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HRC - "A Call to Action" League of Women Voters Book 7/25/95
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HRC - "A Call to Action" League of Women Voters Book 7/25/95
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NANCY NEUMAN
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P.01
NANCY M. NEUMAN
132 VERNA ROAD
LEWISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17837
1
To; Sabrina Corlette
From: Nancy Neuman, Editor [717-524-4713]
C
Re: Mrs. Clinton's contribution to the League of Women Voters Book
Date: December 15, 1995 This for is 11 pages
Our book has now been through the copy editor. I have been given
three weeks to return comments to the publisher. Unfortunately
those same weeks include the Christmas holidays!
I am pleased to report that Jossey-Bass, the publisher, likes the
book so much they have designated it as their "Big Spring Book!"
Our 28 contributors include former first ladies Betty Ford and
Rosalynn Carter, Martina Navratilova, Ada Deer, Condoleeza Rice,
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Maria Luisa Mercado, Donna Shalala, Nancy
Bekavac, Diane Yu, Antonia Hernández, Rebecca Walker, Judy Woodruff
and Gwen 11111. The publisher chose this title: A Voice of Our
Own: Leading American Women Celebrate the Right to Vote,
The copy editor did not make many changes to Mrs. Clinton's essay.
As you will see, the style she uses puts titles into lower case.
All titles are treated the same in the book, Each chapter will
begin with a photograph of the author and a brief biography.
Included in this fax is a copy of her biography with the copy
editor's comments. Please make any and all changes you want to
appear in the biography.
The copy editing was done in a computer program called
"CompareRite," so we can compare the original with the changes
suggested by the copy editor. Don't worry about the computer codes.
They are notes about formatting that don't concern us. We won't get
galleys, now that we are in the computer age. 1 will next get page
proofs on which I can do nothing more than fix typos. So this is
our chance to do a final polish. You are free to disagree with the
copy editor.
NANCY NEUMAN
7175244713
P.02
2
Here Is a chart showing how changes are represented on the copy
edited manuscript.
Text Treatment
How it Appears in CompareRite
X deleted text
* lined-out surrounded by { }
If
Inserted text
= shaded text surrounded by [ ]
*
replaced text
* lined out {} and followed by
new text that is shaded [ ]
X
moved paragraphs
# asterisk, number, and notation
where text was moved from
[*1], and a double asterisk,
number, and notation where
text was moved to [**1]
* queries
*
in bold and addressed to
AUTHOR: don't worry about
the ones addressed to me.
You can get back to me with changes by calling or faxing me at:
717-524-4713. If you have problems faxing me at that number, please
fax to the League: 202-429-0854. You can also call irene Carr at
the League: 202-429-1965 x292. Since I have to return the
manuscript on January 2, I hope you can respond as soon as
possible. lf I don't hear anything by December 28, I will assume
you will permit me to do the final editing. Thanks so much for your
help!
We are most grateful for Mrs. Clinton's willingness to participate
in this project. Please extend my thanks and greetings to her.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
NANCY NEUMAN
7175244713
P.03
@BIO.gHillary Rodham Clinton is (First-Lady) [first lady] of the United States. A graduate
of Wellesley College and Yale Law School, she became a staff attorney for the Children's
Defense Fund in 1973. A year later she joined the (Impeachment Inquiry} Limp achment
inquiry) staff of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives to work on
the Watergate (Impeachment) inpeachment proceedings. Following her marriage, (Mrs.
Clinton) [she] taught on the law faculty of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. As
{First Lady} [first-lady] of Arkansas for twelve years continued her
advocacy on behalf of children and families and also worked full time as a partner in a law
firm. She [has] served on several boards of directors, including the Children's Defense Fund,
Child Care Action Campaign, Children's TV Workshop and the Eleanor Roosevelt
Institute.
NANCY NEUMAN
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{A CALL TO ACTION}[@RHR:A Call to Action
{BY}[@RHL:A Voice of Our Own
(HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON}[@CT:A Call to Action
@CAU:Hillary Rodham Clinton
PAGER !PAGER CHAPTER CREDIT FOOTNOTE BELOW!!!
[@CFN:Note:] Adapted from remarks to the United Nations Fourth World Conference
on Women, Beijing, China{(}[.] September 5, 1995()).
[@TX:] It was a special honor for me as (First Lady} first lady] of the United States to
address the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. This important
gathering of the world's women in 1995 Is was a celebration{ a celebration of the
contributions women make in every aspect of life: in the home, on the job, in the
community, as mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, learners, workers, citizens and leaders.
