Embassy Events
Making A Difference: Women as Agents of Political Change
The American Experience
March 20, 2009
DOBAR DAN SVIMA.
JAKO MI JE DRAGO DA SAM OPET U ZENICI I DA IMAM PRILIKU GOVORITI O MJESECU MARTU KAO O MJESECU ŽENSKE HISTORIJE.
NADAM SE DA ĆE OVO NAŠE DRUŽENJE BITI I UGODNO I KORISNO.
Recently we celebrated International Woman’s Day. In the U.S., in addition to marking International Women’s Day, our Congress has designated the month of March as “National Woman’s History Month.”
Therefore, I am delighted to be here with you today to talk a bit about the U.S. experience in breaking down barriers for women.
The key point to recognize, I believe, is that women have been and must continue to serve as “agents of change,” not only to make their own lot better, but also to improve the societies in which they live.
In marking the celebration of International Women’s Day this year, our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton articulated this well when she stated that striving for full equality for women “is not simply a matter of emotion or altruism. A growing body of research tells us that supporting women is a high-yield investment, resulting in stronger economies, more vibrant civil societies, healthier communities, and greater peace and stability.
Let me first speak about the journey American women have traveled from disenfranchisement to empowerment. I would then like to talk a bit about the experience of women in my profession – diplomacy. Finally, I will offer a few conclusions about the challenges that lie ahead.
How have women served as agents of change in our past?
In answer to that question I would say that it’s important to note that women of tremendous courage played an important role in the development of the United States from the outset of our history.
They were prominent among the settlers who created the original 13 colonies, and among the pioneers who led the westward movement to make the United States a continental power. But the journey to equal rights, including the right to vote, took us 130 years.
The birth of the women’s rights movement in the U.S. was actually tied to the abolition movement. The exclusion of female abolitionist delegates from the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London inspired Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott to discuss the development of a women’s rights movement in the United States.
In July 1848, these two women joined with other like-minded women to hold the first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. There, they signed a declaration demanding equal rights for women, including the right to vote.
Interestingly, a leading Suffragist – Susan B. Anthony – tried to vote in the 1872 Presidential elections. She was fined $100 for breaking the law.
The dream of universal women’s suffrage in the U.S. was finally realized 72 years later (in 1920) when the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was adopted. (It states: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.)
The status of women in the U.S. took another leap forward during WWII, when women were recruited to work in factories and shipyards, to replace the men who had gone off to war. You’ve probably heard the term “Rosie the Riveter.” That was the term used to refer to the women who worked on the aircraft assembly lines.
At first there was resistance to women working in these occupations; but before long plant managers were clamoring for more women. Asked about this, one male executive told a reporter, “I’ll deny it to the end of my days if you use my name…(but) if I had my way now, I’d say to hell with the men. Give me women.”
At peak wartime employment, over 19 million women were employed. They constituted one third of the civilian work force.
First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, was a huge proponent of women’s rights. She encouraged women to press for their rights, including equal pay for equal work, expansion of daycare services, and a role in public policy.
The Civil Rights movement was another chapter in U.S. history in which a number of courageous women played a critical role.
A notable example was the story of Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, who, on December 1, 1955, violated a city ordinance in Montgomery, Alabama, by refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a local bus. Her act led to a boycott of the local bus system and helped to transform the civil rights cause into a mass political movement.
A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Alabama’s segregated seating was unconstitutional. And in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act, which offered additional protections against racial discrimination.
Therefore, it’s fair to say that the spark Rosa Parks lit helped irrevocably change America.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act also prohibited discrimination based on sex. This clause has been used successfully to promote greater equality for women in employment and education.
Of course the battle for full equality – ending job discrimination, guaranteeing equal pay for equal work, etc. – continued over the ensuing decades and is still continuing today.
Nonetheless, there’s no question but that today the human landscape of the U.S. is significantly different. Since 1964, women have comprised more than half of the U.S. electorate.
Women are successful in every sector of society – including government, business, media, medicine, and academia. Many hold leadership positions.
Also, women are demonstrating tremendous bravery through service in our armed forces. In 1950, women constituted 2% of the armed forces. In 2005, that number had risen to 15%.
My profession – diplomacy – has also experienced an important evolution in the role of women.
Secretary Clinton recently noted that the idea of women diplomats was first proposed during Thomas Jefferson’s presidency.
Jefferson’s response was: “The appointment of women to office is an innovation for which the public is not prepared, nor am I.”
In 1874, the Department of State hired five female clerks as the Department’s first full-time female employees.
It wasn’t until almost a half a century later that the barriers began to lift and women began to enter the diplomatic service. Nonetheless, up until 1972, if a female Foreign Service Officer got married, she had to resign.
When I first began my career, 25 years ago, there were only a handful of women in senior positions at the State Department. Now, a significant proportion of senior State officials are women.
Hillary Clinton is now the third woman to serve as Secretary of State. Many more women are Ambassadors and, in recent years a slight majority of new recruits entering the Foreign Service have been women.
So can we declare victory? Unfortunately not.
Gender inequality and discrimination still persist. This is true in the U.S. and other advanced countries, but it is particularly true in parts of the world confronted with severe poverty and conflict.
Women are still the majority of the world’s poor, unfed, and unschooled. Far too many still die in childbirth or are victims of rape – including as a tactic of war.
I know that the women of Bosnia know these forms of discrimination and violence all too well, and have struggled courageously to overcome this oppression.
Following the war here, former U.S. Ambassador to Austria, Swanee Hunt, wrote a book titled “This Was Not Our War.” The book profiles 26 women from all different parts of BiH, from different ethnic and social-economic backgrounds who worked for peace and reconciliation.
Of course, I realize that for each of the 26 names, there are hundreds and thousands more women not named who have pursued this same cause.
Adversity can often bring out the best in people – especially women. As former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt once said: “Women are like teabags. We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.”
Promoting human rights and equality for women is a key element of U.S. foreign policy. We are deeply committed to helping women everywhere peacefully remove the barriers to political, economic, and social empowerment.
We believe that it is particularly important for women to be heard at the political level, for democracies to function successfully anywhere in the world.
In a ceremony at the State Department last week --recognizing women from around the world who have demonstrated exceptional courage in fighting for a freer and more humane world -- First Lady Michelle Obama summed this up well when she said: “The women we honor today teach us three very important lessons.
One, that as women, we must stand up for ourselves.
The second, as women, we must stand up for each other.
And finally, as women we must stand up for justice for all.”
Thank you very much. Now I’d be delighted to take your questions.