MS. BOTTOMLY: It is my distinct pleasure to introduce a woman who
Wellesley College has long been proud to call one of our own. Hillary
Rodham Clinton, Wellesley class of 1969, is the 67
th U.S.
Secretary of State. She is only the third woman to hold this position,
but the second Wellesley alumna to do so. (Applause.)
Her public service career has spanned 40 years as an attorney, a
first lady, and a senator. And as an advocate for human rights, health
care reform, and issues pertinent to women and children. At Wellesley,
Secretary Clinton was a political science major who became the first
student to address her peers at commencement, a tradition that has been
honored ever since. (Applause.)
Secretary Clinton spends many hours a day traveling to all corners of
the world, and so we are delighted that she could join us at Wellesley
today for the opening ceremonies of the first Women in Public Service
Institute.
Madam Secretary, I know the Women in Public Service Project is close
to your heart, and we thank you for being the champion of this important
initiative. You are a role model to women everywhere and you continue
to make your alma mater proud. Please join me in welcoming back to
Wellesley, Hillary Rodham Clinton. (Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Good morning. Oh, good morning. It is
wonderful for me to have this opportunity to be here with all of you. I
want to thank President Bottomly for her introduction and for
understanding that the education of women does not stop at the campus’s
edge or even a country’s border. This event, being held for the first
time here at Wellesley, would not have been possible without the
commitment and leadership of all the so-called sister schools, including
Barnard; Bryn Mawr; Smith; Mount Holyoke; Scripps College, who’s
president Lori Bettison-Varga is here today, and we just expect this to
continue growing and going from strength to strength.
There are many longtime friends here in the audience and
distinguished leaders, young and young at heart, from around the world,
but I am particularly pleased that you just had a chance to hear from my
friend and predecessor both at Wellesley and in the State Department.
I’ve had apparently a habit of following in Madeleine’s footsteps, and I
have to say it always does work out for the best. So thank you so much,
Madeleine.
I also want to thank some of the people who have made this
extraordinary idea become a reality: Rangita de Silva-de Alwis, who is
the director of the 2012 Women in Public Service project; Ambassador
Melanne Verveer, our ambassador-at-large for global women’s interests,
who you will hear from later in the program (applause); Farah Pandith,
who is my special representative to Muslim communities around the world,
a graduate of Smith College and a strong advocate for this program
(applause); and Kavita Ramdas, chair of the institute planning
committee. I want to thank not only all whom I have mentioned, but all
the speakers and mentors who are contributing their time and expertise
throughout this first Women in Public Service Institute. It’s an
extraordinary collection of talent and wisdom, and I envy all of you who
will be given the opportunity to sit on every session and listen to
every panel.
And most of all, I want to recognize the 50 young women who have
traveled here from around the world, not only to participate, but to
share their own experiences, to give us some sense of the challenges and
opportunities that they see before them, to acquire some new skills and
some new friends. And many come from countries in transition across the
Middle East and North Africa. And you are among the young people
transforming a region and inspiring the world.
Now we are looking to you for your leadership to turn the promise of
change into real and lasting progress that moves each of your countries
toward democracy, human rights, and opportunity. And no matter where
you’re from, we’re all here today because we believe in your potential,
and we are committed to your futures. We’re here because we feel the
call to public service, to work together, to solve problems, to improve
lives, and because we are convinced that the women of the world have so
much to contribute.
Now, I could not think of a better place to launch this institute
than here at Wellesley. I have so many memories from my time here:
swimming in the lake – (laughter) – sometimes legally, sometimes not –
(laughter); staying up late in my dormitory talking to my friends,
sometimes arguing about everything from art and politics to what we were
going to do for dinner that night; being told by my French teacher
that, Mademoiselle, your talents lies elsewhere – (laughter). It was a
humbling experience.
I came here at a time of great upheaval in America. The years of my
time at Wellesley coincided with protests and war, by inspiring
movements for social change and by devastating riots and assassinations.
The experiences of that era not only changed us but also changed
Wellesley. We used to say that Wellesley was a girls’ school when we
started and a women’s college when we left.
I learned a lot from my time here. This is where I first felt the
call to public service, the imperative to get off the sidelines and try
to make a difference. After all, this college’s Latin motto urges us
“Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” And it was here that I
began to gain the confidence and the skills to get involved, to pursue
new and different ways to solve problems, to speak up, to be heard.
And that’s what this Women in Public Service Project is all about.
You’ve begun your own personal journey. And in some cases, you’ve had to
overcome challenges that certainly my classmates and I never dreamed
of.
You will get to know each other over these next weeks, but I’ve been
reading your bios and being very impressed. There’s a young woman from
Afghanistan here today, Naheed Farid, who, like millions of other girls
in her country, lived for years under the repression of Taliban rule.
They burned her school and all the books. But Naheed persevered. And
after the Taliban were overthrown she went on to earn degrees in law and
political science. She became a human rights activist. She even ran for
office. And now at 27, she is the youngest member of Afghanistan’s
parliament.
Naheed is not alone. There’s a young woman here from South Sudan,
Jackcilia Ebere, whose family had to flee when civil war reached their
village. Now she’s back home, helping build the world’s newest nation as
both a civil society activist and a public official.