It 115/ was also a coming together, much in the way women come together every day in
every country. We come together in fields and in factories, in village markets and
supermarkets, in living rooms and {board rooms} [boardrooms]. Whether it is while playing
with our children in the park(,) or washing clothes in a river{,} or taking a break at the
office {water cooler} [watercooler], we come together and talk about our aspirations and
concerns. And time and time again, our talk turns to our children and our families.
US
However different we may appear, there is far more that unites women than divides
us
women. We share a common future. And we seek common ground so that we may {help}
bring new dignity and respect to women and girls all over the world{}[-]and in so doing,
bring new strength and stability to families as well.
By gathering in Beijing in 1995, we focused world attention on [the] issues that
/
NANCY NEUMAN
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P.05
matter most in the lives of women and their families; access to education, health care, jobs,
and credit{,} [and] the chance to enjoy basic legal and human rights and to participate fully
in the political life of their countries.
There are some who criticized the United Nations for convening the Fourth World
Conference on Women. Let them listen to the voices of women in their homes,
neighborhoods and workplaces. There are some who wonder whether the lives of women
and gìrls matter to economic and political progress around the globe. Let them look at the
women going about their daily lives: the homemakers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, policy
makers, and women who run their own businesses.
A World Conference on Women compels {government} [governments] and people
everywhere to listen, look and face the world's most pressing problems. Wasn't it after the
ok
1985 Third World Conference [IIAUTHOR: "Third World Conference on Women"?]] in
Nairobi that the world focused for the first time on the crisis of domestic violence?
What we are learning around the world is that, if women are healthy and educated,
their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If
women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families
will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations will flourish. That is why
every woman, every man, every child, every family and every nation on our planet has a
stake in the discussion that took place at the conference in Beijing.
Over the past {25} [twenty five years, I have worked persistently on issues relating
to women, children and families. And as (First Lady) [first lady], I have had the
opportunity to learn [even] more about the challenges facing women in my own country and
around the world.
2
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I have met new mothers in Indonesia{} who come together regularly in their village
to discuss nutrition, family planning, and baby care. I have met working parents in Denmark
who talk about the comfort they {fell} [feel] in knowing that their children can be cared for
in creative, safe, and nurturing after school centers. I have met women in South Africa
who helped lead the struggle to end apartheid and are now helping to build a new
democracy. I have met with leading women of my own hemisphere who are working every
day to promote literacy and better health care for the children in their countries. I have met
women in India and Bangladesh who are taking out small loans to buy milk cows, rickshaws,
thread and other materials to create {a livelihood) [livelihoods] for themselves and their
families. I have met doctors and nurses in Belarus and [the] Ukraine who are trying to keep
children alive in the aftermath of Chemobyl.
One of our great challenges is to give voice to women everywhere whose experiences
go unnoticed, whose words go unheard.
Women (comprise) [make up more than half the world's population. Women are 70
{%} [percent] of the world's poor{,} and twof H- thirds of those who are not taught to read
and write. Women are the primary caretakers for most of the world's children and elderly.
Yet much of the work (we} women do is not valued {} not by economists, not by
historians, not by popular culture, not by government leaders.
At this very moment, women around the world are giving birth, raising children,
cooking meals, washing clothes, cleaning houses, planting crops, working on assembly lines,
running companies, and running countries. {Women} But women also are dying from
diseases that should have been prevented or treated; they are watching their children succumb
to malnutrition caused by poverty and economic deprivation; they are being denied the right
3
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P.07
to go to school by their own fathers and brothers; they are being forced into prostitution; and
they are being barred from the bank lending office and banned from the ballot box.
Those of us who have the opportunity to speak out, have a responsibility to speak up
for those women whose voices cannot be heard. As an American, I want to speak up for
women in my own country{-}I women who are raising children on the minimum wage,
women who can't afford health care or child care, women whose lives are threatened by
violence, including violence in their own homes.
I want to speak up for mothers who are fighting for good schools, safe
neighborhoods, clean air and clean airwaves{ For}] for] older women, some of them
widows, who have raised their families and are now (find} finding that their skills and
life experiences are not valued in the workplacef. For} for women who are working all
night as nurses, hotel clerks and fast-Ifood chefs(,) so that they can be at home during the
day with their kids{. And}] and for women everywhere who simply don't have time to do
everything they are called upon to do each day.
