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Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. fax cover
Carol Beach to Michael O'Mary (partial) (1 page)
10/19/1997
P6/b(6)
002. fax cover
Christy Macy to Michael O'Mary (partial) (I page)
nd
P6/b(6)
003. fax cover
Christy Macy to Michael O'Mary (partial) (I page)
nd
P6/b(6)
004. fax cover
Darcy Bacon to Michael O'Mary (partial) (1 page)
nd
P6/b(6)
005. memo
Lissa [Muscatine] to Michael [O'Mary] re Speech and Column
09/21/1997
P6/b(6)
Samples (partial) (1 page)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Speechwriting (Noa Meyer Subject Files)
OA/Box Number: 17210
FOLDER TITLE:
Speech Candidates Column [1]
2012-0869-S
kc918
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act |44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office |(a)(2) of the PRA|
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRAJ
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute |(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors |a)(5) of the PRA]
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRAJ
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
h(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells |(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
File.
Speechwriter
Candidates
]
OCT-17-97 FRI 17:37
P.02
TURNING FIFTY
(DRAFT)
I may have dreamed of easing quietly into turning 50, but it sure isn't happening that way.
The first clue my 50th birthday wouldn't be allowed to pass like any other came 50 days
before the actual date. My staff had conspired with my husband and Chelsea to stage a
spectacular surprise, gathering 50 of the people who are dearest to me holding candles and
talking about what we've meant to each other. I can't imagine a more wonderful gift.
My staff manages to surprise me every year. Once it was a country and western party
complete with gingham skirt and kerchief for mc. But 50 days before October 26th, I didn't have
any idea something might be up. I was overwhelmed and thrilled-- and they were probably
pretty pleased with having caught me totally by surprise once again.
Fifty doesn't feel very old to me. It's about halfway between the age of my own mother and
my daughter. But knowing I've been alive for a full half century is more daunting. Just in my
lifetime we've seen the battles over civil rights, equal rights for women, Vietnam; the rise and
fall of the Berlin Wall; the spread of AIDS; and the first steps on the moon.
It's natural to take stock at the start of a new decade. I've watched my husband turn 50 first.
He saw this milestone a bit the way he sees getting underway in his second term-that nostalgic
sense of having more yesterdays than tomorrows. He wants to make the most of every day and
every experience, I guess that means he doesn't expect to live past 100. He should be more
optimistic. Statistics already show that if you reach middle age without any significant health
problems, there's a good likelihood now you may live into your nineties.
Turning 50 so soon after Chelsea left home for college reminds me again (in case I wanted
to avoid thinking about it) that I'm starting a new phase of my life. Another birthday doesn't
bother me as long I can keep on doing things I care about. For the first time I no longer have a
child at home, but I believe there's no more important issue than children and how we care for
them. And no subject is more likely to bring out deep-seated feelings and disagreements. But
much of our workforce is now made up of two-income families and single parents. As a nation,
we need to make sure child care lets children thrive and parents feel confident. And it has to be
accessible. We got off to a great start at the White House conference last week. I want to give
a lot of encrgy to this issue in the years ahead.
Our society doesn't traditionally honor age the way Oriental cultures do. Most of us don't
live with our parents and grandparents nearby so we miss being able to draw every day on all
they know. And we aren't always there to give the extra care they may need whether they admit
OCT-17-97 FRI 17:38
P.03
it or not.
Today's culture often seems more preoccupied with seeking eternal youth than savoring
the good aspects of age. Yet we all can think of wonderful role models in our own lives for how
we'd like to be as we grow older: men and women fifty, sixty, seventy and beyond who relish
life and inspire us with their wisdom, spirit, and accomplishments.
I like the fact that women turning 50 today have such an array of choices about what to do
next. We haven't inherited any one pattern for how to live the way many of our mothers did. I
think our feelings about becoming fifty (or any age) depend a lot on choices we've made getting
there. These choices may be about work that provides the satisfaction and security we need.
They may be about relationships with family and friends. Or they may be about where we find
peace and strength in our day-to-day lives or our inner life.
The hoopla being planned in Chicago for my birthday, fireworks and all, makes more of
my turning 50 than I ever imagined in my wildest dreams. But I can't think of any more fun way
to celebrate than revisiting the hot spots of my youth with old friends. If 1 navigate this
birthday the best 1 can, maybe some woman in her twenties, thirties or forties will relax and say,
"I think I'll like being her age."
(753 words)
FROM :
PHONE NO. :
Oct. 19 1997 09:54PM P2
DRAFT
"Turning 50"
Did you know that every 7.5 seconds an American turns 50? Today, it's my turn.
At least, I'm in great company.
I've never been very comfortable with public introspection. Before we came to
Washington, this particular birthday wouldn't have excited the national media or
generated much anxiety on my part.
In the old days, it would have meant dinner and a movie with Bill and Chelsea.
Now I find myself on the cover of Time, and shocked to find what was supposed to be a
low-key birthday celebration with my hometown friends turned into a full-scale gala,
complete with fireworks. It's been so much fun, though, I've almost managed to forget
that the Cubs didn't make it to the World Series.
I certainly can't complain. Your expressions of affection and good wishes have
been so gratifying, even as they've served as a constant reminder that I'm now a half-
century old.
Besides turning 50, this year has marked another significant milestone in my life:
Chelsea's departure for college. My wonderful staff knew how much I'd dreaded that
day. Maybe they thought that, combined with the BIG birthday, I'd spiral down into
some kind of depression.
So, on September 7 (50 days before the BIG day), they gathered 50 of my friends
for a surprise White House ceremony. Every day since, someone's given me a gag gift.
There's E-Mail for Dummies (so I can talk with Chelsea on-line) and fake pep pills.
Still to come is their annual "surprise" theme party. Each year, on the designated
day, I'm presented with an appropriate outfit to wear. In the past, it's been a Dolly
Parton wig and cowboy boots, or a poodle skirt and saddle shoes. I can't wait to find out
what's up this year.
All this attention has put me in a reflective mood. My husband, always more
nostalgic and philosophical, has talked publicly about how turning 50 last year affected
him. Bill says he now thinks more about the long-term implications and consequences of
everything he does. In one rather gloomy observation, he's quoted as saying, "Becoming
50 gives me more yesterdays than tomorrows."
It's true that this birthday comes at a time when some doors have closed; but
others are opening. On the downside, of course, is Chelsea's departure, as well as the
FROM
PHONE NO. :
Oct. 19 1997 09:55PM P3
-2-
uncertainty of what we'll do after we leave the White House. But, there's much to look
forward to, as well.
In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir wrote, "It is in the autumn and winter of her life that
woman is freed from her chains." Women's lives were once so structured - so
constrained by convention and tradition - that life after children must have felt like being
freed from chains. Now, with so many choices before us throughout our lives, the post-
child-rearing years often mark just the beginning of another new and exciting stage.
Gail Sheehy advises women to look at the years after 45 as the infancy of another
life. I guess that means I'm about to start Kindergarten.
I've been so blessed. No one could have asked for better parents - a mother and
father who laid a rock-solid foundation, taught me Christian values and instilled in me a
love of learning and life I've never lost. It's true that my husband and I are more in love
today than when we married. And, no mother could be prouder of her daughter. Chelsea
has brought nothing but joy to my life since the day she was born.
Now, though, it's time to walk through that next door.
Children's issues will always be a priority for me. Childcare, children's health,
education all of these are areas where I hope my experience and celebrity, however
fleeting, will combine to bring much-needed attention and action.
If I keep myself busy, maybe I won't notice that the nest is a little emptier, and
that I'm having a tougher time reading the fine print.
I often reflect on the remarkable and inspiring life of Eleanor Roosevelt. She
turned 50 in 1934, one year into her husband's presidency. In 1945, the year Franklin
died, President Truman named her to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations, where
she was instrumental in drafting the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. She was re-
appointed by President Kennedy in 1961 and remained an active Democrat until her
death in 1962.
When asked about growing older, poet and author Judith Viorst replied, "I'd
rather grow azaleas." Well, fellow 50-year-olds, we are growing older. I can't wait to
see what's next.
Column Candidates
Comment Sheet
Name:
1.
2.
3.
SEP-25-97
THU
8:56
CHARTER SCHOOLS
The day after we left Chelsea at Stanford University, full of excitement as she begins the
next stage of her education, my husband and I went to San Carlos, California to the state's first
charter school to study an educational development that is brightening the futures of children
across the country.
We met with teachers, parents, administrators, and students who told us about their
experiences building charter schools. These are public schools, supported and chartered by the
states, open to all students, and accountable for their performance. But they are unique because
they are freed from the red tape of traditional school bureaucracies. In San Carlos, we heard
about what worked and why; the problems and frustrations they've encountered; and lessons
learned.
I've been caught up in the challenges facing our education system since 1983, when Bill was
governor of Arkansas and entrusted me with chairing a committee to make schools better. There
are certain things I've come to believe deeply that help explain why charter schools make sense.
First, children learn differently and are smart in varied ways; we need to tailor schools to
respond to their individual needs and talents. Second, the key to good education is to have high
expectations-- of students, of teachers, and of parents-- and then give them a hand in making
changes happen. Third, good ideas are contagious.
