A Powerful Voice for Women Around the World

A Powerful Voice for Women Around the World

Few secretaries of state have firmly held the reins of foreign policy. Critical decisions on international issues are usually made in the White House while the secretary clocks the frequent flyer miles as diplomat-in-chief. Secretary Hillary Clinton dutifully logged more miles than most.

One of her lasting contributions in that role was her indefatigable effort to make women’s rights a central component of U.S. foreign policy.

When Clinton first made an international name for herself on this issue, at the UN’s 1995 Beijing Conference on Women - where she memorably asserted that “women’s rights are human rights” - she framed the challenge in moral terms. But as secretary of state, she persistently connected the dots between women’s rights and major foreign policy concerns such as global economic development, food security, extremism and political stability.

On her trips abroad, she met with women farmers, small business owners, and grassroots activists. On a 2009 visit to South Africa, she spent more time visiting a women’s housing project outside Cape Town than she did meeting with Jacob Zuma, the country’s president. Some quietly criticized her priorities, complaining that Clinton was devaluing the office of secretary of state by meeting with so many, well, women. But Clinton defended her agenda and continued to bring her star-power to bear on raising the status of women and girls around the world.

Institutionally, Clinton implemented several important structural changes at State to ensure a sustained focus on women’s rights into the future. She made gender equality one of the critical pillars of the Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, the process she implemented to create a long-term road map for State’s economic development and diplomatic efforts.

She also created a new position, the ambassador at large for global women’s issues, which is charged with integrating gender across the work of the State Department.

President Obama made this a “permanent” post during Clinton’s last week in office.

Of course, nothing is permanent. Any of these structural changes could be undone by a new administration with different priorities. But given the compelling evidence about the importance of women’s rights to a range of foreign policy objectives – evidence that Clinton frequently cites – not to mention the poor optics of eliminating the Office for Global Women’s Issues, these changes are likely here to stay, and comprise an important part of Clinton’s legacy.

(2013-05-13/nytimes)