I want to speak for them and for women around the world who are denied the
chance to go to school, or see a doctor, or own property, or have a say about the direction of
their lives{,} simply because they are women.
prefer around
The truth is that most women {around} [everywhere in the world work both inside
and outside the home, usually by necessity. We need to understand that there is no formula
for how women should lead their lives. That is why we must respect the choices that each
woman makes for herself and her family. Every woman deserves the chance to realize her
God{}given potential. We also must recognize that women will never gain full dignity
until their human rights are respected and protected. The goals of the United Nations Fourth
4
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World Conference on Women HE to strengthen families and societies by empowering
women to take greater control over their own destinies cannot be fully achieved unless
all governments accept their responsibility to protect and promote internationally recognized
human rights.
The international community has long acknowledged that both women and men are
entitled to a range of protections and personal freedoms, from the right of personal security
to the right to determine freely the number and spacing of the children they bear. No one
should be forced to remain silent for fear of religious or political persecution, arrest, abuse
or torture.
Tragically, women are most often the ones whose human rights are violated. Even in
the late {20th} [twentieth] century, the rape of women continues to be used as an instrument
of armed conflict. Women and children make up a large majority of the world's refugees.
And when women are excluded from the political process, they become even more
vulnerable to abuse.
On (the} [this eve of a new millennium, I believe that it is time to break our silence.
It is time for the world to understand that we no longer find it acceptable to discuss women's
rights as separate from human rights.
{These abuses} Abuses against women) have continued because, 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.
Our voices must be heard loud and clear:
It is a violation of human rights when babies are denied food, for} drowned, or
suffocated , or [have] their spines broken(,) simply because they are born girls.
5
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P.09
It is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into slavery or
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
communities 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} [fourteen to forty-four] is the violence they are subjected to in their
own homes by their own relatives.
It is a violation of human rights when young girls are brutalized by the painful and
degrading practice of genital mutilation.
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.
If there is one message that echoes forth as a result of the Beijing Conference, let it
be that human rights are women's rights And) [and that] women's rights are human rights,
once and for all.
(aN)
Let us not forget that among those rights are the right to speak freelyf And} :1216E
the right to be heard. Women must enjoy the right to participate fully in the social and
political lives of their countries if we want freedom and democracy to thrive and endure.
Freedom means the right of people to assemble, M and debate openly. It means
respecting the views of those who may disagree with the views of their governments. It
means not taking citizens away from their loved ones and jailing them, mistreating them, or
6
NANC NEUMAN
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P.10
denying them their freedom or dignity because of (the) [their] peaceful expression of their
ideas and opinions.
In 1995 America celebrated the 75th anniversary of woman suffrage. It took almost
150 years after the signing of our Declaration of Independence for American women to win
the right to vote. It took 72 years of organized struggle on the part of many courageous
women and men for women to finally win the right to vote. It was one of America's most
divisive philosophical wars. But it was also a bloodless war. Woman suffrage was achieved
without a shot being fired.
In 1995 America also observed the 50th anniversary of the end of World War П.
We were reminded of the good that comes when men and women join together to combat the
forces of tyranny and build a better world. We have seen peace prevail in most places for a
half century. We have avoided another world war.
But we have not solved older, deeply Hrooted problems that continue to diminish the
potential of half the world's population. Now it is time to act on behalf of women
everywhere. If we take bold steps to better the lives of women, we will be taking bold steps
to better the lives of children and families too. Families rely on mothers and wives for
emotional support and care; families rely on women for labor in the home; and increasingly,
families rely on women for [the] income needed to raise healthy children and care for other
relatives. (As) Fret long as discrimination and inequities remain (so) commonplace
everywhere in the worldf as long as girls and women are valued less, fed less, fed last,
overworked, underpaid, not schooled and subjected to violence in and out of their homes
I
the potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be
realized.
7
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All of us must participate in a conversation about how to shape the changes we seek
in the world we share. Too often a deafening silence still sounds when women's concerns
and women's voices are raised. We must move beyond rhetoric, beyond recognition of
problems, to working together, to {have the} [joining in common efforts to build that
common ground we hope to see.
We must call the world to action. We must heed that call so that we can create a
world in which every woman is treated with respect and dignity, every boy and girl is loved
and cared for equally, and every family has the hope of a strong and stable future.
That is the work before ust, that}| That is the work before all of ust,} who have a
vision of the world we want to see for our children and our grandchildren. The time is now.
{* 1 moved from here; text not shown}
8