengeofthis conference starts as we leave. How will each ofus work to fulfill the promise
of peace? That, of course, will be up to the men and women of Northern Ireland to decide. But,
based on what we know about the conditions that promote peace and prosperity, we, I think, can
agree on basic goals: All people must have access to the tools of opportunity-good education,
quality health care. Good jobs, loan, and credit. The kinds of opportunities that will give
responsible people of whatever backgrounds the chance to move forward into the 21st century
with confidence.
Ifw:..~e
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/
_eace _w_e_,_must_translate_i - . __ iG_ taction-.;.what-:the~g2als
:rg_e~ow do we, for example, have an education system that serves the needs of young people
moving in a very different world, dominated- by a global economy? How do we make available
the kinds of credit that small business people need to build a thriving economy from the ground
up in the most depressed area in Northern Ireland? How do we make sure that, loans and
to
ful~lL~ r.Qm~f_
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microcredit financing are available? That the businesses, the government and particularly the
banks here will meet the needs of people anxious to demonstrate that they can build economic
opportunities for themselves?
~
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If~tlie;J?rom__gofReace-is-to-be-fulfilled;:.tben~all_p_e_Q_gle-mtist:lre-safe_:frqm-yiql_enc~\ And in
particular, all women must be safe fhm1violence, whether it happens in their homes or on the
streets. Domestic violence which breathes the conditions ofviolen'ce and aggressiveness setting
one person against another must be seen for what it is: a crime, not a family matter. If the
promise of peace is to be fulfilled, then all women and men must feel free to make their voices
heard through the ballot box and the soap box. There are many goals and you have discussed
them all here at this conference.
Surely, these goals require a guarantee of equal opportunity and democracy and that is what you
have chosen. But, as our country has learned, democracy is hard work. It is a never-ending
struggle. You never get it right, there is no perfect democracy, and its success ultimately
depends notjust on laws and institutions, but on attitudes and .values. On getting along with.
people with whom you have profound differences. On the lessons we taught children as they are
tucked. into bed atnight..
Ifyoujust think about women and girls, what are some of those lessons we want women and
girls here and throughout the world to be learning? We teach our girls that we value them, not
for what they look like, but for what they think, feel, do and dream. Will our businesses do more
to help women get child care and other tools they need to successfully balance work and family
so that no women ever have to make the choice between the job they need to put food on the
table and the time they must give to the children they love? When a woman speaks up in the
home, or the community, or the Assembly, will she be listened to as carefully and respectfully as
if she were a man? And, as women, will we finally respect each other's choices? Will we admit
that there is no model for women today that is one size fits all? That we can choose full time
work or full-time motherhood and home-making, or like most women, doing botl;l at certain parts
of our lives? And will we support the choices that each of us makes?
.
r
As=you-struggle ooth-with issues unique in Northern Ireland and with ones experienced by
women everywhe.re, I _w. ant-you-to-_Imow-:-th_a~~he::-Anie~can-governm.· ent,--the-Amecican~people?
and-tbe.:lar-ger=:w.or:ldwtd_e~COI11!!ll.!lllty-:want-to-J:ielp-you-succeed~
·
.
What women have said over the last few days is they want the tools to lift up their voices and the
lives of their families. And in this room are partners who want to help them do just that. We
already heard from two, The Body Shop and the Ford Motor Company.
, I want to applaud the more than $2 million in partnerships committed to the outcomes of this
conference. They come from all sectors of society and they are dedicated to diverse areas like
political leadership and media training, mentoring and most importantly economic development.
·
This is just the beginning.
~
We leave here today with a commitment from the U.S. Depar1ment of Labor and the Northern
�·.
Ireland Employment and Training Agency to improve women's access to jobs, child care, and
training. We leave here with a commitment from the Institute ofDirectors to help women in
middle management get the mentoring and training they need to succeed in European and world
markets.
W~e-here-with-cornmitmei1ts~from:cQ!=Rorations ranging from Xerox to MCI and from
- - America Online to Marrlof( which for example, will provide internships for young people. in the
tourism industry. And I have to say, as I flew from Moscow today, and was coming down to
land over the landscape ofNorthern Ireland, I thought to myself, this is one of the most beautiful
places of God's earth. A place that many people wiltwant to come to visit and seefor
themselves. We leave here with commitments from the President and Secretary of State of the
United States that our govemme~t will be vigorously engaged in turning the conference's
partnership into results.
And we are encouraged to learn that our Northern Ireland partners are establishing a follow:-up ·
mechanism to carry this. all fo!Ward.
· As we leave here, let us. pledge to each.other that this is only the beginning. That, as .the Peace ·
- - - Agreement is implemented, the voices we raised will never fade away. Instead, they.'willspread
into every community, and as Inez reminded us they will be joined by many others who are not
in this hall today.
Because, regardless of whether a man or a women voted yes or no to the peace agreement now in
a democracy, ev<:(_ry-single-citizen-has-a:role-to~Rlay-in:-fi:tlfilling:the~prpmj.~~"'Qf=Peace. It will take
businesses and non-governmental organizations. Churches of every tradition inspiring us to use
our faith as a source of strength and unity. It will take men of all ages, because this struggle can
never and will never be won without them. It will take all ofyou~here,Jhe women of Northern
Ireland speaking out whenever injustices arise, to point out opportunities to face up to challenges
and to speak for those who are still voiceless.
It wil~young~peoQle:like.:-Ej.Qp.a::=-.J,ust a month ago, I had the opportunity to meet Fioria and
other young women and men who had come to Washington with Project Children and the
Children's Friendship Project Some of them are here today. One, Vicky Moore, interned in my
office and stood in the Forum elections for her constituency.
Anotherr,Janette-Rqgn~y:;stayed;in;our;natibft'S capital for six weeks, learning about leadership,
comm~ice, and how to build the bridges of understanding between diverse communities.
But on the day before Janette returned to her home in County Tyrone, the Omagh bomb went off, ·
Several ofh~r fellow students turned on CNN and saw their own friends being taken away to the
hospital. One of Janette's best friends was killed.
~n:.:th~ctor:of:the£hildrFn's
Friendship Project called Janette at home a few days later to
extend her condolences, Janette's mother mentioned how her daughter had just received an
invitation to this Vital Voices Conference. How, during this time of suffering and unspeakable
loss, this conferenc~ gave Janette something to look forward to. And how proud her mother was
�I
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•
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that her daughter was part of the sol.ution... part of the new generation ...partofthe future of
Northern Ireland. For that is what you are helping to create.
Tomorrow, I will visit along with theLord Mayor and others, one of the beautiful green spaces in
Belfast. It is the kind of place my mother or father would want their children to be able to play
freely. There's a new partnership being formed between an American partnership named
KaBOOM! and PlayBoard, a Northern Ireland organization devoted to creating safe
environments for children to play. They hope to create. such an environment somewhere in
Belfast.