The day my husband took office in January, 1993 there was just one charter school in the
country. Now, supported by legislation he passed in Congress in 1994, there are 787, serving
over 100,000 students in 24 states. These schools were started by many different kinds of
people-- teachers, administrators, community groups, businesses.- who want to make our schools
better. Let me tell you about just a few places that reflect the extraordinary diversity and
promise of charter schools.
Earlier this year, I visited the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center outside Los Angeles.
Once one of the lowest-achieving elementary schools in the area, grossly crowded and bordered
by a neighborhood of broken-down crack houses, it's been transformed into one of the country's
most exciting charter schools. Stressing the crucial involvement of parents, Vaughn has an
onsite Family Center to help the school's mostly poor Latino and Asian-American familics get
the basic health and social services they need, from immunization and dental care to parenting
classes. Parents volunteer in the school in return for the services. The school requires students
to wear uniforms, provides after-school tutoring and gang prevention programs, and calls
students' homes when they are absent, resulting in an attendance rale of 99%.
SEP-25-97 THU 8:56
P.03
Another acclaimed charter school, Boston's City on a Hill, was founded by two teachers
from traditional inner city schools where they felt they had only minimal influence shaping
decisions. They chose to spend (and risk) their careers building an alternative school where the
diploma truly means something. It's only granted when children have earned it by demonstrating
they've mastered a demanding set of academic skills that they'll need to compete in the 21"
century world they're entering. City on a Hill takes advantage of all the great resources of
Boston: art classes are held in museums; the gym program uses the YMCA. Students are
required to get involved and work in the community to link school to real world experience and
learn in practice the values underlying our democracy. They also can't graduate if they haven't
learned to swim.
The first charter school in the nation, City Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, was started to
attract and serve children who'd dropped out of school. One of the main reasons for its
tremendous success was the involvement of twenty school drop-outs who helped design and
create a school they'd want to attend.
Charter schools aren't without problems. The start-up costs are high. They sometimes face
opposition from entrenched bureaucracies reluctant to give up control. They need to be
scrutinized closely from the start in deciding who gets charters, how they'll be managed and
their performance judged. If charter schools don't perform, they can be closed down. A handful
have been.
In November, Secretary of Education Dick Riley will convene a national conference on
charter schools in Washington so they can learn from each other and we can learn from them all.
This year's budget calls for funds for another 500 schools. Charter schools are already proving
what exciting things can be achieved when we relinquish the idea that one size fits all in
American education and give the people who know and care most about our schools a free hand
to find new and better ways for children to learn.
(770 words)
09/25/97
12:45
GRAHAM/MUSCATINE - 4565709
NO. 676
002
FROM :
PHONE NO. :
25 1997 07:34AM P2
DRAFT
Charter Schools: A Gift to Our Community
September 24, 1997
I wish you all could have been with Bill and me when we visited the San Carlos Charter
Learning Center, one of the very first charter schools in the nation. It was a day I'll never
forget.
We had just left Chelsea at Stanford, one of the toughest moments we've ever endured as
parents. Visiting San Carlos was just what the doctor ordered.
San Carlos is a good news story - one of hundreds taking place every day all across the
country. It's a school that works. Volunteers gave 20,000 hours of time to create the
Charter Learning Center. When it was created, one of the organizers said, "The granting
of the San Carlos Charter is a gift the community has given to itself the gift of the
opportunity to create choice for all learners."
That's what charter schools are all about.
Charter schools are public schools operated under a charter or contract They may be
organized by parents, teachers or others from the community, but the idea is that, in
exchange for public funding, they are freed from the regulations and red tape that stifle
effective innovation. In addition, they are held accountable. If they don't meet the high
expectations they've set for themselves, their charter is revoked.
In 1991, Minnesota became the first state to pass a charter school law. Now, merely six
years later, there are 700 charter schools in 29 states.
As parents, we all know what works for our children: clear expectations that all children
can and should learn; manageable school and class size; an orderly classroom
environment; the close personal involvement of at least one teacher with each child; a
commitment to tailoring instruction to how different children learn; and active parent
participation.
These are pretty fundamental principles. Yet, in too many cases, our public schools have
become too big too industrialized Gone are the basic ingredients once considered
requisite to a good education That's where-charter schools come in.
I've been privileged to visit charter schools all across the country. At San Carlos, Bill
and I saw a business run by students at the school. Eleven to 14-year-olds develop and
market inexpensive games and software for children of all ages.
At the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center, principal Yvonne Chan showed me where
crack houses used to stand next to the school. She fought for state funding to bulldoze
09/25/97
12:46
GRAHAM/MUSCATINE -> 4565709
NO. 676
D03
FROM
PHONE NO. :
Sep. 25 1997 07:34AM P3
the houses and build new classrooms. What Chan is must proud of, though, is her
students' daily attendance rate- 99%.
Another California school has lengthened the school year to 200 days. Jingletown was
created by Oakland's Hispanic community, long frustrated by the school district's refusal
to provide a bilingual middle school. The longer school year, combined with a longer
school day, allows the school to provide study hall, art and music classes that are no
longer offered in the district's regular public schools. Jingletown parents clean
bathrooms and provide food services for one hour each week, allowing the school to
spend precious resources in the classroom, where they belong
Early on, critics complained that charter schools would serve only the affluent. Actually,
the opposite is true. Charter schools are serving more minority and at-risk students than
anyone ever expected. Michigan's charter schools have more than twice the minority
enrollment of the public schools.
Here's one of my favorite stories: Pam Girod, a teacher in Minnesota, used $9,000 of her
own money to fund the Cedar-Riverside Community school for students from a
community housing project who had no neighborhood school.
I could fill a year's worth of columns with stories just like these. Parents, in partnership
with energetic educators, are making them happen all across the country.
The President and I are determined to take the lessons we've learned from these stories
and use them to infect every public school in America. In November, Education
Secretary Richard Riley will convene a national conference on charter schools, bringing
together teachers, administrators, parents, and others who are interested to share their
very best ideas.
The recently enacted balanced budget agreement contains enough money to set up
thousands more charter schools across the country. At San Carlos, Bill announced the
release of $40 million in grants to establish 500 more charter schools right away. We
want to see 3,000 - or even 4,000 - charter schools in operation by the year 2000.
Charter schools are about giving people a chance- - about empowering parents, teachers,
and communities. But, most of all, charter schools are about doing what's best for our
children.
3
TALKING IT OVER (758 words)
Last week, my husband and I flew to California to get Chelsea settled in at
college. It was a difficult time for me as a mother, but as First Lady I had a
different experience.
While we were in California, the President and I visited the San Carlos
Charter Learning Center, one of our nation's emerging charter schools. There, we
encountered a vibrant community of dedicated teachers, students and parents
working together to meet the diverse needs of their children. It was easy to see
success on the smiling faces of those kids.
I don't think anyone would deny that a strong public school system is crucial
to the health of any nation. As we are so often reminded, today's children are
tomorrow's doctors, teachers, business owners and parents. We all agree that
every child, from every background and in every part of the country, deserves the
opportunity to develop his or her God-given potential.
For that reason, the President and I have devoted a lot of time and attention
to education reform. While Bill was Governor of Arkansas, we went Into the
schools to learn what was needed. We worked on many issues, but one of the
things we heard expressed frequently was a desire for public school choice. Before
long, Arkansas passed a law granting parents more freedom to choose which
school their child attends.
Charter schools -- which have developed in the last five years -- take the
element of choice one step further. Charter schools are public schools which are
not bound by ordinary regulations but instead are created under contracts specific
to them.
Each child is different, and each child has a different set of talents as well as
needs. Sometimes it takes a particular kind of environment to truly nurture a
child's gifts. Because charter schools operate under a set of guidelines that they
themselves have established, they have the freedom to develop innovative
techniques -- or to reinstate effective old ones -- to meet the varied needs of their
students.
Many advocates of school reform believe that schools would be more
effective if, like businesses, they were answerable to their customers -- in this
case, students and parents. Charter schools are accountable: In order to keep their
charters, they must maintain high standards, and they must satisfy the people they
serve.
And charter schools are satisfying people all over the country. In Pacoima,
003
California, a charter has transformed the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center
from a place where drug deals were happening on school property to one of the
most promising schools in the nation. Among Vaughn's many successful facilities
is a Family Center, a one-stop referral center which helps families obtain health and
social services.
In San Diego, the O'Farrell Community School clusters its students in
"families" headed by a single teacher for three years, so as to keep track of
students' progress. Community service is a requirement for graduation, and the
school has a counseling center to help students with nonacademic problems.
In Massachusetts, where there are currently twenty-two charter schools,
studies show that the overwhelming majority of participants are delighted with the
results. Eighty percent of the parents and students surveyed reported that their
charter school experience was superior to that of their previous school, and
seventy-five percent of the parents reported that their child's interest in learning
has increased at the new school.
Beyond educating our children, charter schools educate us -- about what
does and doesn't work for our students. Far from leaving other schools behind,
these learning centers provide models to be emulated. With some care and
attention, what succeeds in one school can be adopted by another. In this way,
every school will be encouraged to act like a charter school, and students across
the nation will enjoy improvements in the ways they learn.
There are now over five hundred charter schools across the United States.
Because these schools often use money already allocated for public schools, they
are cost-effective. But they need additional support to get started. The President
recently released $40 million in grants to help these schools get up and running,
and I share his hope that every American will see the value in funding these
schools.
Charter schools represent what is best about America -- diverse groups of
teachers, students, parents and members of the community joining together to take
responsibility for meeting the needs of our children. We can improve the quality of
education in this country. In fact, we are already doing so, and charter schools are
leading the way.
