Christina Asquith

All Things Considered interview with Neal Charnoff (8 minutes long)

Very interesting. In an interview with Sec State Hillary Clinton last month, NYTimes dip ed correspondent Mark Landler asked her if there was a link between our fight against terrorism and our promotion of women’s rights.  She said, essentially, yes. This link was first declared by Colin Polin in the lead up to the Iraq war in 2002.

This association is positive for women because it finally gives advocates a way to get aid up the priority list. And it gets people to think about fighting extremism by helping countries develop economically, rather than by bombing Baghdad or inflicting cruel, ineffective sanctions as in Cuba.

NYTimes Magazine, Aug 18th, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/magazine/23clinton-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

New York Times, Q: There are counterterrorism experts who have made the observation that countries that nurture terrorist groups tend to be the same societies that marginalize women. Do you see a link between your campaign on women’s issues and our national security?

Clinton: I think it’s an absolute link. Part of the reason I have pursued it as secretary of state is because I see it in our national security interest. If you look at where we are fighting terrorism, there is a connection to groups that are making a stand against modernity, and that is most evident in their treatment of women.

What does preventing little girls from going to school in Afghanistan by throwing acid on them have to do with waging a struggle against oppression externally? It’s a projection of the insecurity and the disorientation that a lot of these terrorists and their sympathizers feel about a fast-changing world, where they turn on television sets and see programs with women behaving in ways they can’t even imagine. The idea that young women in their own societies would pursue an independent future is deeply threatening to their cultural values.

Some comments by
Amb Steven Steiner in 2006, when he was coordinator in international women’s issues for the State Dept: “Kuwaiti women have gained full political rights enabling them to vote and to run for office. Morocco is on the leading edge of many promising reforms that advance women’s rights. Bahraini women voted and ran for office in 2002 elections, and two women are government ministers. In Saudi Arabia, two women were elected to the leadership of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry — the country’s first female elected officials. Oman and Qatar are slated for parliamentary elections next year, and, in both, women are expected to play roles as voters and candidates. We also take special note of the 67 women elected to the new Iraqi parliament, brave women from a wide range of ethnic and religious backgrounds representing the diversity of Iraq who are insisting that their voices be heard as their country charts a new, democratic course. Moreover, Iraq now has a flourishing and diverse civil society, with many independent NGOs led by women.
However, as we all know, women’s empowerment is more than the right to cast a vote. Under the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the U.S. Department of State is working with non-governmental organizations, the private sector, and other U.S. government agencies to give women the tools they need to realize their potential to contribute to meaningful democratic change in their countries.”

Does an increase in women in government actually lead to better legislation for women?
Yes, according to several new studies; but their is a twist.
More women in government leads to more attention to women’s issues, specifically things like divorce laws, day care, longer at-home leave and women’s health. Interestingly, one study shows that it is more effective to have women in cabinet positions than in the legislature. http://www.bepress.com/pso_poverty/vol1/iss2/art3/

However, what women do regarding those issues is another matter. Conservative women pass conservative legislation. Liberal female lawmakers pass liberal legislation. So, women who see abortion rights as a woman’s right, might not consider Sarah Palin’s nomination to the presidency as a victory for women’s rights.

In 1980, only 12 percent of legislatures and cabinets were made up of women (in the top 18 advanced industrial democracies.) In 2000, that figure was closer to 40 percent. In places like Iraq, women now represent 25% of the legislature, thanks to a mandatory quota won by women in 2004. However, many of those women are conservatives who want to implement Islamic law.

Whether that’s a step forward for women or not is up for debate.

Hillary Clinton ventures into the war-ravaged Congo, meets with a victim of gang rape, and pledges $17 million to stop sexual violence, including training doctors and getting girls into schools. Thank you Hillary. Compare her efforts to promote women to the Bush administrations deployment in 2003 of loyal Republican anti-feminists to promote democracy, capitalism and economic privatization in Iraq.

Since 1993 when I interned for Hillary Clinton, I have lamented the veiled sexism (esp in the media) that has stigmatized her career. Read NYTimes columnist Judy Warner observation that Clinton’s international efforts to champion women’s rights is overlooked by gossipy snipes about Bill upstaging her in North Korea. Warner calls it as she sees it: 
http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/12/hillary-fights-a-tide-of-trivialization/?em

Time will show that Hillary Clinton is a great lawyer, statesman and feminist.