And what they build won't be some adult's vision of what sparks a child's imagination. The
children themselves will design this space. They will be the architects of their own environment,
in a way that is a metaphor for what's happening in Northern Ireland, isn't it? All of you are
now the architects of your new environment. You are u!!imat~ly.:::those=.wh6 will determine
whethe:;.!!!_~-~~dren ~(North~~-IT,eland~can_Rlax.::::~l=:ik=f~=c==hi:='ldr=e=n=s=h~o:=u~ld==-w~if=;;h;;,~~t:_:_.:respectlo
religion
or politics, without stereotyping or name calling, without fear or violence. Tliahs-forc'-me=the
ultimate·clream;=I"'see''in-my mifia'·s eye, as I'ta:n...-d=-liere-in-=your-=airportf'as=l=travebthe=s.~s, as I
look into the faces oflne people~sta.D.Cling-on-tlie-curbs,waving at my car. I believe that will
happen, and when it does we will think back to this conference and we will know that women's
voices played a vital role in fulfilling this promise of peace for all citizen's ofNorthern Irelandfor men and women, boys and girls.
7
May God bless you in this important work and the. future you build together.
Thank you very much
)
�Recor~
To:
I
Type:
Record
Laura E. Schiller/WHO/EOP, Christine N. Macy/WHO/EOP
cc:
Subject: Fact Sheet: Vital Voices of the Americas: Women in Democracy
---------------------- Forwarded by Michael A. O'Mary/OPD/EOP on 07/24/98 12:00 PM ---------------------------
Elizabeth R. Newman
07/24/98 11:55:42 AM
Record Type:
To:
Record
See the distribution list at the bottom of this message
cc:
.
Subject: , Fact Sheet: Vital Voices of the Americas: Women in Democracy
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
July 24, 1998
For Immediate Release
FACT SHEET
Vital Voices of the Americas:
Women in Democracy
The U.S. Government and the Inter-American Development Bank
will co-sponsor the "Vital Voices of the Americas: Women in
Democracy" conference on October 1-3 in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The conference, which the Government of Uruguay is hosting,
will highlight the role of women as an integral part of
strengthening democracy throughout the Western Hemisphere.
It will be the first hemisphere-wide conference on women and
their role in democracy since the Summit of the Americas
\~
�process was launched in Miami in 1994.
First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to address the
conference as part of her first visit to Uruguay.
Uruguayan
President Julio Maria Sanguinetti, who met with President
Clinton yesterday in the Oval Office, and IDB President
Enrique Iglesia~ .have also indicated a willingness to address
participants.
Nearly 400 women leaders from the governmental,
nongovernmental, civil society, legal, educational,
journalistic, and private sector spheres will attend the
conference.
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All countries of the Summ1t of the Americas process will take
part; the principal themes of the conference are drawn. from
the goals set out in the Santiago Summit Plan of Action.
Over the three-day conference, p-articipants will attend
plenary sessions and conduct workshops in the areas of Law and
Leadership, Politics and Public Life, and Economic Integration
and Business Growth.
An example of a Summit commitment that will serve as the· basis
of discussion is reaching legal equality between men and women
by '2002.
An Honorary Steering Committee, including such respected
figures as former Chilean president Patricio Aylwin, former
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Ambassador of·Costa Rica to the U.S. Sonia Rosario Picado, and
former head of the Uruguayan telephone company Rosario Medero,
will provide guidance to conference oiganizers.
·
"Vital Voices: Women in Democracy" {s a prototype conference
inspired by a similar me~ting held in Vienna; Austria in .Jrily
1997 that convened women lead~rs from Eastern and Central
Europe and the countries of the Former Soviet Union with
Americans and European Union members ..
###
Message Sent To:
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Remarks by Hillary Rodham Clinton/at the C,ongress
Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to thank all of the panelists for their
presentations and I want to thank all of you who are gathered here for this occasion. ·I
was particularly interested in fitting in such a visit and learning rriore about the women's
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political network during my very short trip to Montevideo.
I was interested for several reasons •
. First because what you have done starting with your Declaration on July 22, 1992, is
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unusual, if not unique; in politics around the world. It is rare that people, men or
' women, from opposing parties a,nd different philosophies come together to seek coinmon
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. ground and find ways to work on behalf of common issues. I happen to think that this Is·.
not only important for women but is important for the future of politics in general.· So I
view this network as an example both of a very important step forward for women
involved in politics, but also as a model for what both women and men in other political
· systems sho~dd be considering.
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Secondly, I arri very interested in the specific issues that you have taken on to work on
behalf of this common network approach. Of course as we have heard, there are
differences between people of different political experiences and points of view. But
·what is significant is how you 'Ye worked on behalf ~f women 's rights, on behalf of
children, on behalf of issues such as domestic violence and family policies, on behalf of
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ending discrimination in the work place, and. because of your presence, you have made a
difference in the policy of your country and in the policies of the various parties that are
represented. ·
Finally I believe strongly that there is a great movement that is a global movement h1
which women are coming to recognize our common interests. Certainly Beijing, which I
agree was a seminal, historic moment, not only for women but on behalf of human rights
· . and issues related to the opening of opportunities for all people and the alieviation. of
poverty, set forth a platform that. we are still hoping to implement in our various
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countries. But if one looks at what is sweeping the.world today, there is a growing
awareness on the part of many people, but particularly women, of first, the importance
of the political process for the realization of many of our hopes and dreams. And
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secondly an understanding that although we may speak different languages, hold
.different religious believes, be of different racial or religious backgrounds, we have much
more in common than what divides us. If you· look at what is going to be some of the
great challenges of the 21st Century, it will be he»w do we bridge the differences that for
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. too long have divided human kind. Certainly one of the great differences has been the ·
inequality between men and women. And attempting to address that di.fference and
· ·. create conditions of equality will be, I believe; essential to making the 21st century a
· more peaceful, prosperous and stable place.
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. But there are other differences as well. Racial differences, religious differences, ethnic
differences, political differences where we will have to continually be seeking ways that
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we can find in common t'>:. address our problems. So I view what you are doing with the
. network as a very important effort here in your country, but I tnink it.is more significant
than that. I think it is a real model of how we are going to have to work together in the
future. All different kinds of people who will have to learn how to put aside their
strongly held beliefs in order to reach compromise, in order to make it possible for more
people to have the opportunities they deserve to have to make the decisions governing
their own lives.
Now you know that I am here for the Vital Voices Conference and this is the third of
such conferences that we have held, sponsored in part by the .United States government .
but also by individuals. and businesses and governments in other countries as well. The
idea behind these Vital Voices Conferences
..
is to literally give ·voice to the aspirations of
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women in different cultures and settings around the world. And I am very grateful that
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the media finds these voices worth covering and listening tot We held the first of such
Vital Voices· Conferences in Vienna, Austria, and .it was held for women who were from
Central and Eastern Europe who had been part of the former Soviet Union. Many of
those women were very well educated but they had little eJCperlence withfreedom, with
a marketplace, with a political system that was democratically based. So much of what
we focused on in Vienna was how to create conditions that would empower women to
· become full political participants in these new democracies in Central and Eastern
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·Europe.
The second Vital Voices Conference was held a few weeks ago in Belfast, in Northern .
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Ireland. It was held to further the peace process because it was one of the ve.ry first, if
not the first, opportunites for Protestant and Catholic women to meet together. They
had very little contact over all the years of their troubles. They did not work together,
they did not go to school together, they did not visit in each other's homes, so the .
conference was a setting for women who cared about their own families, about the
future of their children, about increasing opportunites for women in the work place and
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the political system, to put aside'their religious differences and leam to talk with each
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other in order to create ~ common peaceful future.