Every one of you has your own story of challenges overcome and
barriers broken, because all over the world, women still face obstacles
to political and economic participation. Cultural traditions, legal
barriers, social pressures stop women from pursuing an education or
starting a business or certainly running for office. And there aren’t
enough mentors and role models. And there are too many extremists of all
stripes trying to constrain and control women: how we dress, how we
act, even the decisions we make about our own health and bodies.
Now, the numbers on participation tell the story. Women hold less
than 20 percent of all seats in parliaments and legislatures around the
world. I’m sorry to say, here in the United States, our percentage is
even a little lower, at 17 percent. And it’s not just politics. Only 3
percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. And I always think to myself:
What a waste, because the world cannot miss out on the talents and
contributions of half the population.
But these numbers tell only part of the story. We need better data
and more rigorous research that documents the impact women have on in
public service and the obstacles that still prevent us from
contributing. To begin this work, the Women in Public Service Project
has given an initial grant to the University of Albany for field
research in Uganda and an initiative to form a new caucus for women
legislators there. And we look forward to expanding on this kind of
effort in the future.
Around the world, we are hoping to help correct the gender imbalances
in public service, not just by working at the top, shattering those
glass ceilings, but also at the grassroots level by training and
supporting women like those who are here, who have the talent, who have
the will, but sometimes not the opportunity to become effective leaders
in their nations.
Now, I know how daunting it can be to get started. When I first
arrived on this campus in the fall of 1965, I was acutely aware of my
own limitations. I didn’t think I was smart enough or worldly enough to
succeed here. I called home and I told my parents I didn’t think I
should stay at Wellesley. And my father immediately said, “Well, then
come home.” (Laughter.) “Go to school near home.” But my mother, a women
who had been abandoned as a child and had to fight for everything she
had in life, said, “You cannot quit. You must persevere. You must go
on.” And of course, she was right. And I grew to love Wellesley and to
test myself against limits that I experienced and then to try to go
beyond them.
I remember a classmate of mine wrote a poem about this process we
were all going through. And she said, “It is well at every given moment
to seek the limits in our lives, and once those limits are understood,
to understand that limitations should no longer exist.”
The year 1968 was particularly tumultuous. I remember going with a
friend to what was then the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to
Grant Park, where there were riots and confrontations with the police.
I’ll never forget the smell of teargas, the sight of night sticks and
rocks slicing through the air, the sound of protest chants mixing with
frightened screams and angry shouts.
Now, that was just one day, and I got to go home to my safe life once
it was over. But over the last year and a half, as protests and
revolutions have swept the Middle East and North Africa, I’ve thought
back to that experience in Chicago.
And when I talk to young activists, whether they be from Egypt or
Tunisia or Yemen or Libya or Jordan or anywhere in the region, I’m
reminded that our yearnings for human rights and human dignity, for
justice and opportunity, are truly universal. And for those of you who
have been on the front lines of these struggles, who have tasted the gas
and felt the beatings, and who are now working to shape and secure your
transitions to democracy, I express great appreciation.
It can be difficult, however, to move from protest to politics. And
in my conversations with young activists, I’ve heard many questions
about how to make that shift, how to organize, how to hold a new
government accountable, how to run for office. Those are crucial
questions because truly, in a democracy, protecting that democracy
becomes the duty and responsibility of every citizen.
History shows that all too often, the victors of revolutions can
become their victims and that new autocrats can derail progress toward
democracy. So it is up to every citizen, men and women alike, to resist
the call of demagogues, to build coalitions, to keep faith in the future
of the system you are building even when your candidates lose in the
elections. And as women, you have a special stake in the outcome,
because we have seen that women’s rights and opportunities can hang in
the balance. And we know from experience that women’s contributions are
vital to building successful democracies and thriving societies.
This can be an incredibly frustrating process. After the riots and
assassinations of 1968, my classmates and I wrestled with whether
political action is ultimately worth the pain, the struggle, the
compromise. But I realized that despite our disillusionment, it was
ultimately the only route, in a democracy, for peaceful and lasting
change. The class of 1969 eventually decided we needed a student speaker
and they asked me to speak at our graduation ceremony. And one of the
things that I said was, “The challenge now is to practice politics as
the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible.” That is what
I hope you learn to do here at the Women in Public Service Institute:
to make what seems to be impossible, possible.
I remember being in Cairo last spring, meeting with men and women who
had been leaders of the protest in Tahrir Square. And I asked them, “So
now, are you starting to organize for politics? Are you beginning to
think about how to put together coalitions to run candidates for
office?” And I’ll never forget one young man said, “That is not our job.
Others will do the politics.” I said, “Oh, excuse me. If you do not
participate, then others will hijack your revolution. And they will –
(applause) – very often begin from the first day to undermine the hopes
and aspirations that you were protesting for.”
Over the coming days, you will work with leading experts and
academics, and have the chance to build these relationships that can
give you additional insights. You’ll hear from a wide range of women
leaders from inside and outside government, women who have organized
social movements and civil society organizations, who have started
businesses, run for office, and defied the odds throughout their lives.
And each of you will be paired with a mentor who will stay in close
contact with you after you return home.
There will be seminars on practical skills like how to move
legislation through a parliament or hold a press conference, sessions on
how to organize grassroots networks and how to lobby public officials,
discussions about major challenges like increasing women’s participation
in peace negotiations and post-conflict decision making.