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. fax cover
Carol Beach to Michael O'Mary (partial) (1 page)
10/19/1997
P6/b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Speechwriting (Noa Meyer Subject Files)
OA/Box Number: 17210
FOLDER TITLE:
Speech Candidates Column [1]
2012-0869-S
kc918
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act [44 U.S.C. 2204(a)|
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA]
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency |(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute |(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information [(a)(4) of the PRA
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information |(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA]
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRAJ
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells |(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
[00 i
FROM : Teach House
PHONE NO. :
P6/(b)(6)
Oct. 19 1997 09:54PM P1
P6/(b)(6)
Bethesda, Maryland 20814
P6/(b)(6)
Facsimil e transmittal
To:
Michael O'Mary
Fax: 202-456-5709, 6244
From: Carol M. Beach
Date: 10/19/97
Re:
Draft Column
Pages: 3
CC:
Urgent
For Review
Please Comment
X Please Reply
Please Recycle
PLEASE DELIVER DIRECTLY TO MICHAEL O'MARY
SELF MAGAZINE
10/17/97 FRI 14:40 FAX 212 880 8982
1:32-1:33
Meredith Vieira to introduce Rochelle Udell
1:34-1:40
Rochelle Udell Special Presentation
Hillary Rodham Clinton Video
1:40-1:41
Closing Remarks
Beth Brenner or Rochelle Udell
100
10/17/97 FRI 14:39 FAX 212 880 8982
SELF MAGAZINE
SELF
magazine
TO:
Mike O'Mary
Via Fax # 202-456-6244
FROM: Sue Samour
(212) 880-7228
RE:
Pink Ribbon Luncheon . Agenda
DATE: October 17, 1997
Mike -
Here is the program agenda to give you an idea of how the luncheon will run. Also, note the other
award winners - titles, and affiliations. Carol Baldwin, by the way, is the mother of the actor
Baldwin Boys. She is a breast cancer survivor and has established a Breast Care center with
Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island. If you need bios on anyone, just let me know and
I can send them over.
The
The Conde Name Publications Inc. 350 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017 212-880-8800 Fox 212-880-8982
SELF MAGAZINE
1
002
10/17/97 FRI 13:03 FAX 212 880 8982
Remarks for Hillary Clinton
Publisher
Editor
Thank you Beth and Rochelle for this very meaningful award. On behalf of
President Clinton and myself, we are very honored to receive SELF Magazine's
Pink Ribbon. SELF has been a prominent leader in the movement to fight breast
cancer. The world has come to recognize the pink ribbon as the international
breast cancer symbol thanks to SELF, Their commitment to this disease by
presenting ground-breaking editorial and developing unique programs is
unparalleled in the publishing industry. The President is truly sorry he could not
be here today. This award has special meaning to him since his mother suffered
and passed away from this disease. We know that this disease touches 1 in 8
women - and those women are getting younger every day. We are proud of the
big steps the Administration has taken with regard to prevention and improving
the quality of research and education. We are dedicated to continuing in that
direction.
We congratulate the companies and Individuals being honored with you today.
Your contributions have made a significant difference and are saving peoples'
lives. We salute you and commend you on this work. We believe strongly in
what SELF Magazine is doing, and thank you very much for this special award.
Fuesh-
idell
Brenner
Rainbow Room
VI. 12-2:30
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DRAFT SPEECH
It was two years ago that I was last in Northern Ireland. I remember travelling on
Ormereau Street, heading towards my meeting at the Lamplighter Café and being aware
of the violence that had erupted on that very street just weeks before. The weather was
rainy and cold and gray, much as it is today, but I remember my visit here in a glow of
warmth and optimism. And that's because I was privileged enough to share some tea and
spend some time with the woman whose life we are here to honor this afternoon: Joyce
McCartan.
In a country dimmed by the darkness of violence and fear, Joyce McCartan held out a
light of compassion and faith. A light that spread beyond the bullet chipped borders of
her café, her neighborhood, and even her country. I know it touched me.
This was a woman who, after her youngest child was killed at the age of 17 - just a year
younger than my own daughter is today - did not stop, or even pause, in her work to end
the violence that has taken too many of Ireland's sons and daughters. She did not allow
herself to become twisted by bitterness and hate, but instead chose to continue her search
for common ground.
This was a woman who endured, and endured gracefully, despite the fact that 18
members of her own extended family had been killed in the troubles. Despite the fact
that she was a Catholic married to a Protestant in Northern Ireland. Despite the fact that
she faced her own poverty and hurt and despair.
This was a woman who believed that the responsibility for a solution to her country's
problems rested not on someone else's shoulders, but upon her own.
"It's ordinary people who are getting killed," she told me. "It's ordinary people who are
going to stop it."
That's why she started her own business, her café, providing two full-time and seven
part-time jobs to the community. That's why she founded Mornington Enterprises to
train people in catering, office work, painting and decorating and technology. That's why
she started the Women's Information Drop-In Center, to provide support to women, both
Catholic and Protestant, and to work at solving the community's well-entrenched
problems of poverty, illiteracy, joblessness and despair.
She thought that the women of Northern Ireland were uniquely qualified to help bring an
end to the violence here. I believe she was right.
Joyce McCartan, and other women like her, have done much of the important work of
problem-solving and job creating and national healing that is so important for creating
peace in Northern Ireland. And, my travels throughout the world have shown me that the
women in Northern Ireland are not alone in this effort. Around the globe women are
taking it upon themselves to nurture societies so that democracies can grow.
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After all, it's after the fighting is done, after the papers are signed, and after the wooden
boards come off the store windows when SO much of the real work of democracy building
takes place. That's because democracy is much more than free elections, open markets
and well crafted constitutions. These are necessary prerequisites to building a
democracy, but like ingredients for an elaborate recipe, alone they are not enough.
Democracies work best when children are taught democratic values and are nourished
with good education, good health care and good role models. Democracies work best
when women are full participants, when racial and religious groups are not relegated to
the side-lines, and when the right climate is created for businesses to prosper.
Democracies work best when men and women and children are free from violence and
crime and are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
For Democracy to succeed it must be more than a method of governance, it must become
a system of values. And the values that make democracy possible - opportunity,
responsibility, tolerance and respect for human dignity - must be internalized in people's
hearts and minds and everyday lives.
Some of the women who have been instrumental in trying to create democratic societies
have achieved high positions or have attracted a certain amount of fame: Women like
Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma and of course your own former President Mary Robinson
who is now doing such a terrific job as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
But most of the work of democracy building is achieved far from the spotlight. Instead it
takes place in dusty fields and corner cafés; in weathered school houses and bustling
community health clinics. Places where day after day, ordinary women do the heroic
work of creating democracy.
Women help nations learn to live peacefully with their neighbors; even if those
neighbors look different or practice different religions and customs. That's certainly
true here in Northern Ireland where women have worked to build bridges between
counties, between neighborhoods and between religions. And it's true in many other
places around the world: Just look at the women of South Africa - both black and white
- who were critical in the struggle to end apartheid. And the women of Bosnia - Croats,
Serbs and Muslims who came together to transcend long-standing ethnic hatreds. I've
seen it in Israel, where women are working for stability in that violence-weary land. And
I've seen it in my own country where women have fought for equal rights for minorities
and to end gang warfare in our inner cities. Women are the world's peacemakers, and
they are more.
Women work to create communities that are safe and healthy. In South America,
women have joined forces to improve literacy and health care for women and children. In
Belarus women are working to bring quality health care to the critically ill children of
Chernobyl. And in Cape Town, women are building houses to replace the squatters
camps that have inadequately sheltered their children for too long.
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This work of democracy building is not simple. My own country has been laboring with
it for more than 200 years and there is no end to the work in sight. But the truth is,
democracy is not something that ever really reaches perfection or completion.
Democracy is less like building a house - a task that has a beginning, middle and end -
and more like building a fragile castle made of sand. Just as the sand castle is constantly
threatened by sea and wind and the kicks of playing children, so is democracy constantly
at risk by the everyday corrosive effects of hate, of prejudice and of intolerance; of
joblessness, illiteracy and poverty.
Joyce McCartan understood this, as do many other women around the world.
Women in this country know the care that it's going to take strengthen a land that has
endured too many decades of violence and fear and so have committed themselves to
providing that care. What unites them is their knowledge that just as they have shared the
pain of their homeland's troubles - so they share the responsibility of bringing them to an
end.
There is a poem on the wall of the Lamplighter Café. It says: "Never be afraid to expect
the impossible to be possible."
Here in Northern Ireland, for too long, too many things have seemed impossible: Simple
things like knowing freedom from violence and fear; like experiencing peace of mind
when your child walks out the door; and like living in a place where getting a job does
not depend upon your religious background.
Democracy's success depends on making these things possible. It depends on the success
of places like the Women's Information Drop In Center on Ormereau Street, and the
Grameen Micro-Credit Bank in Bangladesh. It depends on the literacy programs and the
voting projects and the values that we instill in our children. It depends on the willingness
of people to transcend hatred and prejudice for the greater good of a just - and
democratic - society.
It depends on the work of women like Joyce McCartan - and those of us who live on in
her legacy.