Now this third Vital Voices Conference is held to bring women who are from every part
of the Americas together to talk about the progress· that. women have been making in our
hemisphere and the problems that still exist. Montevideo
was chosen deliberately as the
· site for this conference because of the educational level here, particularly of ~omen, of
the way that women.are entering into the business and financial affairs of the country,
and what an incredible example of development, despite the difficulties that still remain,
· that Uruguay represents in our hemisphere. What.~e hope to do is address those issues
that you have addressed through the network. Issues of political leadership, ~f economic
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opportunity, of education, of health care, of credit, the ways that we know women are
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still disadvantaged and held back... Some of it is a matter of education, some of it Is a
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matter of changing laws, some of it of enforcing laws, some of it changing attitudes.
And let me end with just one example that I think is very important to mention: And that
is access to credit. ·
Access to credit we now know is one ofthe surest ways
'o
change women's lives around
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the world. If women have access to credit, women are able to start their own
businesses, expand businesses, take what is a particular ~lent they migh~ have, such as .
baking or sewing or some other .creative activity and turn it into a business that generates
Income for their families. In both the formal market and the informal market, equipping
women with access to credit literally transforms lives and changes communities and, I
•
believe, eventually countries. Now how do we get more access to crediH Well,
unfortunately, many commercial banks do not see poor women as good credit risks.
They are wrong about that because in every setting where women have been given credit ·
in the poorest countries of the world, they pay their loans back at rates between 95 and
99 percent. But they take more effort to service, there is more technical assistance that
must be given to them, they just don't seem as good a risk or as worth the time and effort
that a (:Ompany might. I have said to many of my banker friends that a lot of the
investments that they have made over the last 30 years that have not turned out so well
would have been better if they had invested in poor women around the world.
But we need to chang_e attitudes and we need .to provide more credit. But how do we do
thatl JuSt think about the steps required to providing more credit to women in any
. country, including my own, where we are trying to expand credit to poor women ..First
you need to change attitudes of people with-money. Most people still with money are
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men .. Most people still with money are educated, affluent men who don;t think much of .
poor, uned.ucated women's chances to be economically independent.
Secondly, you have to change political attitudes. You have to have people in positions of
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power at all levels of government who understand why access to credit is a critical
component of advancing women's rights and opportunities.
And, finally, you have to have people who understand how to equip women to take
advantage of those opportunities; because there are many women who do not have
enough self-<:onfidence to be able to take advantage of opportunities if they are
available.
·So there are many different strategies that have to be employed at one time. But clearly
you cannot advance the cause of women without active participation by women in the
political process and without a critical mass of women willing to be active in their ·
parties, run for office and accept appointed office because until that critical mass occurs,
many of these attitudes 'will. not change significantly enough to create the circumstances
that will give more women the opportunities that we are·seeking for them to have.
So I hope that what you are doing here will continue to influence the direction of policy.
I was very impressed with what the Minister said about the National Action Plan for
Equal Opportunity in the Work Place. It is that kind of effort that she has brought to
bear, being the first woman in that particular cabinet position .. And I think that all of
the~e
issues that were .raised by all of the panelists need more attention and more effort
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and they do not need to be seen as women's iss;ues. And that will be my final, final point.
It is'not a woman's issue to equip women to be self-sufficient and economically
independent. That is an economic issue. It is not a women'& issue to make sure that
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domestic violence is treated as a crime. That is a legal issue. So on each issue that we
can look at we need to be making the argument that thl!re are not women's issues and
then everyone else's issuM. There are issues that cut across all sectors of society that
impact in different ways . on men and women, but it is to the benefit of society that there
.
be transparency
in the labor market, the best person should be chosen for the job,
·
pregnant women should not be discriminated against, women with small children should
. not be pushed out of jobs, it is what I think of as old thinlking to think of those as just
· women's issues. And we will be, I believe, successful in the itst century by bringing
women together in networks such as you. have done here. to advocate on behalf of issues
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that have a disproportionate impact on women, but to make clear that these are not
·marginal issues, these are mainstream issues, these are issues that will benefit the entire·
5ociety. And then once that argument is made over and over and over again it will not
seem surprising or unsual that a woman is a minister, because a woman or a man who
cares about the right issues will be in the position to make a difference in moving the
· society forward.
So I am very grateful that you have invited me here to be part of this exciting concept
that you have created with this network. And what I would.really like to do is have the
chance to hear more about how it works and what you are doing and what the people
.who are involved are hoping to accomplish so I can take that message back to my oWf'l
country as well.
Thank you very much.
�First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
Remarks at Vital Voices Conference
Belfast,. Northern Ireland
September 2, 1998
Thank you. Thank you very much, Fiona, for that introduction and even more for adding your
vital voice to this conference. I'm sure if you need a note to be excused from school there's
about a thousand of us that would sign it. I want to thank Sue Tibballs and Rosemary Farrendon
and Inez McCormick, not only for what they have said here this afternoon, but for their
commitment and dedication to the issues that bring all of us here to Belfast.
Lord Mayor and Minister McFaul; Assembly Members; Mrs. Trimble; Ambassador Lader;
Consul General Fort; and from Dublin, Minister Wallace and Ambassador Kennedy-Smith; and
conference participants and distinguished guests.
It is a great honor and a personal delight for me to be back in Belfast. I feel embraced by, and
greeted by the sounds of so many women's vital voices. From the reports I have received while I
was in Russia, and the ones I just heard, this conference has already succeeded in bringing people
together and enabling them to share ideas, and plot together to make the hoped-for peace a
reality. Like all successes, this one, of course, is the product of many hands.
l
I want to thank everyone associated with the planning and implementation. I particularly want to
thank Theresa Law who has moderated this afternoon's session for her hard work. I want to
thank Secretary of State Mo Mowlam, who brought to this task vision, dedication, and, according
to my sources at Hillsbourough Castle, her skills as a party host and dancer par excellence.
I also want to thank the new First Minister of the Assembly David Trimble and the Deputy First
Minister Seamus Mallon. Not only for sponsoring and speaking at this conference on Monday,
but for their leadership in making sure that the seeds of peace, once planted, can grow. I was
pleased to learn that the first reception the Ministers held together was at Stormont in honor of
the women delegates from this conference. And to Lord Mayor, the Belfast City Council and the
entire city of Belfast, thank you for being such wonderful hosts.
As I arrived here a few minutes ago, I thought about how the River Lagan, which once carried
people away from these shores, now brings them back to find the rebirth of Belfast symbolized
by this stunning Waterfront. I have been privileged in a small way to witness this re-birth
starting with my husband's visit in November of 1995, and my return here last October speaking
at the University of Ulster and speaking here to a conference of young people. I have seen in the
faces of men and women and boys and girls, a new openness, a new comm'itment, a new
awareness of the road that has been traveled and the road that lies ahead.
I know also that the songs ofU2 and the other great musicians .have filled the .waterfront in
recent months, x.elebrating the transition that is occurring. But I also believe that from
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workshops to speeches to quiet conversations nothin c n com are to the powerful voices h
here over the last few days. ·Voices rom every comer of orthem Ire an , e m e States,
Englan<.L.?cotland, and Wa~s. From every tradition. From every sector o soci~ty. Everyage.