I’m very pleased that Dell computers is one of our sponsors, because
each of you will be given a laptop loaded with software and tools for
grassroots organizing and networking. And Dell is also providing
training on how to use social media and other connection technologies
for effective advocacy and communications.
So by the time you leave Wellesley, I hope that you will not only
have some new tools and connections, but even more importantly, new
confidence and determination. Because this, as you know so well, is only
the beginning. The real work lies ahead for each of you back home.
I also hope that the Women in Public Service Project will continue
going and growing as well. The summer institute will rotate to each of
the founding Seven Sisters colleges in the coming years. And these
schools have created a foundation that will sustain and coordinate this
effort for the future.
And that’s not all. Later this summer, the Asian University for Women
in Bangladesh will host another conference for women from across South
Asia. The State Department will also sponsor two summer institutes for
women student leaders at Simmons College and St. Mary’s in Indiana. Then
in the fall, Smith College, in collaboration with the State Department
and the French Government, will organize a gathering focused on women’s
leadership in public health around the world. And early next year, three
women’s colleges on the West Coast – Scripps, Mount Saint Mary’s, and
Mills – will welcome young women leaders from Latin America.
So there’s a lot to do and it all depends on you. And let me leave you with one last memory.
One of my classmates at Wellesley, and still a friend of mine today,
was the granddaughter of one of America’s greatest diplomats, the former
Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Four years later, right before
graduation, I was introduced to him. And I was pretty nervous about
making a speech the next morning. But Secretary Acheson shook my hand
and said, “I’m looking forward to hearing what you say,” and that made
me even more nervous. (Laughter.) Well, today, I’m saying to each of you
I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say, and to seeing
what you will accomplish and to admiring the progress that you will
achieve.
And I want you also to know that the United States will stand with
you as your partner and as your supporter as you do what is necessary to
secure democracy and the universal human rights that every human being
is entitled to.
So I thank you. I thank you for coming to be part of this, our first
event. I thank Wellesley for hosting and for nurturing generations of
young women like Madeleine Albright and myself. And I am thrilled that
there is such an outpouring of support from around the academic world
not only here in the United States, but globally, to give you what you
need to help you make the decisions that are right for you as you
continue your own journey of leadership and service.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
MS. BOTTOMLY: Thank you, Secretary Clinton, and thank you for
agreeing to take some questions. We’ll now open this up to questions
from the audience. There are microphones that will be located in each of
the aisles, and we will also have a microphone so those of you in the
balcony can participate in this. Although I can’t see you very well,
I’ll try to see your hand.
So if you’d like to ask a question – and I know many of you who are
Wellesley women, you probably will want to ask questions – (laughter) –
so please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you.
We have one right here.
QUESTION: Thank you very much for the brilliant and very
inspiring talk. My name is Jackcilia Ebere, the state minister for labor
in Western Equatoria State, South Sudan.
I have a question: As you know, we are yet the newest country in the
world. We have gotten the independence after a long struggle, and that
independence is even shaky because since the signing of the peace
agreement in 2005, some of the terms of the agreement remain hanging and
were not implemented until you have gotten independence such as the
border issues and sharing of resources. Currently, there is an issue
about the border and the oil now, which is almost escalating into war.
So I’m asking: How can the United States help us, South Sudan, to
intervene so that the hanging issues are resolved peacefully without the
two countries, North and South, returning again to war? Because women
and children are the victims of this war. Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Well, your
question points out one of the most serious dangers for widespread
conflict that we face in the world today. Some of you may know that
there was a very long conflict between the north and the south of Sudan.
There was a peace treaty entered into in 2005. The United States played
a major role, along with Norway and the United Kingdom, in helping to
negotiate that peace treaty. And it provided for the people of the South
to have a referendum to determine whether they wanted to stay in Sudan
or break away and form their own state. And the people in the South
voted for a new state. That new state came into being last summer. And
there was a roadmap about what needed to be done in order to implement
all of the requirements of the peace agreement.
Sadly, there has not been the kind of cooperation that was called
for. There is currently an ongoing mediation process that is sponsored
by the African Union in Addis Ababa. The United States is very active in
this. The lead mediator is the former president of South Africa, Thabo
Mbeki. And it comes down to two very difficult issues, which the
questioner referenced: One, exactly what are the borders? They were
determined to a great extent but not completely by the time South Sudan
became an independent state. And how will the oil be – the oil profits
be distributed? Because most of the oil is in South Sudan but the
pipelines and the infrastructure are in Sudan.
And this is a perfect example of where both sides need to make
decisions that will give them a positive outcome, although it most
likely will not be all that they want. How do they compromise in a way
that keeps the peace, sets borders, and divides oil revenues? And
unfortunately, because of the ongoing disagreements and actions taken by
both sides to try to assert themselves, there has been a return to
violence disproportionately by the government in Khartoum because they
are using modern military equipment – fighter planes and the like –
against people living in the southern areas right across the border from
the new South Sudan.
And we are working very hard to try to find a peaceful way to bring
this to a conclusion because in the absence of a peaceful resolution, we
are very worried that war will break out again, and the principal
victims of war in the world today everywhere are women and children.
