Blogs and Stories
Global Power Gals
)
Chip East / Reuters
At this week’s Clinton Global Initiative, everyone from stars to CEOs called on the world’s top corporations to invest in women’s empowerment. Lynn Sherr reports.
Diane Sawyer called it “a convergence.” Ambassador Melanne Verveer, who runs the newly created Office for Global Women’s Issues in Hillary Clinton’s State Department, said “we’re at a tipping point.” And former President Bill Clinton connected all the dots: “I think empowering women is central to what the world has to do in the 21st century,” he said flatly, introducing the panel on “Investing in Women and Children” at the Clinton Global Initiative’s second day of meetings in New York City.
The critical word was “investing,” and if ever a case was to be made that its time is now, it was up on the stage at the Sheraton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan this morning. With Sawyer moderating before a thoroughly appreciative crowd of several hundred business and philanthropy leaders—not to mention former Senator and astronaut John Glenn, and actors Goldie Hawn and Ben Stiller—six panelists emphasized the successes and challenges in funding projects focusing on girls and women around the world.
In modern war, 90 percent of all casualties are civilians; 75 percent of them are women and children.
“Investing in women is investing in families,” said Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, whose 10,000 Women project aims to give that many women in developing countries business degrees so they can be productive in the world of commerce.
• Gallery: The Ultimate Power Women's Dinner “I don’t think people should see this as giving a special advantage to girls and women,” explained Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank. “It’s frankly just trying to help them catch up.”
So why now? And why girls and women? The statistics are chilling, and there are plenty:
• When times are tough, and prices go up, it’s the girl who is taken out of school.
• When there’s not enough food, the boy gets fed; the girl doesn’t.
• And it’s worse in time of conflict. In modern war, 90 percent of all casualties are civilians; 75 percent of them are women and children.
And yet, even in war, women are succeeding, said Zainab Salbi, a survivor of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq who now runs the nonprofit Women for Women International. She told the story of a woman from Congo, who had been brutalized and raped and lost a leg to the rebels, but with the help of Salbi’s organization now runs a business that is making a profit. Women, she said, “are the ones who are taking the kids to school, they are the ones who are keeping the health system going. So I find it amazing that the only group of people who are not fighting and are not burning and not raping, and the only group of people who are actually keeping life going in the midst of wars, are not being heard and not being included at the decision-making table.”
Edna Adan, founder of a hospital in her native Somalia bearing her name now (and the first woman to drive there!), said the single most important gift was “the gift of knowledge,” to wipe out the illiteracy that has kept women down for so long. Her own rise in a country that has not long appreciated women’s value was the result, she said, of “determinedness and hard-headedness.”
But as Ambassador Verveer pointed out, “Government can’t do it alone. What has really changed in the last, recent years, is the way that the business community has now come and joined this fight. Not in the greatest numbers yet,” she lamented, “but I think that’s changing, because the business community realizes it’s in its interest.”
The Right Dumps Carrie
Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
What's Joe's Problem?
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Geithner's Stock Plummeting
Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
Ariel Sharon's Twilight Zone
Lynn Sherr is a former ABC News correspondent, author of Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words and Tall Blondes, a book about giraffes. She is also co-editor of Peter Jennings: A Reporter's Life. Her most recent book, a memoir—Outside the Box: My Unscripted Life of Love, Loss and Television News—is out in paperback.
Can Women Save Philanthropy?
Lynn Sherr is a former ABC News correspondent, author of Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words and Tall Blondes, a book about giraffes. She is also co-editor of Peter Jennings: A Reporter's Life. Her most recent book, a memoir—Outside the Box: My Unscripted Life of Love, Loss and Television News—is out in paperback.
Maria's Race Against Time
Lynn Sherr is a former ABC News correspondent, author of Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words and Tall Blondes, a book about giraffes. She is also co-editor of Peter Jennings: A Reporter's Life. Her most recent book, a memoir—Outside the Box: My Unscripted Life of Love, Loss and Television News—is out in paperback.
Great article Bill Clinton is a visionary who was all to human, Que the republican sex jokes though.
This user is no longer registered.
This user is no longer registered.
Bill Clinton really empowered this woman....21 yr.old Monica Lewinsky, didn't he? What a man!
Where were all of you when Bill was getting oral sex (workplace sexual harassment) form an intern? In our White House?
Where was the outrage?!
That's what I am talking about?
Bill Clinton, John Edwards, and Mark Sanford walk into a bar..........
...and wave to John Ensign, Larry Craig, and David Vitter.
...and the barman asks Sanford: "Why the long face?"
How clever that you would try to turn an interesting article on an important issue into an old and stupid joke. I guess, being perfect or perhaps merely ignorant, you cannot understand the difference between personal pecadillos and a professional commitment to useful public policy. Or maybe you're just another wiseass unable to understand complicated issues--the woods these days are full of people like you who can only turn discussions into idiotic Rep vs Dem, us vs them rants.