Women and men. All blending into a powerful chorus calling for women to become full
·
participants in a secure and democratic Northern Ireland. A NoJ;:thern Ireland that people have
hoped for, lived for, died for; and yes, fin. ally voted for. Tomoa-g',n, my husband will co:Ue ~reJ
to the Wat.s[front to address your new Assembly, and to congratulate the citizens ofNorthem
Ir_eland for this hard-won peace that is yours
:.
The last few months have shown what people here have always known; the road to peace will
never be easy. But the world has also seen how no fires, homos or terrorists will ever tum you
back. When my husband and I go to Omagh tomorrow, we will pay tribute to those who were .
murdered by the enemies of peace. They were mostly women and children. They were Catholic
and Protestant, Union and Nationalist, young and old. They were people simply living their
lives, working at a drapery store, hanging out with frie~ds, buying school uniforms for their
children.
How appropriate it is that this conference takes place the first week of school--not only because
it's a time for new friends and new beginnings. But also because, ultimately, our children are the
reason we are here. For 30 years parents dropped their children off for school- tucked in their
shorts, kissed them goodbye, and dreamed of a time they could play outside free from violence.
Dreamed of a time when their children's opportunities and destinies would never again be
limited by their place of worship or political party or by whether they're a boy or a girl. Today, \
~
there is real hope in this dream, once expressed through poetry and protest, it will finally be a
reality for children in Northern Ireland.
Wives. Mothers. Sisters. Daughters. Few were household names. But, having seen their lives
and communities tom apart by violence, ,women came together as women have always
omen whose-;_,hispers
done-around kitchen tables at the market in a erin s like thi"s. I
o "enough" became a torrent of voices that cptild no longer heJgnored. If we listen carefully,
their voices stil~cbo through this room and lift up ours today.
�If we listen, we can hear the voices of women who withstood jeers and threats, prejudice and
violence to make themselves heard in a political world once res~rved primarily for men. We can
hear the voices of women in Craigavon, who, instead of burrowing into their sorrow ... used the
power of the pen to heal by writing and sharing their poetry, short stories, essays, and plays. In
. one poem, Madge Steele writes about finding common ground:
Weave the threads of real friendship with thecolors ofyour life,
Use the pattern of Peace and leave out the strife,
Thread the friends that are young along with the old,
And you'll find on your loom a fabric of Gold.
If we listen, we can hear the voices of those who helped weave this fabric of gold, grassroots
activists like the late JoXE,e McCarten, who literally wove communities together through the .
Troubles. Three ears a o when I met Jo ce at Ye Olde Lam li hter on Lo e Ormeau Road,
arou d a small wooden table we sipped tea and talked about what had brought these women ~
together. How they realized that h' o
rei ion were kee in the
even when they al
f l_ ~
wanted the same thin s:
d·
·
'Mrea Streets you could wa
"-=r
down safely. Security and_p.JllSPerity you could count on. A future y.ou could believe in.
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Hardly a radical agenda. But for this, Joyce was called a "trouble-maker." Well, she had another
name for herself, and when she met me she proudly announced that she called herself a "Family
Feminist" because saving families was the goal of all she did. I have met many family feminists
around the world. In South Africa, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, China, Nicaragua, Brazil, Pakistan, and
India. Places that are riven with .strife, by disagreement, by conflict caused by racial, religious,
and tribal differences. Yet, in the midst of even the worst of times, there are women like these
. who stand up and say: stop for a minute please, think about what is really important for us and
our children.
I met such women at the Vital Voices Conference in Austria, inspired by Ambassador Swanee
Hunt who is here with us today. I met them at the United Nations Conference in Beijing where I
remembered clearly the banners that were created by women from every part of the world. They
spread those banners across the Great Wall. Woven into them were the dreams of religions, and
talked in different languages. But they spoke the same mother tongue--the language of freedom
and hope.
And they sent a clear message. Econ
ro ress de ends on wome 's ro ess. Democratic
progress depends on women's progress. Human rights are women's rights and women's rig s
are human rights. And this conference is part of an ongoing glowing initiative that is making
these pomts over and over again and in the process of transforming women's lives and societies.
.
---
What a better time to recommit ourselves to these basic truths than in this year of the 50th
anniversary of the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights. We're not talking about paying lip
service to the rights written down on a piece of paper and filed away. Rather, we're talking
�··---···----------------,----~
about how we treat each other at home and work, at church and school and in political
assemblies: Are we valued? Do we have the food, health care, education, shelter, the income we
need to survive and flourish? Do we have the opportunities to help u.s reach our God-given
potentials?
Now many of the women here in Northern Ireland and throughout the world with whom I have
met know nothing of this Universal Declaratio11 of Rights. But they know in their hearts and
souls, that in spite of all they are told by culture and tradition, they are endowed with God-given
rights, as surely as they were born into a human family. And the reason we want those rights is
not merely to make a statement, or to be part of apolitical movement, but because we want to
help create abetterworld, a world in which we canwalk safely and we can live peacefully
together with those who are like us and are unlike us, bec;ause we want our dignity and the
dignity of all human beings respected.
'
In Beijing, I was particularly moved by the banner created by women of this island. On it, was a
picture of a red-haired woman standing on top of the world. And since thafday in 1995, it's
amazing how far she has climbed in Northern Ireland alone.
Who ~ould have thou~t the majorjty ofwmp.en from both traditions would_step forward and
vote "yes'' on a Peace Agreement? Who would have ~t..:when the first Assembly .
conve es its seats will be
urteen women? And who would have thought that the
Agreement would demand a societ
. 1 inclusive? Not ·ust all reli ions and po ifiCal
parties. But all women and men alike.
As my good friend, Secretary of State Albright likes to say, advancing t~n is not)
just the right' thing to do. It is the smart thin.g..to..do fQL..f!!!Y society; I~ was the smart thing for .
womento clear the path for reconciliation which brought us to this day. And it is the smart thing
for women to play a central role in the reconstruction that will usher in. a Northern Ireland that
fulfills the promise of democracy, prosperity, and yes, peace, for all its citizens. Because as you
well know, the Peace Agreement was the beginning, not the end.
1
What you have been doing here is thinking through in practical ways what must be·done to ftilfilf--,
the promise of peace. You know better than I, it will take far more discussions, conferences and
reports. The hopes :fm:-Eeace will have to be translated into the hard work of practical actiori and
political compromise, not only in the Assembly, but in every comer of society. So the real
challenge of this conference starts as we leave. How will eac]J. of us work to fulfill the promise .
of peace? That, of course, will be up to the men and women of Northern Ireland to decide .. But,
based on what we know about the conditions' that promote peace and pro~perity, we, I think, can
agree on basic goals: All people must have access to the tools of opportunity-good education,.
quality health care. Good jobs, loan, and credit. The kinds of opportunities that will give
responsible people of whatever backgrounds the chance to move forward into the 21st century
with confidence.