Fifty, 100 years ago, going back through history, when wars were fought,
they were usually fought between armies or militias or guerrilla units
but they were primarily fought soldier versus soldier. Now that has
changed, and the victims are often women and children who are caught up
in whatever the conflict is.
And it is a deeply distressing situation for me because I think both
Sudan and South Sudan should be paying attention to the needs of their
people, and the only way to do that is to have peace, and to have the
revenues from oil justly divided, and to have the borders justly
determined, so that South Sudan can build their institutions and Sudan
can continue to look for better ways to serve people and end conflicts
that are still ongoing in places like Darfur.
So we’re hoping for a peaceful outcome, and we’re working with the
African Union to achieve that. But it is truly up to the leaders to make
some hard decisions and even some compromises to avoid war. And that’s
what we’re trying to convince them to do. (Applause.)
MS. BOTTOMLY: Right down here in front, in the green scarf, with the microphone.
Oh, I’m sorry. Go right ahead. You were next.
QUESTION: Good morning. Thank you so much for coming, and
thank you for your continued support of women in leadership. My name is
Jayna Gane. I’m a rising a senior here at Wellesley, and I am
unofficially representing Jamaica. (Laughter.) I have a – my question is
pertaining to countries like Jamaica, mostly in the Caribbean, where
we’re not currently under civil war or wars between other nations or
there isn’t an overt presence of oppression based on religion. I feel
that a lot of times, people tend to forget us as the Caribbean region
and Jamaica in particular because things seem to be going well. And so I
was wondering what measures or what projects the Women in Public
Service Institute plans on undertaking to help women in Jamaica and
women in other nations in the Caribbean to basically move forward in our
democracy because it is there but it is not present in a way that is
working very well, so to speak. And so if you could speak a little bit
about that.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I’m very happy you raised that
because it is true that countries where there’s not obvious conflict and
terrible things happening, like we were just talking about in South
Sudan and the border areas of Sudan, may not get the attention of the
international community that they deserve to have.
Jamaica, as you know, has had a long history of violence, drug
trafficking, gangs, poverty, and so there is work to be done in Jamaica.
And Jamaica just elected a woman prime minister, and I called her after
her election and offered as much technical assistance and support as we
could. And I sent a team from our government down there to meet with
her because we now know some things that work in order to reverse
poverty. We have seen in Brazil and Mexico, for example, that using what
are called conditional cash transfers to families where the money has
to be spent on improving the health of the children, the education of
the children, can begin to reverse generational poverty. We know that
concentrating on education as a pathway to opportunity for poor children
remains a very important commitment. How do you do that when you don’t
have enough teachers, you don’t have enough curriculum, you don’t have
the resources? What can we learn about what has worked in other
countries that we can bring to a country like Jamaica?
So I am not at all overlooking the need for the United States and the
international community to work together in countries that are not
necessarily in the headlines in order to provide as much support as we
possibly can. And that’s particularly true in our own neighborhood. In
this hemisphere, we’ve seen great commitment to democracies.
Some of the young women who are here from countries that have been
under military rule and autocratic rule should take heart from what has
happened in Latin America in the last 20 years, where there has been
movement from military dictatorships to very vibrant democracies, where
women have been elected presidents of countries like Chile and Brazil
and even Costa Rica and a prime minister in Jamaica, because democracy
has taken hold against great odds, a lot of poverty, a lot of
discrimination against women and minorities. So there is a real pathway
for progress, and I want to make sure that continues in our own
hemisphere and that it can be an example for countries elsewhere.
(Applause.)
This young woman right there.
QUESTION: Thank you, and again, it’s such a pleasure for me to
be here. I’m Naheed Farid and I’m the youngest member of Afghanistan
parliament. The question that I have is related to United States
presence in Afghanistan. You have the longest war with terrorism in
Afghanistan. It lasts for 10 years and is a continuance in 2014. And
finally you signed an Strategic Partnership with Afghanistan. Some
people in Afghanistan think that United States is going to escape from
my country because of this trouble and problem and treating from
Taliban. In another side, we don’t have infrastructure, we have fraud
election in Afghanistan, we have open borders, and we don’t have a good
situation of economy. And you know that democracy is a new thing in my
country, and people – human – don’t realize human rights, the values of
the human rights and democracy.
Don’t you think that after withdrawal of United States and
international troops from Afghanistan after 2014 there will be a
disaster of democracy in the region, especially in Afghanistan? Thank
you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first let me congratulate you on
serving in your parliament, and I hope you don’t mind that I mentioned
you in my remarks, because I spent a lot of time in Afghanistan and I
know how challenging the environment is for all the reasons that you
suggested.
Let me just make a few points. One, the United States signed the
Strategic Partnership Agreement with Afghanistan as a strong signal of
our continuing commitment and support. Secondly, President Obama and I
and others have said consistently that we are drawing out combat troops,
but we will negotiate with the Government of Afghanistan for a
continuing military presence that will help train and assist and support
the Afghan National Security Forces. The primary responsibility for the
security of Afghanistan, as with any country, has to be the security
forces, the military and the police, in that country. But we’re well
aware that there will still be a role for the international community,
including the United States, to play in making sure that the forces are
able to defend Afghanistan.
We have said we do not want – and I want to underscore this – we do
not want any bases in Afghanistan, but we will continue, with the
approval and the request of the Afghan Government, to operate certain
functions inside Afghanistan, to support you when we know that you will
continue to face very concerted attacks from the Taliban and their
allies to try to undo the progress that has been made.
