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bigtree

(85,977 posts) Sun Apr 7, 2013, 11:40 PM Apr 2013

Helping women isn't just a 'nice' thing to do: Hillary Clinton

If Hillary Clinton needs any reinforcement for 2016 then the audience at Lincoln Centre for the second day of the Women in the World summit gave her more than enough. Appearing to rapturous applause, the former US Secretary of State continued on her signature mission, asserting that empowered women were a "core imperative" to achieving economic success.

Appearing alongside a slew of high-profile speakers at the two-day summit, Clinton noted that while women "have come so far" in many areas of society, women's issues are still the "unfinished business of the 21st century" - and not just in developing countries. She spoke of how women are still "marginalised" in relation to their male counterparts in efforts to receive equal pay and equal access to education in Western countries. It's been her fighting duty to make gender equality a global priority "since college, in law school, Arkansas, and the White House."

"When I became secretary of state, I was determined to include this in the agenda — but I didn't want to preach to the usual choir," Clinton said.

In each country she visited, she said she found challenges with men who were resistant to the idea that women's rights were not separate from society's issues at large. She spoke of how she used empirical data to prove to defiant parties that empowering women remains a "core imperative" to economic success.

"Fighting to give opportunities to women and girls is not a nice thing to do," she said. "But I told them that when women participate in the economy, it advances prosperity for everyone."

read: http://www.womensagenda.com.au/talking-about/world-of-women/helping-women-isn-t-just-a-nice-thing-to-do-hillary-clinton/201304081944