,..f\
T
�mean. How do we, for example, have an education system that serves the needs of young people
moving in a very different world, dominated by a global economy? How do we make available
the kinds of credit that small business people need to build a thriving economy from the ground
up in the most depressed area in Northern Ireland? How do we make sure that, loans and
microcredit financing are available? That the businesses, the government and particularly the
· banks here will meet the needs of people anxious to demonstrate that they can build economic
opportunities for themselves?
If the promise of peace is to be fulfilled, then all people must be safe from violence. And in
p;1icular, a~men mnst-be-saferrom violence, whether it happens in their homes or on the
streets. Domestic violence which breathes the conditions of violence and aggressiveness setting
one person against another must be seen for what it is: a crime, not a family matter. If the
promise of peace is to be fulfilled, then all women and men must feel free to make their voices
heard through the ballot box and the soap box. There are many goals and you have discussed
them all here at this. conference.
Surel , these goals r
uarantee ofe ual o ortuni and.democrac and that is what yo _ _tc
have chosen... But, as our country has~, democracy is hard work It is a never-endlllg_
~ou never get it right, there is no perfect democracy, and its success ultimately .
aepends not just on laws and institutions, but on attitudes and values. On getting along with
people with whom you have profound differences. On the lessons we taught children as they are
tucked into bed at night.
If you just think about women and girls, what are some of those lessons we want women and
girls here and throughout the world to be learning? We teach our girls that we value them, not
for what they look like, but for what they think, feel, do and dream. Will our businesses do more
to help women get child care and other tools they need to successfully balance work and family
. so that no women ever have to make the choice between the job they need to put food on the
·table and the time they must give to the children they love? When a woman speaks up in the
home, or the community, or the Assembly, will she be listened to as carefully and respectfully as
if she were a man? And, as women, will we finally respect each other's choices? Will we admit
that there is no model for women to~ay that is one size fits all? That we can choose full time
work or full-time motherhood and home-making, or like most women, doing both at certain parts
of our lives? And will we support the choices that each of us makes?
As you struggle both with issues unique in Northern Ireland and with ones experienced by
women everywhere, I want you to know that the American government, the American people,
and the larger worldwide community want to help you succeed.
What women have said over the last few days is they want the tools to lift up their voices and the
·lives of their families. And in this room are partners who want to help them do just that. We
already heard from two, The Body Shop and the Ford Motor Company.
I want to applaud the more than $2 million in partnerships committed.to the outcomes of this
�conference. They come from all sectors of society and they are dedicated to .diverse areas like
political leadership and media training, mentoring and most importantly economic development.
This is just the, beginning.
We leave here today with a commitment from the U.S. Department ofLabor and the Northern
Ireland Employment and Training Agency to improve women's access to jobs, child care, and
training. We leave here with a commitment from the Institute ofDirectors to help women in
middle management get the mentoring and training they need to succeed in European and world
markets.
We leave here with commitments from corporations ranging from Xerox to MCI and from
America Online to Marriott, which for example, will provide internships for young people in the
tourism industry. And I have to say, as I flew from Moscow today, and was coming down to
land over the landscape ofNorthern Irc:::land, I thought to myself, this is one of the most beautiful
places of God's earth. A place that many people will want to come to visit and see for
themselves. We leave here with commitments from the President and Secretary of State of the
United States that our government will be vigorously engaged in turning the conference's
partnership into results.
And we are encouraged to learn that our Northern Ireland partners are establishing a follow-up
mechanism to carry this all forward.
As we leave here, let us pledge to each other that this is only the beginning. That, as the Pea;;-r
Agreement is implemented, the voices we raised will never fade away. Instead, they will spread \
1
into every community, and as Inez reminded us they will be joined by many others who are not
in this hall ~oday.
Because, regardless of whether a man r a women voted
he
a reement now in
·
·
mise of peace. It will take
a de~~~e Citizen has a role to
bu~d non-goYem.m n al qrgaoizations.- Churches of every tradition mspmng us to use
'our faith as a source of strength and unity. It will
all ages, because this struggle can
never and wm never be woturi.tbonUillrol.JLwi.U-t-ak.e-.illl.2fyou
'
women 0
_.,
Ireland speaking ou~never injustices ariset to point out op12ortuoities to face up to chaJlenges
and to speak for those Who ~till voiceless.
It will take young people like Fiona. Just a month ago, I had the opportunity to meet Fiona and
other young women and men who had come to Washington with Project Children and the
Children's Friendship Project. Some of them are here today. One, Vicky Moore, interned in my
office and stood in the Forum elections for her constituency.
Another, Janette Rooney stayed in our nation's capital for six weeks, learning about leadership,
community service, and how to build the bridges of understanding between diverse communities.
But on the day before Janette returned to her home in County Tyrone, the Omagh bomb went off.
Several of her fellow students turned on CNN and saw their own friends being taken away to the
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hospital. One of Janette's best friends was killed.
Y
When the director of the Children's Friendship Project called Janette at home a few days later to
extend her condolences, Janette's mother mentioned how her daughter had just received an
invitation to this Vital Voices Conference. How, during this time of. suffering and unspeakable}
loss, this conference gave Janette something to look forward to. And how proud her mother was r
that her daughter was part of the solution ... part of the new genetation... part of the future of
.
Northern Ireland. For that is what you are helping to create.
·
.
Tomorrow, I will visit along with the Lord Mayor and others, one of the beautiful green spaces in
Belfast. It is the kind of place my mother or father would want their children to be able to play
freely. There's a new partnership being formed between an American partnership named
KaBOOM! and PlayBoard, a Northern Ireland organization devoted to creating safe
environments for children to play. They hope to create such an environment somewhere in
Belfast.
®
And what they build won't be some adult's vision of what sparks a child's imagination. The
children themselves will design this space. They will be the architects of their own environmen
in a way that is a metaphor fo~ what's happening in Northern Ireland, isn't it? All of you are
now the architects of your new environment. You are ultimately those who will determine
whether the.children of Northern Ireland can play like children should-without respect to religion
or politics, without stereotyping or name calling, without fear or violence. That is for me the
ultimate dream I see in my mind's eye, as I land here in your airport, as I travel the streets, as I
look into. the faces of the people standing on the curbs waving at my car. I believe that will
happen, and when it does we will think back to this conference and we will know that women's
voices played a vital role in fulfilling this promise of peace for all citizen's ·ofNorthern
Ireland-for men and women, boys and girls.
May God bless you in this important work and the future you build together.
Thank you very much
·
.
�,.
Vital Voices
.,
Montevideo, Uruguay ·
Address by Hillary Rodham Clinton
October 2, 1998
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. I feel like I ~m sure many of
you do, that we have had such a rich morning already hearing from our conference
participants, and others who have inspired us, and motivated- us, and educated us.
It is a great honor and privilege for me to be here in Uruguay, and to join all of you -the
· vital voices of the Americas. The voices of the four conference participants that we have
just heard represent the extraordinary intelligence, enthusiasm and diversity of the people
who have come together for this third h_istoric Vital Voices Conference.
I want to begin by thanking our hostess, Mrs. Sanguinetti- for your warm hospitality and
for that fascinating archeological education. That I will immediately go and read about.
This is my first visit to your beautiful country, and both you and the President have made
me feel so much at home even _in these few short days that I cannot wait to return. And I
look forward to a time when I can do that in the very near future.