You are a perfect example of that progress. When the Taliban was
overthrown in Afghanistan, there was not one legal school for one girl
anywhere in the country. I mean, that’s astonishing. I mean, you think
about how could a country not want even to educate their girls, but that
was the case with the Taliban. There were grave difficulties facing
women and girls to get healthcare, and women were not permitted to work.
So you had widows, you had terrible family circumstances where women
were – by definition – considered unsuitable, unacceptable in society,
and they couldn’t do anything to help support their families or their
children or even get healthcare for themselves and their children.
So when people say, “Well, what have we gotten done in Afghanistan
over the last 10 years?” I think it’s only fair to look at the changes
that have happened in terms of the millions of children – at least 40
percent of whom are now girls – in school; the thousands of young women
going to university, like yourself; the hospitals, the clinics, the
healthcare outreach. I mean much to everyone’s amazement, a country that
had the worst rate of maternal mortality associated with childbirth –
pregnancy, labor, childbirth – has made great improvements that have
been applauded by the international public health community.
There is still a lot of work to be done, but how could one expect
there would not be? I am always amazed at how quick people are to make
judgments about new democracies and not look back on our own history and
the difficulties we had. Our constitution did not include African
slaves or women or men who didn’t own property. We had to fight a civil
war, a terrible, bloody civil war. We had to amend our constitution. We
had to change our laws, and equally importantly, we had to change our
attitude.
So I get somewhat – (applause) – I get somewhat frustrated when I see
commentators or politicians or others say: Well, what’s Egypt going to
do? What’s Afghanistan going to do? How’s Libya ever going to hold
elections? Well, for goodness sakes, we’re just getting started.
(Laughter.) And that’s why all of you are here, because we want you to
be some of the leaders who help answer those questions going forward.
So I can assure you that we are prepared – so long as the government
and the people of Afghanistan wish to have our help – not only to help
on security, but also to continue to help on development. I will be
going to Tokyo in July for an international conference to determine what
we can do to help on continuing to improve the government functioning,
to improve the economic prospects, as well as services like health and
education. And it’s important to take stock of what has been
accomplished and then to have a vision about where your country and
other countries represented here can go.
So I am very committed to making sure that we stand with you and support you on your journey. (Applause.)
QUESTION: Good afternoon, Hillary. It’s an honor to be here.
I’m also unofficially representing class of ’88, but also Pakistan. I
want to thank you for, a few years ago, making the last minute detour to
Pakistan when you were on your trip to India. It meant a lot to us here
in America.
But my question – I mean, there’s so much work to be done in Pakistan
and women are, as you know, heavily involved in public service. And my
question actually is about women in public service in America. And
there’s so much work to be done here too. And I was wondering if this
project will extend into that area that is needed here in America as
well with women’s participation and all the wealth or resources, as you
said we have, and what a shame not to use them here at home. And –
that’s all. Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, thank you. I think that this
particular program is filling what we see as a gap. And it’s one that we
feel strongly can be addressed through the kind of intensive outreach
that we’re doing – starting today – not only at Wellesley, but as I
said, elsewhere.
And I think that, with respect to public service and women in our own
country, clearly we have a lot of activity and energy going into that
arena. We have women running for and holding office. We have women in
many high-level corporate positions. We have many women who lead
academic institutions like Wellesley and others.
So we have a lot of signs of progress and change, certainly from the
time that I was here as a student. But I would be the first to say we
have work to do as well. I have talked about how difficult it is for
women running for office in our political system because we have a
particularly difficult set of obstacles to run through. You have to
raise your own money, which in many parliamentary systems is not the
case. You have to contend with the continuing double standard that exist
in my country – as it does, apparently, everywhere still – where women
are held to different standards, higher standards, the kind of
commentary that I’ve gotten pretty well used to – (laughter) – over more
than 20 years in the highest levels of American politics.
So we know we’ve got to keep pushing at that glass ceiling. We have
to try to break it. Obviously, I hope to live long enough to see a woman
elected president of the United States. (Applause.) And it’s always a
little bit odd when you look around the world. You see from Jamaica to
Pakistan they’ve had women leaders, which is great because every society
has to come to grips with the need for women to be fully integrated
into the political and economic systems of the country, but I think
we’re making progress here and we’re going to continue to make progress.
And I hope that there will be some real thought given.
And President Bottomly and I were talking about this before we came
out, public leadership today is – it appears to me, at least, harder
than it’s ever been, particularly in democracies, which are messy by
definition, where people compete in the marketplace of ideas, but where
you’re doing it in a 24/7 media environment. And it’s not only the
conventional media, but it’s all of the new media. And therefore, it’s
even more challenging to be able to work your way through all of the
scrutiny, all of the attacks, all of the criticisms that go with being
in democratic politics.
But I go back to what I said earlier: We need good leaders. And we
need leaders who are sophisticated enough, strong enough, to be able to
make their stand on behalf of the causes and values and issues they care
about. That’s true in our country, where we’ve been at democracy a very
long time, and it’s as true in the new democracies that are represented
by these young women.
MS. BOTTOMLY: Great. A question up in the balcony.
QUESTION: Rangita, I wanted to say bless you for creating and nurturing this project.