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OCT-19-97 02:40 PM
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REMARKS FOR SPEECH IN HONOR OF JOYCE MCCARTEN
OCTOBER '97, UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER
Greetings and thank you. It is a great pleasure to be back in
Northern Ireland, to visit with your president, Mary Robinson, and
to reunite with 80 many of the courageous women and men whom I met
when I first came here two years ago with my husband. Once again,
you've made me feel so welcome. It's also a great privilege to
participate in this lecture series in honor of one of Ireland's
great peace makers -- Joyce McCarten. Thank you for inviting me.
I find it a particularly eloquent tribute that this event in her
memory is being held at such an historic moment in Irish history --
as the leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant
communities are sitting down for the first time in over 25 years to
discuss how to end a generation of violence. It's a milestone that
so many of you have longed for 50 deeply, and worked for BO hard.
I believe -- as I'm sure you do -- that this first effort toward a
lasting peace would not have taken place without the tenacity and
courage of women like Mary Robinson and Joyce McCarten.
As some of you may know, I met Joyce during my 1995 visit here, and
spent an afternoon with her and a number of other women at the
restaurant Ye Olde Lamplighter, which is part of the Women's
Information Drop-In Center that she helped found. She told me
about the work of the Center, and how her efforts to bring Catholic
and Protestant women together for peace had evolved into plans to
strengthen the local economy. Joyce understood how the struggle
for peace must also overcome the deep-rooted causes of violence:
poverty, limited education, and joblessness. She knew she had to
empower women in their own lives in order to promote the cause of
peace and justice in her country.
As we talked, I could see that as much pain and suffering as Joyce
and the other women with us had endured over the years, as they
watched their sons, husbands, brothers and friends lose their lives
in this terrible struggle, that her vision was always toward the
future. She was on a mission to promote understanding, to save
lives, to preserve families, to defy history.
While I had never met Joyce before, I felt, in a strange way, that
I had met her many times, and seen her compassion in other eyes as
well. Her yearning for a more peaceful and democratic world
resonates through the ages, and stretches across the globe.
Joyce follows in the well-worn footsteps of strong and courageous
Irish women over the years -- women like Betty Williams, Mairead
Corrigan, and SO many others, who despite the unbearable loss and
pain in their own lives, have spoken out in the universal language
of reconciliation and non violence.
Mothers. Wives. Daughters. Ordinary citizens. Their insistent
voices for peace -- raised sometimes in a roar, sometimes in a
whispered prayer -- have inspired women around the world to pursue
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their claims for more open, democratic, and peaceful communities.
And this chorus can be heard today, in the Middle East, in Bosnia,
in Haiti, and wherever people are working to end the violence and
start the healing in their families and nations.
As First Lady, I've been privileged to travel widely overseas, and
have met the world's top leaders. Yet it's often in small
communities -- sitting around a kitchen table or at a local
workplace, and talking with women like Joyce about how they're
improving their lives and strengthening their families -- where
I've learned the most valuable lessons. And one of those lessons
is the central role that women are playing -- and have always
played -- in the building and sustaining of democracy around the
world.
When we talk about democracy, we talk about the highest of ideals:
freedom of religion; freedom of association; freedom of speech and
the press; freedom to participate fully in the civic and political
life of your country. But democracy is also about every citizen
having equal access to education, health care, jobs, and credit.
Democracy is about upholding human dignity, and giving people
choices. And it confers to every individual the right to live up to
his or her God-given potential.
Democracy, in other words, is the fulfillment of our deepest
yearnings to live in a just and peaceful world, and it speaks a
universal language of hope. Our poets seem to best capture this
profound sense of longing. And here, I'd like to draw on one of
America's great poets and an African American women, Maya Angelou,
who stands as a powerful and often painful reminder of America's
own struggles - past and present -- to gain civil rights and human
dignity for every citizen. She writes: "The caged bird sings with
a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still; and his
tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of
freedom."
Yet what we've learned over the years is that these lofty ideals
and beautiful words are only made real through the every day
efforts of ordinary citizens. Yes, we need the laws and a system
of justice that upholds those laws. But democracy is nurtured and
sustained in the hearts of people; in the principles they stand
for; in the way they conduct their daily lives; and in the lessons
they teach their children before they tuck them into bed at night.
And that's the profound yet simple lesson that Joyce McCarten and
BO many women understood BO well. These grass roots struggles
against sectarian violence teach us, once again, that democracy
calls us to live peacefully with people who are different from
ourselves -- whether they live across the street or on the other
side of the world. That love of family runs deeper than calls to
hatred. That faith can bring us together instead of divide us. And
that an extraordinary power is unleashed when ordinary women reach
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out to their neighbors to find common ground, and are empowered to
begin solving problems in their own communities.
The power of ordinary women making extraordinary contributions to
peace was again recognized by the world a few weeks ago, when the
Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an American activist, Jody
Williams, who helped lead the international campaign to ban
landmines. Like Joyce McCarten, she didn't have a large office or
major funding: her effectiveness lay in her ability to organize
people in a grass roots campaign around a common cause: to protect
the world's children.
But today, while we celebrate these women for their invaluable work
on behalf of peace and democracy, we must also begin to acknowledge
the contributions of others whose names we do not know, and whose
work still goes unheralded. By putting the spotlight on women
working in the front lines, we will broaden the lens of our own
understanding about what it takes to sustain the spirit and
institutions of democracy around the world.
The women I've met here in Northern Ireland who are working with
young people to break the cycle of hatred are surely at the
forefront of the fight for democracy. Because what does freedom
mean if we can't overcome division and suspicion, and find our
common humanity?
Women involved in microcredit operations in small rural villages in
Bangladesh, India, Nicaragua, and Chile, are in the business of
strengthening democracy. Because what does freedom mean if people
don't have equal access to the financial resources that enable them
to gain independence and self sufficiency?
Women in South Africa and in some of America's inner cities who
have set up domestic violence councils are contributing to the
strengthening of democracy. Because what does freedom mean if a
woman is afraid to leave her home, or protect her children, because
of a violent husband or lover?
Women in Zimbabwe and Bolivia who are setting up rural health
clinics are champions of democracy. Because what does freedom mean
if families are denied access to basic health care services, and
women are denied the right to plan their own families?
Women in Romania and Estonia who are leading electoral education
projects are on the front lines of democracy. Because what does
freedom mean if people are ignorant about the procedures for
electing their own representatives?
And women in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Thailand who are campaigning
for the right of girls to get an education are making an invaluable
contribution to democracy in their countries. Because what does
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freedom mean if women are denied the knowledge and opportunity to
participate in the free flow of ideas?
Women are not only critical to advancing democracy and free market
economies in every corner of the globe. They are redefining the
very notion of what we mean by a democratic society.
Historically, however, these efforts been overlooked and under
appreciated. It's time to bring their achievements out in the open
and to celebrate them as well. In fact, I see a growing part of my
work now, as I travel around my own country and other nations, is
to pull back the curtain on women's emerging roles in promoting
democracy.
Doing so is important for two reasons. First, the efforts of women
to build strong families, to reach out to others different from
themselves, to teach their children tolerance and compassion, and
to empower themselves and others to lead productive and independent
lives, should be recognized for the simple reason that we can all
learn from them, and be inspired by their efforts.
But more importantly, democracy cannot flourish if women aren't
full partners in the social, economic, political and civic lives
of their communities and nations. Validating their contributions
will help deepen movements for change, and ensure greater progress
toward democracy. Women are the world's greatest untapped
resource. We must begin to unleash the full power of their vast
potential.
In the last presidential election in the United States in 1996,
people were surprised that so much attention was being given to
"women's issues." All of a sudden, the swing vote was in the hands
of "soccer moms" who were talking about the stress of parenthood or
drugs in school or the lack of quality day care for their children.
But why should this have surprised us? The topics that women talk
about around the kitchen table -- whether it's in a small town in
Chile or a row house in Belfast -- are in fact the issues that we
need to listen to the closest.
Women are concerned with questions that impact the entire
community: how to balance work and family; how to improve the local
public school; how to stretch their budgets to cover the rent; how
to protect a neighbor who is the victim of domestic abuse. They
want to stop the violence on TV; and they want to teach their
children to play with kids who are different from them. Yet when
I talk about many of these issues, they are often dismissed as
"marginal," or only "women's issues." During the United Nations
Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing a few years ago,
I said that women's rights were human rights, and human rights were
women's rights. Yet that unremarkable statement set off a
firestorm of controversy.
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When will people understand that the concerns of women and families
are universal concerns that are at the heart of our civil society?
When will people understand that strong families and nurturing
communities form the foundations of a free nation? When will
people understand that solving problems like day care and health
care and education and teen violence -- still called "women's
issues" -- will be the most critical test of our entire generation?
Today, we face a daunting challenge. The most formidable threat to
democracy is no longer a communist monolith with imperial designs.
It's the volatile economic and social conditions that come with the
growing disparity of poor and wealthy; with ongoing discrimination
and bigotry; and with the collapse of the old order. Democracy is
weakened wherever there's the dissolving of a sense of community.
And democracy is threatened whenever and wherever the full
partnership of women is held back.
We must strengthen the laws and institutions and alliances that
uphold the principles of democracy and freedom -- in our own
countries and in fledgling democracies around the world. Perhaps
most importantly, we must keep the spirit of democracy -- our
deepest hopes for a better future -- alive.