·
J
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I also want to express my great appreciation to the Conference's co-sponsor, the InterAmerican Development Bank. Now we. have heard from the President, who is our great
friend. Who .1 believe said again today how committed the bank is to all these projectS. I
have had the great honor of working with the bank and I've seen how hard he has worked
to promote micro-credit, working against domestic violence, doing everything that the ·
bank could do to make clear to everyone who wouid listen that it is not just a bank, it is an
instrument of social justice, social investment and transformation of the Americas and I
thank you for that Enrique.
.':
· I too want to thank Mayra for her work. She has been a powerful and effective advocate
at the Bank for women.
·
And I want to thank Theresa for your efforts leading our U.S. government team to make
"Vital Voices" an ·effective instrument of American foreign policy.
This is the third Vital Voices Conference; The purpose of these conferences is to give
. women from various parts of the world the opportunity to come together as you all have to
share experiences, to build stronger networks and partnerships, to look for ways thpt we
can introduce new and effective· strategy in our common search for ways that will enable
women to take their rightful places in all of our societies.
..
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At this particular conference we brought together women leaders from all the democracies
of the Western Hemisphere. leaders in business, non-governmental organizations, trade
)
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unions, from small villages and from very large cities, mayors and cabinet·officials. We
have also brought together and we have heard eloquently expressed today from our panel
many who suffered under brutal dictatorships, many who lost family members to terrorism,
people who have been in the forefront of the struggles to end repression, protect human
rights, and restore democ;racy. This is a critical moment in history because so many of you
have struggled so long to bring us to it. I want to begin by thanking..you. You have set an
example, you have served as a model, and you have given heart toliterafly millions of
peoples throughout the Americas because you have never given up on yourselves and your
future. And yet I know that with the coming of democracy, with the spread of the global
economy, we face new challenges. How do we ensure that democracy and free market
economies produce better lives for all people, especially the poor and the marginalized?
How do we create conditions in which women are equipped with the tools of opportunity
to become full participants in their societies? How do we bolster civil society and its
\
institutions?
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\
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The countries represented here may be at different stages of political and economic
development, but we are all searching for answers to basic questions such as those .. And
· we share a common belief: we believe that a nation's progress depends on the progress of
women; that the strength of democracy depends on the inclusion of women; that the
vibrancy of an economy depends on the hard work of women; that the richness of civil
society depends on the full participation of women;· and that human rights are women's
'rights; and women's rights are human rights from one end of this hemisphere to the other.
)
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I've heard reports how at this conference- in workshops, over coffee, in hallways- you've .
been gathering and talking with one another about how to achieve progress. You've been
learning from each other. And you have been focussing on three broad areas: First how do
we expand political participation for women in public life? Second how do we strengthen
the rule of law? And third, how do we promote women's access to economic .
opportunities? ·
If this were only a conference where we came together and we met one another, and we
heard speeches and we shared ideas, that would be a good thing, but it would not be
enough. It would disappoint all of us who are here because it wquld not fulfill the promise
that such an extraordinary gathering holds for us. What we have to think through is how
we will, from this point, create those strategies and support one another within our nations
and across our hemisphere to see that they are fulfilled. How will we answer the questions
we have been asking ourselves? How will we reach progress in the three areas you have
been focussing on? Let me take them one by one.
We have seen the fruits of the efforts that have gone into .creating political opportunities for
women in public life. Throughout the Americas, because we have obtained peace and
stability that so many of you have fought for so long, we now have democratic
governments that are open to debate; arid free speech and association that were not there
)
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before. We hope we will never, ever see in our hemisphere again a yourtg women driven
from her own country because she stood up for the human rights of her fellow citizens.
We hopethat we will never hearthe heart-wrenching emotion that we heard in the voice
frorri our mayor from Peru when she talked about terrorism. We must never, ever allow
terrorism to have a grip i~ this hemisphere again;
·
·
·
·So this hard-fought-for peace and stability, these democracies, these free-market
economies, they're an enormous step forward. But they are also not enough if they do not
give people the belief that they have a stake in the future and do not provide opportunities
for participation. .
·
But think about some of the women who are here amongst us. Women who have pushed
open the doors of political leadership. Some of them .are known, so many others are
unknown, but they lifted their vital voices when others were silent.. They organized their
work places, often at great risk to themselves, and they have been willing to run for office
and accept appointed offiee when still there are so many attitudes that argue against a
woman doihg that in public life. Their voices should inspire us. Think of just a few
examples..
·
A senator from Brazil - the granddaughter of a slave - who worked within the Catholic
· church on behalf of workers- and who became her country's. first black woman senator.
A mother from a small town in Peru who, when elected mayor, developed projects to
protect women's rights and created training Workshops for women so they could increase
their family incomes without leaving their homes.
A grandmother in Argentina »'ho refused to bend under the brutality of the generals and
who kept her eyes on the plight of her nation's grandchildren.
· ·
·
· There are thousands of examples like that Each of us could,stand and tell them. But they
should serve the purpose of remi.nding and inspiring us, of the price that has been paid to
.. open those doors to democracy, and how disappointed all those who sacrificed would be
if now women did not assume their rightful position and walk through those doors to make .
contributions to their families, to their communities, and their nations.
Today, more than at any other tim~ in history, women have the opportunity and the
responsibility not only to raise our own voices but to empower others to raise theirs as
well. The women gathered here, we a·re among the blessed. Even though many have
suffered, the spirit was not broken. And yo(J are here as testimony to re5ilience and
d~termination.
But think of the thousands and thousands and thousands of women throughout the
Americas for whom no one speakS. Who believe they are not worth anything. ··Who have
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been .denied education and· even sometimes fundamental health care. What will we do to
raise our vital voices for them? .And among the many reasons why women must participate
in the political process and must take the risks of putting themselves forward on behalf of·
issues of concern to us all, is because all_ of those women and their chil.dren need our
voices .
. There is a very important report that was completed recently by the Woni·en's Leadership ·
Conference of the Americas which .. details all of the progress and the obstacles that still .
face women in the Americas •. This report confirms what we all know: that while many
governments, organizations, and individual citizens acknowledge the importance of
women's participation in both formal and informal ways, women are still blocked from
realizing their own positions, from going as far as their talents would take them.
Yesterday I was privileged to meet with the Women's PolitiCal Network here in
Montevideo. I want to thank all of the women who came together to educate me about
what they are doing here. They were a remarkable group of women leaders. A cabinet
minister, a city council member, others who hold elective office, others who were very
prominent in their parties. One of them said: UWe grew to realize that what unites us is far
· more important than what differentiates us." For the women from different parties who
honestly hold different philosophical and ideological positions understand that they can
cross party lines to work on.behalf of issues in common. And I have heard that Paraguay is
doing the same. This is one very important idea that can come out of this conference: that
·
there must be ways for women in political life to support each other across party and
ideological lines when it comes to fundamental women's rights and chi.ldren's needs. And
this political network can serve as an example for us all. And I would include my own
country in that example. .