MS. BOTTOMLY: We can’t understand her. The sound is sort of rotating around. We can’t quite understand you.
MS. DE SILVA DE ALWIS: I’m going to repeat her question.
MS. BOTTOMLY: Okay.
MS. DE SILVA DE ALWIS: Thank you for nurturing and creating
this project. Her question is: This seems inspired and she is wondering
what went into creating it.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, it’s an interesting question, because
I have long been very committed to women’s leadership in every
different format from my days here at Wellesley. And in looking around
the world, it became clear that a lot of women felt like they were not
well-equipped to participate in the politics of their countries. They
believed that they didn’t have whatever the skills were, the education
was, and they therefore were kind of self-eliminating. They were saying,
“Well, I can’t do that, so I won’t try.”
And then, of course, there were cultural and social attitudes that
persuaded young women that they shouldn’t try and should not
participate. And I was struck by what a void that would leave if we
didn’t do something special to try to reach out to young women who are
already evidencing an interest in politics – we have women serving in
government, women running for office, women part of various social
movements all represented here – and contribute to their own experiences
so that they were better equipped to participate in politics back in
their country.
And then of course, what happened in the Middle East, in North
Africa, was such an explosion of opportunity, and yet it had to be
seized. Politics doesn’t just happen by itself. People have to work at
it. They have to plan for it. They have to be willing to put themselves
on the line. And if we didn’t have a group of young women who were
prepared to claim their right to participate, the process, I feared,
would be tilted against women’s rights and opportunities.
So we began working on this and decided to bring it to women’s
colleges that have a great track record of educating young women, and
today is the result as we begin this.
There’s a lot of women here in the front, too.
MS. BOTTOMLY: Yes, thank you.
QUESTION: Good evening, or good morning. I am Hala Jamal, and I
am from Bahrain. I don’t know if everybody know where Bahrain is.
(Laughter.) Yeah, it’s a small country in the Gulf and I am very proud
to represent Bahrain here. We would like first to thank you for giving
us this opportunity to come to this great university. I am really
impressed by all that we have heard and seen about this, and I would
like to thank also all the people who kept on calling us or sending us
emails, especially Mrs. Rangita. She has done really a great work for
that. (Applause.) Thank you very much.
I’m the only one who represents Bahrain, but we have so many Bahraini
ladies who are really working very hard and for social – as voluntary
workers or any – many front seats in the government or in different
seats. But I would like to ask only one question: How do you see the
situation as a whole in Bahrain now, for women and as a whole? Thank you
very much.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I am hoping that the civil unrest and
the instability that has taken place in Bahrain over the last year can
be resolved through a national process of reconciliation, dialogue, and
reform. I think Bahrain is a very important symbol of whether people who
come from the two great traditions of Islam are able to find common
ground and work together.
And I have had numerous conversations with the leaders of Bahrain,
and I’ve also reached out to opposition members through the State
Department, because we think this should be resolved internally with no
external influence or agitation. If you look at the map, as many of you
already have, and you know where Bahrain – which is a very small country
– is located, it is located between Iran and Saudi Arabia. And we know
that there is a great rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia. And Bahrain
is a country with both Sunni and Shia Muslims, and it’s a country that
has been blessed by natural resources, so there’s been a certain
financial base for Bahrain. The United States has a military base in
Bahrain and we work closely on security in the Gulf with Bahrain. But we
think that, as in any country, including my own, you have to be
constantly asking yourself: How can we solve problems? How can we get
ahead of problems? How can we bring people together?
And we have been urging that there be a process like this in Bahrain
where people of good faith – now, I will be the first to say that in any
political struggle, in any conflict, there are people on both sides or
all sides who do not want to compromise, who are extreme, who believe
that only their way is the right way, but most people are not in those
categories. And so you have to bring together people who are willing to
talk with those they do not agree with, to try to find solutions that
will benefit all the people. And I know that His Majesty the King and
the crown prince and others have been working on that, and we are urging
that that process go forward.
MS. BOTTOMLY: We only have time for three more questions. So I will take the woman right here.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. My name is Withane, I come from
Yemen. We are a country in transition, and I know the U.S. policy will
have lots of effect on what’s going on in Yemen. But my question today
is about women in public services. What’s your experience after having
three women secretary of State in the U.S.? What influence did you have
on the foreign policy? I know it’s a hot kitchen with lots of men. Did
you change the rules of game?
If you get elected as the next president, will we – (applause) – as a
woman president with lots of wars in our region, will we have less of
that? Because as for in – we see in the U.S. policy that the state of
defense takes over the ministry of foreign affairs. Would we need women
in that department – maybe just balance between the two – the militaries
and the dialogue and that? Thank you very much.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first, let me say that – (applause) –
I am encouraged and hopeful about the transition in Yemen. I know that
it has been difficult, but it has been largely, not completely – as you
know better than I – it has been largely worked out for the departure of
the prior president, the election of the new president, and there’s a
sense within Yemen and those of us supporting the transition that Yemen
has a real chance.
Now, Yemen has a lot of internal problems still, but we think that
the new leadership is trying to unify the country and help end some of
the internal conflict so that you can focus on development and
opportunities for the people of Yemen. One of the things that I’ve done
as Secretary of State, which is evidenced by this institute and project,
is to say that women’s issues have to be central to American foreign
policy. They are not a sideshow or marginal because we know that where
women are not educated, where women’s health is not cared for, where
women are denied the right to participate in their societies, the
societies are not as stable over the long run. They do not have the
benefits of half the population to participate in building a strong
society.