No one has to remind the women of Ireland how rocky and hard is
this path toward justice, or how fragile are these efforts toward
peace. Yet if there's anything we've learned, it's the willful
determination of women here and around the world to listen to the
message of their hearts, and to persuade others to respond to their
better angels. Your gifted Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, claims for
poetry this special power: "the power to persuade that vulnerable
part of our consciousness of its rightness, in spite of the
evidence of wrongness all around it." I would say that women too
hold that power.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said that "The future belongs to those who
believe in the beauty of their dreams." It's difficult to imagine
a more compelling beauty than a true and lasting peace here in
Northern Ireland. Please know that women around the world stand by
you as you take the risks for peace. The future belongs to you, and
as you pursue it, may God hold all of you in the palm of his hand.
10/20/97
MON 13:39 FAX
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It's wonderful to be back in Northern Ireland. There are so many memories that
my husband and I will always cherish from our trip here two years ago. The lighting of
the Christmas tree outside City Hall - and its illumination of hope in Belfast. Our walk
from Guildhall Square to Shipquay Street. And the day that I had the personal privilege
to meet Joyce McCartan. As we talked with other community leaders at the Lamplighter
restaurant, I was struck, as many of you have been, by Joyce's spirit, by her warmth, her
resilience, and, yes, her humor. But, by something else as well.
In her extraordinary life, we see the ordinary lives of too many women around us:
the anguish of losing relative after relative to bullets and bombs, the unspeakable grief of
having your own son taken away so brutally, SO senselessly, so young. But, in Joyce's
strength and determination, we also see the strength and determination of women
throughout Northern Ireland. Because the history of "The Troubles" is the history of
much more than what divides us. It is the history of women like Joyce McCartan, who
have worked tirelessly to unite us in common cause. Women like Mairead Corrigan and
Betty Williams, Nobel Prize winners in 1976 who took to the streets to take back the
streets. Women like Pearl Sagar and this University's own Monica McWilliams who
today are giving women a voice and a seat at the all-party talks and the chance to create a
future of peace and opportunity that leaves no citizen behind. Women who are taking
responsibility for their families and their communities. Women who are defying history
to rewrite history. Unsung heroes, most of them. Like Joyce, they are not experienced
diplomats or high-ranking officials. They are mothers and workers and community
leaders who didn't wait for someone else to point the way. Instead, they looked around at
the kids who couldn't play outside safely, at the violence that had infested their lives, at
the poverty and despair, and simply said "No more."
It is quite possible that because of them, because women like Joyce McCartan
had experienced the everyday blessings of peace and refused to go back, that we are now
watching the promise of peace rise again in the hearts and lives of people from both
traditions. We are watching handshakes and conversation replace silence and
confrontation. We are watching new jobs fuel new hopes. And we are watching simple
acts of normalcy, never before possible, like the gathering of 40,000 people to see U2's
first concert in Belfast just two months ago.
This is a truly historic moment, with important choices and new opportunities for
peace, prosperity and progress, a chance that we cannot let slip away. And not only in
Northern Ireland. All over the world, old hatreds are healing into new alliances. Amidst
the rubble of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, tender shoots of democracy are
springing up and setting down roots. People once restrained under the boot of oppression
have arisen to create free elections, free press, free markets, and a new sense of
community. And the approach of the new millennium challenges us to heed the lessons
of the past and focus on the possibilities of the future. Entering a new millennium is
actually a bit like turning 50, which is something I've learned about recently. You can't
avoid it or postpone it - even if you try. It's a time for both celebration and reflection.
But, like turning 50, the most important question about the new millennium is not when it
will be the year 2000 or 2001 but where will we be? When our children turn 50, will
they look back and know that we did all we could today to ensure that all citizens can
reach their God-given potentials tomorrow? Will we have shown once and for all that
the progress of democracy is inextricably tied to the progress of women?
During the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, I said
that women's rights are human rights - and human rights are women's rights. One would
think that wouldn't be such a extraordinary statement today.
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I remember one man in particular who called up a radio program I was on for the
Voice of America. He wanted to know what my statement about women's rights really
meant. I told him to think about all the rights men have and apply them to women: the
right to be valued as a member of a family, to be treated with simple dignity, to have
equal access to the tools of opportunity - like health care, education, legal rights, political
rights, and economic empowerment. We must make it clear that democracies cannot
survive and thrive if rape is used as a weapon of war, if girls are trafficked as prostitutes
and slaves, and if domestic violence forces women to live in fear. Democracies cannot
survive and thrive if one half of the population is more likely to be poor, illiterate,
uneducated, and denied access to critical health services. Democracies cannot survive
and thrive - and families and communities cannot thrive unless we empower women to
claim their rights as citizens, to protect their dignity as human beings, and to participate
fully in every aspect of our nations. Quite simply, democracies cannot survive and thrive
if women cannot survive and thrive.
I was thinking about all of this recently on my visit to the Panama Canal. I saw
how a simple twist of a handful of levers can unleash million of gallons of water, bridge
two different oceans - indeed two different worlds -- and send huge ships on their way for
the benefit of all. It's the same with democracy. Because when women in Northern
Ireland and around the world have access to, knowledge about, and the power to use all
levers of democracy, when they join together to create one force for progress, I have seen
them too bridge worlds and unleash vast powers for the benefit of all.
Just as they are doing here, when women grab the levers of democracy in the
Middle East, Bosnia, and Rwanda, they are fostering reconciliation and renewal. When
women grab the levers of democracy in Romania, they are developing a new pedagogy
that emphasizes civic participation and democratic values. When women grab the levers
of democracy in India, they are earning money of their own, buying their own vegetable
carts, threads, and other materials, and generating income for themselves and their
families. And when women grab the levers of democracy in South Africa, they are
coming together to end the plagues of domestic violence and child abuse that have
infected all of our nations.
Yet whether women are building new democracies or sustaining old ones, and
whether they are making these contributions in their homes or communities or
workplaces or schools, their stories are all too often ignored. In Washington, I had the
privilege of serving as the honorary chair for a new memorial honoring the women in the
American military services, who, without much fanfare, have sacrificed to serve our
nation during times of war and peace. One of them, Clara Barton, was a Red Cross nurse
in our Civil War. Her words, now etched in one of the glass panels above the memorial,
still speak to all of us today. She said, "Woman has stood like a rock for the welfare and
glory of the history of the country, and one might well add unwritten, unrewarded, and
almost unrecognized." For generations, pioneers like Clara Barton and Joyce McCartan
have struggled to make sure women's contributions are written about, rewarded, and
recognized. They have worked to make it clear that a house divided upon itself -
whether it be a home, a community, or a nation - cannot stand. And in so doing, women
have helped write an on-going story of democracy and inspired each generation to write
the next chapter. For democracy's work is everyone's work and democracy's work is
never done. As the poet Eilean Ni Chuilleanain wrote, "I said to the other sisters, each of
you will have to do the same when your day comes. This one has finished her turn."
Though Joyce finished her turn much too early, her lessons will live on -- not only at the
University of Ulster, not only in Northern Ireland, but also in the future generations of
women all over the world whose days have come.
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One of those lessons Joyce taught was that "nothing separates us." At the
Women's Information Drop-In Centre, in Beijing, in Eastern Europe, in Africa, and
throughout the world, I have met women who work in fields and factories, in corporations
and homes. Whether at the kitchen tables or the conference tables, and whatever their
differences of race, culture, and religion, they are doing what women have always done
talking to each other in the same language of hope, articulating many of the same dreams
for our children, and all the while trying to the find common ground to meet common
challenges. That doesn't mean that women will always agree. Nor should that ever be
our goal. I remember sitting around a table with women in Poland who were engaged in
one of our most essential democratic acts: disagreeing with each other without being
disagreeable or disrespectful. It also doesn't mean that women should be a monolithic
group. What we have fought for - and will continue to fight for - are choices about our
roles and dreams. Choices about where to work and when. Choices about whether to
have a child and when. And choices about whether to contribute to the political process
as a community leader like Joyce McCartan or a national leader like Mary Robinson. I'm
told that during Benazir Bhutto's term as Prime Minister in Pakistan, Lady Howe asked a
little boy there what he wanted to be when he grew up. "A truck driver," he replied.
Surprised, she tried again, "But surely you would like to go into politics, even become
Prime Minister?" "No," said the little boy, "that's women's work."
Yet, even as we strive to give all children a full menu of choices about how to
fulfill their lives and strengthen their families and communities, there is one thing we do
not have a choice about. And that's our responsibilities in a democracy, which are also
our rights and rewards. In my own country, we struggle every day with the challenges
posed by democracy. We have learned that we cannot build or sustain a democracy just
by writing a constitution, filling out a ballot or contributing to the marketplace of ideas or
goods. What we want in our nations we must expect in ourselves. If we are going to
make sure that all people are treated with dignity and respect; if we are going to give a
voice to all women - not just those with power right now; if we are going to build and
sustain democracy, then democratic values must live and grow in the hearts of all men
and women. They must grow in our civil society, the space between our government and
our economy, in the countless daily associations and actions that weave together the
fabric of democratic life. Because just like a fish needs water to survive, neither peace
nor terrorism nor democracy can survive without the life support of communities.