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If one reviews the progress that has been made, you can see that the once closed doors
have been pried open. More and more countries require a minimum level of women's
participation in local anq national elections. Others have cre~ted agencies to promote
women and family policies~ Some programs are now seeking to increase the pool of
qualified women to compete for leadership positions,. and others help women exercise
-effective leadership once they are. elected or promoted.
These changes are having an impact. By 1996 ~.all but two countries in Latin America had
at least one woman cabinet member. In Colombia, over a third of the cabinet positions are
now held by women. And while women are still vastly under-:-represented in legislative .
assemblies, there are signs of progress. In the Bahamas, women fill as many as 33 percent
of the senate seats. And in Argentina, as a result of their new law, women's representation
in the lower house of congress is 28 percent, the eighth highest in the world.
.
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If those nations can assure women that level of women's participation, then we all must do
better to make sure that parties are fair to women and include them in electoral lists, that
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governments seek out qualified women and give them opportunities to selVe. Because we
will all benefit if more women assume positions of political responsibility. And I hope that
one result of this conference will be very specific ways we can all participate in bringing
.that about.
·
The second challenge you have been discussing is strengtheningth·e rule of law. Now
there is, of course, general agreement in polite company that women deserve equal. rights
under the law. But there are still laws in the Americas that do not give women equal
rights~ And our first order of business should be to change those laws.
·
There are countries in the Americas that prohibit women from doing certain work: from
· . working at night; from lifting heavy objects. Now I have always believed thanhe job
should be suited to the person. And. many women could not lift heavy objects, but some ·
women could. And if they could qualify, they should be permitted to compete for those
jobs, and jobs like them so they can better support theirfamilies, and we should change
laws that stop. them from doing so .
. The larger problem though is that on paper we have equal rightS underthe law, but they
are not enforced. There is uneven or no enforcement. Or there is enforcement only for
the rich and not for the poor. So we have to do a better job of making all of our laws fairly
enforced and making access to our justice system one that is not in any way prohibited to
people on the basis of their background or their income. We have to do much more to
absolutely institutionalize the rule of law in the Americas. With independent judiciary,
with due.process being respected so that impunity will rio longer exist. That the rights of
all citizens will be strengthened. We know we will have achieved that go~l when a poor,
indigenous woman somewhere in the Americas is.able to walk into·a court and demand
that the police stop harassing her, that people in the street stop treating her poorly, and that
she be given the same rights as every other person.
·I
And I would hope that by opening up the leg~l system to more women judges and women·
prosecutors, women will make sure that women's rights are respected and the rule of law
is. enshrined in all of our countries.
·
That is beginning to happen. Again some examples from vital voices that inspire us.
The first woman to sit on Haiti's supreme court helped draft the decree abolishing gender·
inequa:lity.
··
The female director of the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights launched a gender
equity program when she was a leading Cos~a Rican jurist~
·
There are many more examples we can point to. But we need more women lawyers, more
women judges, more women prosecutors. And as a lawyer, I hope that more women will
. J,
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\ . go into the law in the Americas and use the tools of the law to promote 56cial justice
· ·~ throughout our hemisphere.
.
~
I also want to say a specific word about something we have seen terrific progress in but
have a lorig way to go and that is in domestic violence.· Many of you have been leaders,.
both inside and outside of governments to make it clear that violence between spouses,
·between parents and children, in families is not a custom,· it is a crime arid must be treated
as a crime •.
·More and more governments throughout the Americas are reforming their penal cqdes and
~
passing anti-discrimination legislation. And we see the results. Twelve Latin American
countries have adopted new laws classifying domestic violence finally as a crime, and
enforcement has been. stepped up, prison sentences extended. There are now special·
police stations for women in many countries, shelters and counseling centers and training
courses for law enforcement officials and judges.
Yesterday, I was privileged to meet with professionals here in MontevideO who are-working · · ·
both with victims and perpetrators of domestic violence. And this particular crime is so
important for us to focus on because we know that if women have th~i r spirits broken
inside the family, by the violence that so many face day in and day out, how can they ever
have the confidence to be.citizens of a democracy, to participate fully in the life of their
democracy?
·
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The Summit of the Americas which met first in Miami and then in Santiago set a goal of full
equality between men and women by the year 2002. Now I know that is an ambitious
goal. But I like that goal. And I like to remind people that that goal was agreed upon by
all the leaders of our hemisphere. And I believe we must accept nothing less than doing
all that we can to try to reach tha~ goal.
Our third priority, at this conference, is opening up economic opportunities for women.
· There are some fundamental issues that we have to address before we can even get to
economic opportunities. One is education and one is health care.
Women cannot earn good income for ~hemselv~s and their families, and advance to the
fullest of their god-given potential if they are not educated, or if they are held back by
poor, or substandard, or unavailable health care.·
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·. So we must continue to do everything we can to ensure access to education, for girls and
women, and to make available quality health care throughout the hemisphere. Because
talking about economic opportunities·in the absence of emphasizing education and health
care is an empty ·promise. Because we certainly know that the economy of the 21st
.century will be unforgiving for those who are not educated and not healthy and not able to
make their own way. ~
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Now we all know that women contribute enonnously to the economic· growth of their·
countries. Both inside and outside the home. But that work, both in the home and in the
informal economy is not counted in a country's G DP. I believe it is time for economists.
and bankers to start figuring out ways to count Women's economic contributions in their
nations' GDP andoveraH world economies.
He
I remember talking to an economist during one· of my visits to Africa.
·said 11Well ·
women have no real economic role to play in the African economies that are emerging".
And I said, 11Well you know I have only spent a few days in Africa but every where I looked
I saw women working: I saw women in the fields, I saw women carrying water; I saw
women in the markets; I saw women building their own houses. Now tell me what exactly
is it that they are doing ifnot contributing to the economic well-being of their country?"
We also have to face up to continuing wage discrimination against women .. Women in
Latin America receive salaries well below those of men. And women who work in the
infonnal sector, as many do, have no benefits and no security .. Working women have
never held the rights and opportunities and benefits that men have traditionally have held.
So we have to attack those inequities as well. · .
.
.
We need to celebrate the contributions that women have made. And I especially
appreciate the comments about how women have been the ones who have managed
poverty and have day in and day out, and year after year kept families going with very little
in the way of meager resources. So let us celebrate what is really very good budgeting and
extremely good economic planning if we stop to think about it, and let's look for ways to
bring more opportunities and greater income into the lives of these women who have
already proven that they know how to stretch a peso as far as possible.
We also need to look at ways. of getting more capital and credit into women's.hands. And
I want to thank everyone who has supported micro-credit because it is truly transforming
lives and societies. Micro-enterprise loans are expanding the support from international
. and bilateral donors and non-governmental organizations. USAID·and IDB programs are
already reaching well over one million women in .this hemisphere.
I would once again issue a plea to commercial banks, and other potential funders, to look
at the success of micro-credit as a tool for creating market activity at the grassroots level,
giving more people within a society a stake in the free market: And I would ask, as I did in
Belfast, that commercial banks look for ways to partner with the"l DB or non-governmental
organizations to put some funds into micro-credit so that we could expand their reach. I'm
always amazed when I read in the newspaper about some very ba~ loan that a commercial
.bank has made and they write it off when we know that loans to poor women are repaid at
a rate of between 95 and 99 percent throughout the world.