So we believe it’s not only the right thing to do, that every woman
deserves to have her universal rights respected, but we think it’s the
smart thing for the United States to do to support women and girls
around the world. And I’m working very hard to institutionalize that in
our government so that it is part of whatever might come in the future.
But I do think that you can’t make generalizations that simply having
a woman in a high office means you’ll have a different policy. But you
can say that having many women involved in the governments of countries
means that issues important to women will be on the agenda. (Applause.)
And that, to me, is a very important step.
If women are not in the halls of government, then women’s voices are
not going to be heard when budgets are written. I just met with Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, who is the Nobel Prize winner, along with Tawakul
Karman who was your great Nobel Prize winner from Yemen. And President
Sirleaf has just been reelected in Liberia. And if you have never seen
the movie about how women brought the civil war in Liberia to an end, I
hope you will look at it. It’s called Pray the Devil Back to Hell
. And
what that movie shows is that at a certain point, with terrible
killings and raping and mutilation and turning children into soldiers,
women said, “No, we can’t let this continue.” And Christian and Muslim
women came together. They marched together. They worked together. And
they demanded that there be a peace conference. So the peace conference
was held in a neighboring country, in Ghana, and a large group of the
women went over to where the peace conference was being held and sat
down and wouldn’t let the men out of the room until they made a peace
deal. (Laughter.)
Now I say – (applause) – part of the reason why this happened is
because it was women losing their husbands and their sons. It was women
watching the misery of their daughters and their sisters and their
mothers. And it was women who finally said, “Enough.” We need more women
at all levels of society to say that – “Enough. Enough with the
fighting.”
In some ways, it’s a lot easier to fight and kill than it is to
nurture and build. I mean, if you go back to war, it’s because that’s
what people know how to do. They’re not so sure how to build a
parliament or how to make a government work, but they know how to kill
each other. We have to end that. We have to say that is unacceptable.
And wives need to tell their husbands and mothers need to tell their
sons, “We deserve better than this. We deserve schools and hospitals.
Not more killing.” So I think women can make a difference. (Applause.)
QUESTION: Thank you. Hello. My name is Ann Malama. I came from
Kosovo. I’m proud to say that Kosovo, such a small country, has give
the world such a great woman that is Mother Teresa.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes.
QUESTION: I want to say that in Kosovo now, we have a woman
president as well, and 40 women elected – one-third of women elected in
parliament – and we are doing a great job. But as everyone knows, the
fighting, or the battle for woman rights is an unfinished battle.
But today, I want to ask you for another thing. Kosovo is a small
country and not recognized by many countries, and we are urged to became
a member of United Nations because we want to participate in different
organizations. I want to ask you what our – I know that you are doing a
lot, but how can we do more – let Kosovo to became a United Nation and
also to have more recognition because this is the condition. Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I work on this all the time. Kosovo
does have a young, dynamic woman president who I have met with numerous
times. She was a police officer, and she became a police officer because
she was tired of all the insecurity and the crime and the conflict. So
she became a police officer, and she did so well in a country where
women were not always given responsibility in the old days, that she
became chief of police and now she’s president of Kosovo.
And I am working very hard, and while you’re here, you should talk to
all of your fellow participants about recognizing Kosovo – I think it’s
up to 89 countries – and we hope that we’ll get to even a higher
number. There is an unfinished area of concern to us between Kosovo and
Serbia. Those of you may know that when Madeleine Albright was Secretary
of State, the breakup of Yugoslavia led to a terrible ethnic cleansing
in Kosovo where Kosovar Albanians were put on trains and taken out of
the country. It was horrible. And the United States, along with other
countries, took action to stop that.
But there are still areas where borders have to be absolutely
recognized, and where people living inside of Kosovo who are not
Muslims, who are not Kosovars, but are Serbs and who are Christians –
Orthodox Christians – they have to learn to live together. And this is
one of the biggest problems we face is getting people of different
religions, different races, ethnicities, tribes, clans, to actually
coexist peacefully with each other.
And I’ve spent so much of my time trying to persuade people to get
along with each other. (Laughter.) And it’s quite a challenge because if
you think that the other – whoever the other is – is less than human,
is an infidel, is illegitimate, then you see no reason why you should
have to talk with that person, let alone work with that person. I’ve
spent a lot of time helping to work on what was a very old conflict in
Northern Ireland between two branches of Christianity – between
Catholics and Protestants. They were killing each other, they hated each
other, they didn’t go to school with each other, they didn’t work with
each other, they didn’t live with each other. And I remember people
around the world saying, “Well, why are they fighting? They’re both
Christians.” And I say the same; well, why are Sunni and Shia fighting?
They’re both Muslims. Why are different tribes fighting? They’re both in
the same country.
But these ancient conflicts, these ancient disagreements and hatreds
prevent people from seeing the other person as a fully human being, and
that is one of our biggest problems. And so we’re working on trying to
resolve the lingering problems from what happened in Kosovo. We’re
trying to work to help the different communities in Bosnia and
Herzegovina work together. We’re working all over the world to try to do
that. But we need your ideas and we need your help as to how we can be
more effective.