What do I mean by community support? Last month, our government released
almost $20 million to the International Fund for Ireland in order to support community
groups that are growing the economy and the peace. We will always remember Olympic
athletes like Mary Peters who brought home the Gold for Belfast and invested the money
in a community track that has never been touched by terrorism. We salute academic
institutions like this one, for using your leadership to teach peace and conflict resolution
here and around the world. And, of course, we can learn SO much from activists like
Joyce McCartan, who teach us how grassroots alliances can help us not only build
understanding, but also build up families and communities. How alliances can help us
turn personal pain into collective action. How they can inspire us to use our religion as a
source of faith and healing not only within ourselves, but among ourselves. How they
can help us to resolve our conflicts with conversation - and not just tolerate each other's
differences, but really respect them and honor them.
Another lesson that women like Joyce McCarten are teaching is that we must do
more than turn swords into plowshares. We must use those plowshares to break new
ground, to dig up the causes of violence and despair, and ensure that women play a
central role in ensuring the economic and social progress essential to any democracy.
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Joyce liked to say that "You can't fry flags in a pan." Her message was the same
one I've been hearing around the world. Women understand that they need access to
credit to create new jobs and new businesses, to spur economic independence, and fulfill
lifelong dreams. And they understand that we need to eliminate the barriers like teen
pregnancy and lack of education and training that close doors for our young people. I met
women in South America who are teaming up to improve literacy and health care for
women and children throughout the continent. And I'll never forget visiting a village in
Bangladesh, where Hindu and Muslim women from one of the poorest countries in the
world came together to tell me how their lives had changed, how they had more
independence, more confidence, more security, simply because they had become
borrowers with the Grameen Bank Microenterprise effort.
Just last week, we held a White House conference to talk about one of the most
important challenges facing families in my nation and all over the world: child care.
Notice I said it was an issue facing families - not just women. I'm always amazed when
people refer to critical challenges like child care, health care, wages, and education as
"women's issues." They are family issues, human issues. Because fathers also care if
they have somewhere safe and affordable to leave their children while they work Men
also care if their wives' salaries and pensions are high enough to survive on or retire on.
And fathers also care if their children have the health care and education they need to
fulfill their God-given potential.
What we are saying is that empowering women to participate fully in our
democratic institutions should not be done solely for women or by women. It must be
done by all of us and for all of us: For the benefit of all families, all communities, all
democracies. And by men as well as women. By businesses who will benefit if their
employees can be good workers and good parents. By police officers who can help bring
domestic violence victims to safety and their perpetrators to justice. By all citizens young
and old. At a conference Elie Wiesel had a few years ago in Vienna, young people from
across the globe came together because they had seen too much violence and division.
They wanted to find a way to change all of that, to live in a different kind of world. They
seemed to understand what Wiesel believes: that "Peace is not God's gift to its creatures.
Peace is our gift to each other."
Who can forget the image of the two children, one Protestant and one Catholic,
holding hands as they introduced my husband at the Mackie Plant? Why did it strike
such a chord? Yes, because we want to honor those children's wish, and give them what
all children deserve: a chance to live and learn and grow in peace -- without fear. But,
when they stood together, they also revealed an important truth, too often forgotten:
namely that children are not born hating. They are not born hating each other because of
religion or ethnicity or race. And they are not born believing that women are worth less
or should be treated worse. Children have to learn all of that. Just like they can learn to
love and respect each other. They can learn either way - but they must learn the right
way from their families, their communities, their teachers, their national and their
religious leaders. They must learn the right way from all of us.
Let us teach our children the democratic values that must live in the hearts of all
men and women who are free. Values that inspire us to treat all people with dignity.
Values that give women an equal voice and an equal stake. Values that Joyce McCartan
believed in. Values she would have wanted us to pass on. And as we do so, please know
that the people of our nation will continue to stand with you as you use the power of these
democratic values to achieve the most enduring legacy of all, the legacy of peace. Thank
you very much.
4
Monday, October 20, 1997 09:49:20 AM
Page 1 of 4
DRAFT SPEECH
It was two years ago that I was last in Northern Ireland. I remember travelling on
Ormereau Street, heading towards my meeting at the Lamplighter Café and being aware
of the violence that had erupted on that very street just weeks before. The weather was
rainy and cold and gray, much as it is today, but I remember my visit here in a glow of
warmth and optimism. And that's because I was privileged enough to share some tea and
spend some time with the woman whose life we are here to honor this afternoon: Joyce
McCartan.
In a country dimmed by the darkness of violence and fear, Joyce McCartan held out a
light of compassion and faith. A light that spread beyond the bullet chipped borders of
her café, her neighborhood, and even her country. I know it touched me.
This was a woman who, after her youngest child was killed at the age of 17 - just a year
younger than my own daughter is today - did not stop, or even pause, in her work to end
the violence that has taken too many of Ireland's sons and daughters. She did not allow
herself to become twisted by bitterness and hate, but instead chose to continue her search
for common ground.
This was a woman who endured, and endured gracefully, despite the fact that 18
members of her own extended family had been killed in the troubles. Despite the fact
that she was a Catholic married to a Protestant in Northern Ireland. Despite the fact that
she faced her own poverty and hurt and despair.
This was a woman who believed that the responsibility for a solution to her country's
problems rested not on someone else's shoulders, but upon her own.
"It's ordinary people who are getting killed," she told me. "It's ordinary people who are
going to stop it."
That's why she started her own business, her café, providing two full-time and seven
part-time jobs to the community. That's why she founded Mornington Enterprises to
train people in catering, office work, painting and decorating and technology. That's why
she started the Women's Information Drop-In Center. to provide support to women, both
Catholic and Protestant, and to work at solving the community's well-entrenched
problems of poverty, illiteracy, joblessness and despair.
She thought that the women of Northern Ireland were uniquely qualified to help bring an
end to the violence here. I believe she was right.
Joyce McCartan, and other women like her, have done much of the important work of
problem-solving and job creating and national healing that is so important for creating
peace in Northern Ireland. And, my travels throughout the world have shown me that the
women in Northern Ireland are not alone in this effort. Around the globe women are
taking it upon themselves to nurture societies so that democracies can grow.
1
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Page 2 of 4
After all, it's after the fighting is done, after the papers are signed, and after the wooden
boards come off the store windows when SO much of the real work of democracy building
takes place. That's because democracy is much more than free elections, open markets
and well crafted constitutions. These are necessary prerequisites to building a
democracy, but like ingredients for an elaborate recipe, alone they are not enough.
Democracies work best when children are taught democratic values and are nourished
with good education, good health care and good role models. Democracies work best
when women are full participants, when racial and religious groups are not relegated to
the side-lines, and when the right climate is created for businesses to prosper.
Democracies work best when men and women and children are free from violence and
crime and are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
For Democracy to succeed it must be more than a method of governance, it must become
a system of values. And the values that make democracy possible - opportunity,
responsibility, tolerance and respect for human dignity - must be internalized in people's
hearts and minds and everyday lives.
Some of the women who have been instrumental in trying to create democratic societies
have achieved high positions or have attracted a certain amount of fame: Women like
Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma and of course your own former President Mary Robinson
who is now doing such a terrific job as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
But most of the work of democracy building is achieved far from the spotlight. Instead it
takes place in dusty fields and corner cafës; in weathered school houses and bustling
community health clinics. Places where day after day, ordinary women do the heroic
work of creating democracy.
Women help nations learn to live peacefully with their neighbors; even if those
neighbors look different or practice different religions and customs. That's certainly
true here in Northern Ireland where women have worked to build bridges between
counties, between neighborhoods and between religions. And it's true in many other
places around the world: Just look at the women of South Africa - both black and white
- who were critical in the struggle to end apartheid. And the women of Bosnia - Croats,
Serbs and Muslims who came together to transcend long-standing ethnic hatreds. I've
seen it in Israel, where women are working for stability in that violence-weary land. And
I've seen it in my own country where women have fought for equal rights for minorities
and to end gang warfare in our inner cities. Women are the world's peacemakers, and
they are more.
Women work to create communities that are safe and healthy. In South America,
women have joined forces to improve literacy and health care for women and children. In
Belarus women are working to bring quality health care to the critically ill children of
Chernobyl. And in Cape Town, women are building houses to replace the squatters
camps that have inadequately sheltered their children for too long.
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Monday, October 20, 1997 09:49:20 AM
Page 3 of 4
These are women who refuse to accept conditions as they are and who instead take it
upon themselves to create more suitable environments for their entire communities.
Women are the world's primary educators. They are the ones who instill
democratic values in our children. Women are our teachers and our mothers. They are
our martyrs and our heroes. They are the living embodiment of the greatest principle of
democracy: that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. After all, what is
more extraordinary than the reality of democracy itself? History certainly tells us that
democracy is not necessarily the natural inclination of humankind. It must be taught, and
once taught, nurtured carefully.
A successful democracy depends on all these principles and enlists the strengths of
all of its people. A democratic nation cannot reach its potential if its women are not
reaching theirs. The vibrancy of an economy, the richness of a society, the success of a
political system simply cannot be achieved without women's full participation.
Unfortunately that goal is still far from realized.
While women comprise more than half the world's population, we are 70 percent of the
world's poor. We represent two-thirds of those who are not taught to read and write. We
are sold into prostitution, are not given enough to eat and are beaten in domestic violence.
It is impossible to have a healthy society, a just society and thriving society, if half the
population is mistreated like this.
That's why work around the world to empower women - usually led by women - has
been so important. I've seen it myself in fledgling democracies that realize that women
must be an integral part of the equation if they are to succeed. I've seen it in South
Africa where courageous women are working to stop domestic violence and child abuse;
I've seen it in Slovakia, Hungary and Estonia where women are strengthening their
gender's participation by ensuring they are well-incorporated into the full lives of their
societies; I've seen it in the Ukraine where a government ministry is now devoted solely
to women's affairs and in Lithuania where new services are now supporting the needs of
elderly women.