··
I have talked with such women from one end of our hemisphere to another, including in
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my owh country Where we are using micro-credit to try and help develop··economic
opportunity for women, particularly women who were formerly on welfare.
Think of these vital voices:
of
A rural woman in El Salvador who overcame low expectations~
herself and others- to
turn her roadside tortilla stand into a profitable business with the help of $46loan. And
who, because of that increased economic activity that she was able to generate, all of a .
. sudden had the respect of everyone in her village. And she and. her ·small vi II age group of ·
people who were borrowing and supporting each other understood that they had a real ·
.stake in their future~ She was selected president of her village bank group. And she said
11
~omething that all of us would agree with, and that is courage is half of Iife;" Well·. for her, .
having the courageto·do what she did was half of life, but having the credit to put that . ·
courage into action was the other half.· And that is the· kind. of partnership we. need· more· ... ·.
~
a
..
.
A woman organizer at a banana plantation who has stood up to death threats to ·lead and
inspire her co-workers. They have been locked out of their jobs because their company·
won't recognize their union.
Workers' rights are an important part of the global economy.
We have such great opportunities ahead of us if we are able to take the extraordinary
benefits of the global economy and ensure that theyare spread fairly to everyone. We
cannot permit greater inequity in income to be part of the new global economy. A.nd
workers' rights are part of that. Regular and equal pay, medical examinations, training
programs~ benefits, all of that should be on the front burner for women a:nd men who . .
· understand how important it is that workers be given the opportunity to share in the fruits
of their labor.
Now where does this .leave us as we are looking at this conference and all that you have
discussed and heard? Weill hope that we are bujlding on the progress so many of you
have begun. And I hope we are producing real partnerships that will strengthen
democracies and improve lives of women throughout the Americas.
Today I am pleased to make several announcements. First, the United States Government
through USAID will commit $50 million to support the common goals of this conference
and the Summit of the Americas, to strengthen human rights, justice, and democracy .
particularly <?n behalf of wo111en. ·
·
USAID is also increasing its loans to micro-enterprises across the Americas to $120 million
over the next .three years, over two-thirds of those loans committed to going . .to women.
.
The United States Small Business Administration, whose Director, Aida Alvarez is with us
!·
.. ·-:·.· ·.. .
�... "'.-:
__
9
today, and I am very pleased that Ms. Alvarez could be here for this announcement. It has
done a great deal in our country to promote micro-enterprise and has created an 110n-line ·
women's business center" offering training and support and research for women to start
and expand their businesses. Today the Small Business Administration is unveiling the
Spanish version of this w~bsite so that millions of women, throughout the hemisphere and
literally around the world, can also access this information.·
After this meeting you can go into the conference room, right outside here and into one of
the hallways, and you can log right on to this new SBA service. And be sure and tell us
how well it works, because it is our very first time to try it out.
.
. .
Because of this conference the D~scovery Channel, 'the Foreign Ministry of Argentina and
the Global Foundation in Buenos Aires have come together to make sure that these voices
are heard well beyond.this conf~rence~ They wili do this through a series ofVital Voices
Public Servrce Announcements on issues raised here at the conference. Tomorrow .each of
you wi·ll have the chance to help shape those messages that will be broadcast throughout
the hemisphere. So think please about the most effective way to reach women and.men
with the messages of the Vital Voices Conference.
Another important partnership that is taking place is that IBM Uruguay will produce
computer and Internet training sessions for women in media and a political training
workshop experience sponsored by USAID, the Partners of the AmeriCas, the League of
Women Voters, and USIA Women's Campaign International. This is one way that you can
really test and improve your own skills and learn from one each other about how you can
take messages from this conference back home. ·
The United States Government stands ready to continue to work with all of you. To make
.sure that this critical effort started here at this conferen·ce, and building on so much work
that has gone before, will continue well into the future and will have the results that we all
hope for.
As I travel around the world, I am very grateful for the opportunity that I have to meet with
women and to listen to them. Their dreams, their aspirations, their hopes, their concerns.
And I am always amazed, impressed and humbled by the extraordinary human spirit' and
hopefulness that I find whether I am in a very poor village in Bangladesh or Uganda, or in
a very small business in Nicaragua, or Santiago, I'm always with women who inspire me..
And th~se are the women from throughout this hemisphere who we must do all that we ·
can to ensure that their voices are heard, heard in city halls and board rooms, and trade
union offices, and politiCal parties, in academia, in families.
.
.
.
If we carry forth from this conference the extraordinary example and words that we heard
from our four panelists; and we take our energy and work together to make sure that these
voices are heard; I think we have a great opportunity ahead of us.
·;·:
�.,
..
'·.-: .
10
.
.
I ran across a quote from an early Uruguayan woman leader, Dr. Paulina t.uisi who said ·
UWe shall not reach the radiant mount toward which our eyes are fixed today. But on the
ground we are breaking, our daughters will march to victory." .
As the mother of a daughter, I hope with all my heart, that we will break that ground, and
the youngest among us
see results, that we will make it possible in the next century for
women and men to feel as they should. fully empowered, full of hope an·d confident,
because there are no longer any of those divisions that separate us from one another, but
instead a commitment creating a future that brings out the best in all of us.
will
Thank you very much.
.. 'i
..
h
';
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
First Lady's Work on Children’s Issues and Women’s Rights
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
White House Office of Records Management (WHORM)
Caligraphy Office
Chief of Staff
Domestic Policy Council
First Lady’s Office
Management & Administration
Millennium Council
Public Liaison
Special Envoy for the Americas
Women’s Initiative and Outreach
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1995-2000
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36054" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
Identifier
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2006-0198-F Segment 4
Description
An account of the resource
<p>This collection contains records regarding conferences and events attended and hosted by the First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton. The key events in this collection consist of the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Vital Voices, Beijing +5, and the Early Childhood Development Conference. The records include background materials in preparation for each of these conferences.</p>
<p>This collection contains records from the following offices: White House Office of Records Management, Calligraphy Office, Chief of Staff, Domestic Policy Council, First Lady's Office, Speechwriting, Management & Administration, Millennium Council, Public Liason, Special Envoy for the Americas, and Women’s Initiative and Outreach. The collection includes records created by: Ann Lewis, Harold Ickes, Cheryl Mills, Linda Cooper, Ann Bartley, Lisa Caputo, Lissa Muscatine, Marsha Berry, Eric Massey, Nicole Rabner, Shirley Sagawa, Christine Macy, June Shih, Laura Schiller, Melanne Verveer, Alexis Herman, Ruby Moy, and Doris Matsui.</p>
<p>This collection was was made available through a <a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/freedom-of-information-act-requests">Freedom of Information Act</a> request.</p>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Office of Records Managment
Publisher
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
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Adobe Acrobat Document
Date Created
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11/14/2014
Extent
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301 folders in 30 boxes
Text
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Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
HRC Vital Voices Speeches
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 11
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/2006/2006-0198-F-4.pdf">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/1766805">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Creator
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First Lady’s Office
Speechwriting
Identifier
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2006-0198-F Segment 4
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Format
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Adobe Acrobat Document
Publisher
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Medium
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Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
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11/14/2014
Source
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42-t-20060198f4-011-007
1766805