MS. BOTTOMLY: This will be the last question. Oh, my goodness. (Laughter.) (Inaudible.) Over here, about the fourth row back, right there.
QUESTION: Thank you. My name is Adeed Bab from Israel. I’m the
advisor of the general manager of the ministry of interior. I’m very
excited to be here. I would like to focus on a personal question; I hope
it’s okay. For me, I’ve always wondered, what is the right path for me?
Until now, I’ve focused in the more professional status until now. And I
keep wondering if it’s the right position to really influence about
stuff in Israel, because as you all know, there is so much things to do.
So my question to you is: What made you get into politics and what made you change your course in 2001 for the first time?
SECRETARY CLINTON: That’s a very good question because when I
was at Wellesley, I was interested in public policy. I was interested in
how government worked. I did run for and serve as the president of our
college government. But I didn’t believe that I would go into electoral
politics. That’s not something that I thought I would do. I thought I
would be more of an activist in civil society. So I worked on a lot of –
I worked – I went to law school after Wellesley. And then my first job
was for something called the Children’s Defense Fund, where I worked on
behalf of abused and neglected and orphaned and mistreated children,
children who had all kinds of problems, that they were being left out of
school because they had disabilities, or they were denied healthcare
because their parents didn’t have money. And I really thought that’s
what I would do. And when I lived in Arkansas, where my husband was the
governor, I started another group called Arkansas Advocates for Children
and Families and worked on a lot of these issues, which really touched
my heart.
And then when my husband was elected President in 1992, I worked on a
number of issues, most prominently healthcare, which is a very
difficult political debate in our country, still going on as you, I’m
sure, either know or will learn. And I realized that a lot of the
changes that I wanted to see would take political will and political
action. But I didn’t think I’d run for office myself, and I’ll tell you a
little story as to how I decided to do that.
I was approached in late 1998 by political leaders in New York who
asked if I would consider running for the United States Senate from New
York. And I said no. I said that was not going to happen. And they were
very persistent and they kept coming at me and kept arguing as to why I
should run. And they, of course, had ulterior motives. That’s just
between you and me. (Laughter.) There was a very powerful candidate on
the Republican side, the then mayor of New York, Mayor Rudy Giuliani,
who was running for the Senate. And the Democrats in New York didn’t
think they could find anyone silly enough to run against him –
(laughter) – but thought that if I ran I could at least make a
respectable showing. I was kind of their sacrificial lamb, I think –
(laughter) – if you really thought about it hard. And I kept saying no,
and I kept saying no. And the papers – the news was filled with stories
about was I going to do it, was I not going to do it. And I was
determined that I was not going to do it.
As first lady, I went to New York City for a totally unrelated event.
It was an event about encouraging young women to participate in sports.
And I was introduced at the event by this very attractive young woman
who was a volleyball player, so she was about six inches taller than me.
(Laughter.) And there was a big banner behind the podium where I was
going to speak, and the banner said: Dare to Compete. And it was about
being a sports athlete. (Laughter.) That’s why I was there.
So this young woman introduces me, and I’m coming up and I’m shaking
hands with her, and she bends over because she’s so much taller than I
am. She whispers in my ear, “Dare to compete, Mrs. Clinton. Dare to
compete.” (Laughter.) I thought oh, no. (Laughter and applause.) Oh,
boy. That did it. (Laughter.) I thought, here I’d been someone telling
young women all my life do what you can, make good choices, get your
education, compete for what you believe in, whether it’s in your
community or your country, and my words were coming back to haunt me. So
I did make the decision.
But I would be quick to say this. I think there are many ways to serve. I
do not believe you have to be in elected office to serve and to make a
difference. There are excellent public servants, civil servants around
the world who are doing incredibly important work. They’re deciding
education policy, they’re opening up schools, they’re deciding health
policy, they’re immunizing children. There are excellent people in the
economy who are creating jobs and wealth and giving men and women a
chance for rising incomes. So I do not think that you can say there’s
only one route to public service or public leadership. I feel very
grateful for my eight years in the United States Senate and now having
served for three and a half years as Secretary of State.
So I think be open to opportunities, because when I was here all
those years ago I never could have predicted the course of my life,
never. I never could have sat where you are sitting and said to myself:
Okay. I’m going to graduate from Wellesley, then I’m going to go to Yale
Law School, then I’m going to meet a guy from Arkansas and I’m going to
fall in love – (laughter) – and then I’m going to move to Arkansas, and
then I’m going to marry him, and then he’s going to be governor, and
then he’s going to President. I mean, that is not how life works.
(Laughter.) I mean, really, right? (Applause.)
So I guess, finally, I would say you have to be true to yourself. You
have to believe in what you’re doing and who you are and the
contributions you can make. And they may be different from your
neighbor’s contribution and they may change over time as you change over
time. But each of you is here based on our assessment that you can make
a real contribution to your country at challenging times like the ones
we live in today. And we want to help you find your voice and your way
on your journey.
And I’m very proud that you’ve accepted the invitation and came a
very far distance to be part of this new initiative. And I hope that we
will be hearing from you in the future. And I will certainly do
everything I can, both in this position and in the years to come, to
support you and to support women like you who are trying to make this
world a better place for all of us. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