And I've seen the importance of this work in the proud faces of women whose lives are
being changed thanks to micro-credit. Micro-credit institutions throughout the world are
working to change the status of women in a way that no law, no mandate, and no edict
ever could: It's doing it by giving women the tools to create their own success.
By granting women access to small loans, women are becoming self-sufficient members
of their communities. In countries like India and Bangladesh, Managua and Peru and
many other places around the world, women are taking out small loans to buy milk cows,
rickshaws, thread and cellular phones to create a livelihood for themselves and their
families.
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Page 4 of 4
This work of democracy building is not simple. My own country has been laboring with
it for more than 200 years and there is no end to the work in sight. But the truth is,
democracy is not something that ever really reaches perfection or completion.
Democracy is less like building a house - a task that has a beginning, middle and end -
and more like building a fragile castle made of sand. Just as the sand castle is constantly
threatened by sea and wind and the kicks of playing children, so is democracy constantly
at risk by the everyday corrosive effects of hate, of prejudice and of intolerance; of
joblessness, illiteracy and poverty.
Joyce McCartan understood this, as do many other women around the world.
Women in this country know the care that it's going to take strengthen a land that has
endured too many decades of violence and fear and so have committed themselves to
providing that care. What unites them is their knowledge that just as they have shared the
pain of their homeland's troubles - so they share the responsibility of bringing them to an
end.
There is a poem on the wall of the Lamplighter Café. It says: "Never be afraid to expect
the impossible to be possible."
Here in Northern Ireland, for too long, too many things have seemed impossible: Simple
things like knowing freedom from violence and fear; like experiencing peace of mind
when your child walks out the door; and like living in a place where getting a job does
not depend upon your religious background.
Democracy's success depends on making these things possible. It depends on the success
of places like the Women's Information Drop In Center on Ormereau Street, and the
Grameen Micro-Credit Bank in Bangladesh. It depends on the literacy programs and the
voting projects and the values that we instill in our children. It depends on the willingness
of people to transcend hatred and prejudice for the greater good of a just - and
democratic - society.
It depends on the work of women like Joyce McCartan - and those of us who live on in
her legacy.
END
4
OCT-19-97 02:40 PM
P.02
DRAFT
REMARKS FOR SPEECH IN HONOR OF JOYCE MCCARTEN
OCTOBER '97, UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER
Greetings and thank you. It is a great pleasure to be back in
Northern Ireland, to visit with your president, Mary Robinson, and
to reunite with 80 many of the courageous women and men whom I met
when I first came here two years ago with my husband. Once again,
you've made me feel so welcome. It's also a great privilege to
participate in this lecture series in honor of one of Ireland's
great peace makers -- Joyce McCarten. Thank you for inviting me.
I find it a particularly eloquent tribute that this event in her
memory is being held at such an historic moment in Irish history --
as the leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant
communities are sitting down for the first time in over 25 years to
discuss how to end a generation of violence. It's a milestone that
so many of you have longed for 50 deeply, and worked for BO hard.
I believe -- as I'm sure you do -- that this first effort toward a
lasting peace would not have taken place without the tenacity and
courage of women like Mary Robinson and Joyce McCarten.
As some of you may know, I met Joyce during my 1995 visit here, and
spent an afternoon with her and a number of other women at the
restaurant Ye Olde Lamplighter, which is part of the Women's
Information Drop-In Center that she helped found. She told me
about the work of the Center, and how her efforts to bring Catholic
and Protestant women together for peace had evolved into plans to
strengthen the local economy. Joyce understood how the struggle
for peace must also overcome the deep-rooted causes of violence:
poverty, limited education, and joblessness. She knew she had to
empower women in their own lives in order to promote the cause of
peace and justice in her country.
As we talked, I could see that as much pain and suffering as Joyce
and the other women with us had endured over the years, as they
watched their sons, husbands, brothers and friends lose their lives
in this terrible struggle, that her vision was always toward the
future. She was on a mission to promote understanding, to save
lives, to preserve families, to defy history.
While I had never met Joyce before, I felt, in a strange way, that
I had met her many times, and seen her compassion in other eyes as
well. Her yearning for a more peaceful and democratic world
resonates through the ages, and stretches across the globe.
Joyce follows in the well-worn footsteps of strong and courageous
Irish women over the years -- women like Betty Williams, Mairead
Corrigan, and so many others, who despite the unbearable loss and
pain in their own lives, have spoken out in the universal language
of reconciliation and non violence.
Mothers. Wives. Daughters. Ordinary citizens. Their insistent
voices for peace -- raised sometimes in a roar, sometimes in a
whispered prayer -- have inspired women around the world to pursue
OCT-19-97 02:40 PM
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their claims for more open, democratic, and peaceful communities.
And this chorus can be heard today, in the Middle East, in Bosnia,
in Haiti, and wherever people are working to end the violence and
start the healing in their families and nations.
As First Lady, I've been privileged to travel widely overseas, and
have met the world's top leaders. Yet it's often in small
communities -- sitting around a kitchen table or at a local
workplace, and talking with women like Joyce about how they're
improving their lives and strengthening their families -- where
I've learned the most valuable lessons. And one of those lessons
is the central role that women are playing -- and have always
played -- in the building and sustaining of democracy around the
world.
When we talk about democracy, we talk about the highest of ideals:
freedom of religion; freedom of association; freedom of speech and
the press; freedom to participate fully in the civic and political
life of your country. But democracy is also about every citizen
having equal access to education, health care, jobs, and credit.
Democracy is about upholding human dignity, and giving people
choices. And it confers to every individual the right to live up to
his or her God-given potential.
Democracy, in other words, is the fulfillment of our deepest
yearnings to live in a just and peaceful world, and it speaks a
universal language of hope. Our poets seem to best capture this
profound sense of longing. And here, I'd like to draw on one of
America's great poets and an African American women, Maya Angelou,
who stands as a powerful and often painful reminder of America's
own struggles - past and present -- to gain civil rights and human
dignity for every citizen. She writes: "The caged bird sings with
a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still; and his
tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of
freedom."
Yet what we've learned over the years is that these lofty ideals
and beautiful words are only made real through the every day
efforts of ordinary citizens. Yes, we need the laws and a system
of justice that upholds those laws. But democracy is nurtured and
sustained in the hearts of people; in the principles they stand
for; in the way they conduct their daily lives; and in the lessons
they teach their children before they tuck them into bed at night.
And that's the profound yet simple lesson that Joyce McCarten and
BO many women understood 80 well. These grass roots struggles
against sectarian violence teach us, once again, that democracy
calls us to live peacefully with people who are different from
ourselves -- whether they live across the street or on the other
side of the world. That love of family runs deeper than calls to
hatred. That faith can bring us together instead of divide us. And
that an extraordinary power is unleashed when ordinary women reach
OCT-19-97 02:41 PM
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-3-
out to their neighbors to find common ground, and are empowered to
begin solving problems in their own communities.
The power of ordinary women making extraordinary contributions to
peace was again recognized by the world a few weeks ago, when the
Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an American activist, Jody
Williams, who helped lead the international campaign to ban
landmines. Like Joyce McCarten, she didn't have a large office or
major funding: her effectiveness lay in her ability to organize
people in a grass roots campaign around a common cause: to protect
the world's children.
But today, while we celebrate these women for their invaluable work
on behalf of peace and democracy, we must also begin to acknowledge
the contributions of others whose names we do not know, and whose
work still goes unheralded. By putting the spotlight on women
working in the front lines, we will broaden the lens of our own
understanding about what it takes to sustain the spirit and
institutions of democracy around the world.
The women I've met here in Northern Ireland who are working with
young people to break the cycle of hatred are surely at the
forefront of the fight for democracy. Because what does freedom
mean if we can't overcome division and suspicion, and find our
common humanity?
Women involved in microcredit operations in small rural villages in
Bangladesh, India, Nicaragua, and Chile, are in the business of
strengthening democracy. Because what does freedom mean if people
don't have equal access to the financial resources that enable them
to gain independence and self sufficiency?
Women in South Africa and in some of America's inner cities who
have set up domestic violence councils are contributing to the
strengthening of democracy. Because what does freedom mean if a
woman is afraid to leave her home, or protect her children, because
of a violent husband or lover?
Women in Zimbabwe and Bolivia who are setting up rural health
clinics are champions of democracy. Because what does freedom mean
if families are denied access to basic health care services, and
women are denied the right to plan their own families?
Women in Romania and Estonia who are leading electoral education
projects are on the front lines of democracy. Because what does
freedom mean if people are ignorant about the procedures for
electing their own representatives?
And women in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Thailand who are campaigning
for the right of girls to get an education are making an invaluable
contribution to democracy in their countries. Because what does
OCT-19-97 02:41 PM
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-4-
freedom mean if women are denied the knowledge and opportunity to
participate in the free flow of ideas?
Women are not only critical to advancing democracy and free market
economies in every corner of the globe. They are redefining the
very notion of what we mean by a democratic society.
Historically, however, these efforts been overlooked and under
appreciated. It's time to bring their achievements out in the open
and to celebrate them as well. In fact, I see a growing part of my
work now, as I travel around my own country and other nations, is
to pull back the curtain on women's emerging roles in promoting
democracy.