Regardless of your inane attempt at humor, women are mistreated and their potential to contribute to their countries, their families and society in general blunted by the bloody governments under which they live. The sooner the world begins to appreciate and allow to flourish half of its population, the better off we will all be.
Maybe if Bill Clinton treated his spouse as equal, respected her as an equal, in his private life, we would not hear jokes. There is an old saying for people like Bubba, "Do as I say, not as I do." I believe that this is Clinton's attempt to repent his personal sins in a public forum.
Regardless, I believe women are equals to men and have been getting the shaft in our society and in the business world. I believe in diversityin the workforce whether its minorities or females. We can all learn from one another and become better people.
Pricklypear hasn't grown up yet. Man woman issues.
Self-righteous carouzer: See my comment to idicua1979.
Get a sense of humour, gal.
It always amazes me how women hold Bill Clinton in high esteem. The way he publicly humiliated his wife with his numerous affairs, his sordid laiasons with a college intern in the Oval Office, plus his countless daliances with women throughout his career clearly indicates that he is a world class cad. Plus a liar to boot.
Their relationship wasn't just about the sex, stupid.
Are you 12 years old?
That's right... their relationship has been mutually beneficial for power.
No ozone
But I know you are just a male who doesn't get it, and never will. Pity.
Does mommy and daddy know you are on the computer when you should be studying?
It should not amaze you. Bill Clinton loves and respects women, all sorts of women, from the Bimbos to the Brainiacs. He does not hate women like so many womanizers do. As president, Bill Clinton was the best thing that happened to women. Most of this was undone by the clown that followed him. Back we went to the white males that started senseless wars and screwed up the financial world. Bill Clinton, if he were able to run again for president, would be re-elected in a landslide. And it would be a great thing for this country.
"Bill Clinton was the best thing that happened to women"
Compared to who? Ted Kennedy? Bobby Brown? Do you realize how ridiculous a statement that is? The man is a serial adulterer. A sleazy one at that. Do you realize the false sense of security we lived in under the Clinton Adminstration re Islamic terror? He didn't even respond to NYC when the WTC was first bombed in 1993! he was preoccupied with polls, focus groups and chasing skirts every chance he got.
You also just described JFK. People are not black and white. You can do great things and leave a great legacy even as you leave a dismal record in other areas. Plus people tend to forgive the infidelity when the spouses do. Infidelity is first and foremost an offense against the spouse. If the spouse moves past it, who are we to hang on to it?
Let's ask Juanita Braddock's opinion Heres a Quote from Billy boy's mouth 'If I were you I put ice on that lip" This is after the rape.
Let's see a court document which is the only source that could certify the statement you make. Where is it?
This troll posts the same claim every time Bill Clinton's name surfaces on TDB, and no proof has been provided by this commenter in regard to this claim.
The discussion is a good start. The link to the Global Fund for Women:
http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/cms/
In the process, we must not allow a newly educated female population to be exploited as they are and have been in so many countries.
And while we're at it, let's make the U.S. a better model for economic equality for women.
Awesome article.
Guys...this article is not about Bill Clinton. If Hillary has forgiven him...why do we need to keep discussing it. And he did not rape anyone, all these women wanted to be with him. The issue is women empowerment. If you go to developing countries, the issue is much more deeper and serious. Let's appreciate what his initiative is trying to accomplish. I support any dialogue that pushes women rights.
Women are objects? How can women get equal rights if men treat them like objects that are there for their gratification. Women should be treated with respect.
Jess Bill did rape don't be naive, a poll showed 80% believe Juanita was raped.
You don't think that Bill Clinton had his selfish moments, when he put himself first, lied to the public, probably lied to his wife, and possibly inadvertently made little kids think that everyone appears to be, when in a position of power, do or get done what have you under the table when on the phone doing the nation's business.
So the free market appears to be manipulated by swinging dicks choosing to act stupid. Since when is that news?
Women patronizing other women. Rich women taking poor women's kids. Women as social workers/policeofficers process other women into labels not fit for cheese let alone human consumption. Women following rules blindly without questioning authority.
Millions and millions of people are dying from preventable diseases, and now here comes the flu hysteria, where it sounds like people could be taken away to quarantine places to stop the spread of the flu.
Everyone knows emergency housing is a lot more expensive that regular housing, but who fear mongers the most when they see a homeless person? Who keeps looking over their shoulder or accuses someone they are following them, when grocery shopping because they are a woman and can get away with fear mongering?
This is just one more crumb thrown at the poorest of the poor to get a tax deduction before tax time, in my opinion.
Thank you.
As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. It can take anywhere from a few hours to a day or two for your comment to be reviewed, depending on the time of week and the volume of comments we receive.
Please log in to leave comments.