THE "WOMAN THING"
Baby boomer women are the one group of individuals that doesn't grow more conservative with age--and we are the generation of radicals who said "Well-behaved women seldom make history." We are the women who changed the reality of the United States.
We are the women who brought this country equal credit, better pay, affirmative action, the concept of a family-focused workplace; the women who established rape-crisis centers and battery shelters, marital-rape and date-rape laws; the women who defended lesbian custody rights, who fought for prison reform, founded the peace and environmental movements; who insisted that medical research include female anatomy; who inspired men to become more nurturing parents; who created women's studies and Title IX so we all could cheer the WNBA stars. We are the women who reclaimed sexuality from violent pornography, who put childcare on the national agenda, who transformed demographics, artistic expression, language itself. We are the women who forged a worldwide movement. We are the proud successors of women who, though it took more than 50 years, won us the vote.
We are the women who now comprise the majority of U.S. voters.
Hillary said she found her voice in New Hampshire. There's not a woman alive who, if she's honest, doesn't recognize what she means.
So listen to her voice:
"For too long, the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words.
"It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls. It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution. It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small. It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communiteis and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war. It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes. It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.
"Women's rights are human rights. Among those rights are the right to speak freely --and the right to be heard"
That was Hillary Rodham Clinton defying the U.S. State Deparment and the Chinese Government at the 1995 UN World Conference on Women in Beijing.
Time is short and the contest is tightening. We need to rise in furious energy--as we did and do for women globally who are condemned for trying to break through. We need to WIN, this time. Goodbye to supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton tepidly, with apologetic smiles. Time to volunteer, make phone calls, send emails, donate money, argue, rally, march, shout, VOTE.
Me? I support Hillary Rodham Clintin because she's the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because she's refreshingly thoughtful. I needn't agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama's--and teh few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she's already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first U.S. woman president, but as a great U.S. president.
As for the "woman thing"?
Me, I'm voting for Hillary not because she's a woman --
but because I AM!
We are the women who brought this country equal credit, better pay, affirmative action, the concept of a family-focused workplace; the women who established rape-crisis centers and battery shelters, marital-rape and date-rape laws; the women who defended lesbian custody rights, who fought for prison reform, founded the peace and environmental movements; who insisted that medical research include female anatomy; who inspired men to become more nurturing parents; who created women's studies and Title IX so we all could cheer the WNBA stars. We are the women who reclaimed sexuality from violent pornography, who put childcare on the national agenda, who transformed demographics, artistic expression, language itself. We are the women who forged a worldwide movement. We are the proud successors of women who, though it took more than 50 years, won us the vote.
We are the women who now comprise the majority of U.S. voters.
Hillary said she found her voice in New Hampshire. There's not a woman alive who, if she's honest, doesn't recognize what she means.
So listen to her voice:
"For too long, the history of women has been a history of silence. Even today, there are those who are trying to silence our words.
"It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, or drowned, or suffocated, or their spines broken, simply because they are born girls. It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into the slavery of prostitution. It is a violation of human rights when women are doused with gasoline, set on fire and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small. It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communiteis and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or prize of war. It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes. It is a violation of human rights when women are denied the right to plan their own families, and that includes being forced to have abortions or being sterilized against their will.
"Women's rights are human rights. Among those rights are the right to speak freely --and the right to be heard"
That was Hillary Rodham Clinton defying the U.S. State Deparment and the Chinese Government at the 1995 UN World Conference on Women in Beijing.
Time is short and the contest is tightening. We need to rise in furious energy--as we did and do for women globally who are condemned for trying to break through. We need to WIN, this time. Goodbye to supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton tepidly, with apologetic smiles. Time to volunteer, make phone calls, send emails, donate money, argue, rally, march, shout, VOTE.
Me? I support Hillary Rodham Clintin because she's the best qualified of all candidates running in both parties. I support her because she's refreshingly thoughtful. I needn't agree with her on every point. I agree with the 97 percent of her positions that are identical with Obama's--and teh few where hers are both more practical and to the left of his (like health care). I support her because she's already smashed the first-lady stereotype and made history as a fine senator, because I believe she will continue to make history not only as the first U.S. woman president, but as a great U.S. president.
As for the "woman thing"?
Me, I'm voting for Hillary not because she's a woman --
but because I AM!