Doing so is important for two reasons. First, the efforts of women
to build strong families, to reach out to others different from
themselves, to teach their children tolerance and compassion, and
to empower themselves and others to lead productive and independent
lives, should be recognized for the simple reason that we can all
learn from them, and be inspired by their efforts.
But more importantly, democracy cannot flourish if women aren't
full partners in the social, economic, political and civic lives
of their communities and nations. Validating their contributions
will help deepen movements for change, and ensure greater progress
toward democracy. Women are the world's greatest untapped
resource. We must begin to unleash the full power of their vast
potential.
In the last presidential election in the United States in 1996,
people were surprised that so much attention was being given to
"women's issues." All of a sudden, the swing vote was in the hands
of "soccer moms" who were talking about the stress of parenthood or
drugs in school or the lack of quality day care for their children.
But why should this have surprised us? The topics that women talk
about around the kitchen table -- whether it's in a small town in
Chile or a row house in Belfast -- are in fact the issues that we
need to listen to the closest.
Women are concerned with questions that impact the entire
community: how to balance work and family; how to improve the local
public school; how to stretch their budgets to cover the rent; how
to protect a neighbor who is the victim of domestic abuse. They
want to stop the violence on TV; and they want to teach their
children to play with kids who are different from them. Yet when
I talk about many of these issues, they are often dismissed as
"marginal," or only "women's issues." During the United Nations
Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing a few years ago,
I said that women's rights were human rights, and human rights were
women's rights. Yet that unremarkable statement set off a
firestorm of controversy.
OCT-19-97 02:42 PM
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When will people understand that the concerns of women and families
are universal concerns that are at the heart of our civil society?
When will people understand that strong families and nurturing
communities form the foundations of a free nation? When will
people understand that solving problems like day care and health
care and education and teen violence -- still called "women's
issues" -- will be the most critical test of our entire generation?
Today, we face a daunting challenge. The most formidable threat to
democracy is no longer a communist monolith with imperial designs.
It's the volatile economic and social conditions that come with the
growing disparity of poor and wealthy; with ongoing discrimination
and bigotry; and with the collapse of the old order. Democracy is
weakened wherever there's the dissolving of a sense of community.
And democracy is threatened whenever and wherever the full
partnership of women is held back.
We must strengthen the laws and institutions and alliances that
uphold the principles of democracy and freedom -- in our own
countries and in fledgling democracies around the world. Perhaps
most importantly, we must keep the spirit of democracy -- our
deepest hopes for a better future -- alive.
No one has to remind the women of Ireland how rocky and hard is
this path toward justice, or how fragile are these efforts toward
peace. Yet if there's anything we've learned, it's the willful
determination of women here and around the world to listen to the
message of their hearts, and to persuade others to respond to their
better angels. Your gifted Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, claims for
poetry this special power: "the power to persuade that vulnerable
part of our consciousness of its rightness, in spite of the
evidence of wrongness all around it." I would say that women too
hold that power.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said that "The future belongs to those who
believe in the beauty of their dreams." It's difficult to imagine
a more compelling beauty than a true and lasting peace here in
Northern Ireland. Please know that women around the world stand by
you as you take the risks for peace. The future belongs to you, and
as you pursue it, may God hold all of you in the palm of his hand.
002
Draft
3
It's wonderful to be back in Northern Ireland. There are so many memories that
my husband and I will always cherish from our trip here two years ago. The lighting of
the Christmas tree outside City Hall - and its illumination of hope in Belfast. Our walk
from Guildhall Square to Shipquay Street. And the day that I had the personal privilege
to meet Joyce McCartan. As we talked with other community leaders at the Lamplighter
restaurant, I was struck, as many of you have been, by Joyce's spirit, by her warmth, her
resilience, and, yes, her humor. But, by something else as well.
In her extraordinary life, we see the ordinary lives of too many women around us:
the anguish of losing relative after relative to bullets and bombs, the unspeakable grief of
having your own son taken away so brutally, so senselessly, so young. But, in Joyce's
strength and determination, we also see the strength and determination of women
throughout Northern Ireland. Because the history of "The Troubles" is the history of
much more than what divides us. It is the history of women like Joyce McCartan, who
have worked tirelessly to unite us in common cause. Women like Mairead Corrigan and
Betty Williams, Nobel Prize winners in 1976 who took to the streets to take back the
streets. Women like Pearl Sagar and this University's own Monica Mc Williams who
today are giving women a voice and a seat at the all-party talks and the chance to create a
future of peace and opportunity that leaves no citizen behind. Women who are taking
responsibility for their families and their communities. Women who are defying history
to rewrite history. Unsung heroes, most of them. Like Joyce, they are not experienced
diplomats or high-ranking officials. They are mothers and workers and community
leaders who didn't wait for someone else to point the way. Instead, they looked around at
the kids who couldn't play outside safely, at the violence that had infested their lives, at
the poverty and despair, and simply said "No more."
It is quite possible that because of them, because women like Joyce McCartan
had experienced the everyday blessings of peace and refused to go back, that we are now
watching the promise of peace rise again in the hearts and lives of people from both
traditions. We are watching handshakes and conversation replace silence and
confrontation. We are watching new jobs fuel new hopes. And we are watching simple
acts of normalcy, never before possible, like the gathering of 40,000 people to see U2's
first concert in Belfast just two months ago.
This is a truly historic moment, with important choices and new opportunities for
peace, prosperity and progress, a chance that we cannot let slip away. And not only in
Northern Ireland. All over the world, old hatreds are healing into new alliances. Amidst
the rubble of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, tender shoots of democracy are
springing up and setting down roots. People once restrained under the boot of oppression
have arisen to create free elections, free press, free markets, and a new sense of
community. And the approach of the new millennium challenges us to heed the lessons
of the past and focus on the possibilities of the future. Entering a new millennium is
actually a bit like turning 50, which is something I've learned about recently. You can't
avoid it or postpone it - even if you try. It's a time for both celebration and reflection.
But, like turning 50, the most important question about the new millennium is not when it
will be -- the year 2000 or 2001 but where will we be? When our children turn 50, will
they look back and know that we did all we could today to ensure that all citizens can
reach their God-given potentials tomorrow? Will we have shown once and for all that
the progress of democracy is inextricably tied to the progress of women?
During the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, I said
that women's rights are human rights - and human rights are women's rights. One would
think that wouldn't be such a extraordinary statement today.
1
003
I remember one man in particular who called up a radio program I was on for the
Voice of America. He wanted to know what my statement about women's rights really
meant. I told him to think about all the rights men have and apply them to women: the
right to be valued as a member of a family, to be treated with simple dignity, to have
equal access to the tools of opportunity - like health care, education, legal rights, political
rights, and economic empowerment. We must make it clear that democracies cannot
survive and thrive if rape is used as a weapon of war, if girls are trafficked as prostitutes
and slaves, and if domestic violence forces women to live in fear. Democracies cannot
survive and thrive if one half of the population is more likely to be poor, illiterate,
uneducated, and denied access to critical health services. Democracies cannot survive
and thrive - and families and communities cannot thrive -- unless we empower women to
claim their rights as citizens, to protect their dignity as human beings, and to participate
fully in every aspect of our nations. Quite simply, democracies cannot survive and thrive
if women cannot survive and thrive.
I was thinking about all of this recently on my visit to the Panama Canal. I saw
how a simple twist of a handful of levers can unleash million of gallons of water, bridge
two different oceans - indeed two different worlds and send huge ships on their way for
the benefit of all. It's the same with democracy. Because when women in Northern
Ireland and around the world have access to, knowledge about, and the power to use all
levers of democracy, when they join together to create one force for progress, I have seen
them too bridge worlds and unleash vast powers for the benefit of all.
Just as they are doing here, when women grab the levers of democracy in the
Middle East, Bosnia, and Rwanda, they are fostering reconciliation and renewal. When
women grab the levers of democracy in Romania, they are developing a new pedagogy
that emphasizes civic participation and democratic values. When women grab the levers
of democracy in India, they are earning money of their own, buying their own vegetable
carts, threads, and other materials, and generating income for themselves and their
families. And when women grab the levers of democracy in South Africa, they are
coming together to end the plagues of domestic violence and child abuse that have
infected all of our nations.
Yet whether women are building new democracies or sustaining old ones, and
whether they are making these contributions in their homes or communities or
workplaces or schools, their stories are all too often ignored. In Washington, I had the
privilege of serving as the honorary chair for a new memorial honoring the women in the
American military services, who, without much fanfare, have sacrificed to serve our
nation during times of war and peace. One of them, Clara Barton, was a Red Cross nurse
in our Civil War. Her words, now etched in one of the glass panels above the memorial,
still speak to all of us today. She said, "Woman has stood like a rock for the welfare and
glory of the history of the country, and one might well add unwritten, unrewarded, and
almost unrecognized." For generations, pioneers like Clara Barton and Joyce McCartan
have struggled to make sure women's contributions are written about, rewarded, and
recognized. They have worked to make it clear that a house divided upon itself
whether it be a home, a community, or a nation - cannot stand. And in so doing, women
have helped write an on-going story of democracy and inspired each generation to write
the next chapter. For democracy's work is everyone's work and democracy's work is
never done. As the poet Eilean Ni Chuilleanain wrote, "I said to the other sisters, each of
you will have to do the same when your day comes. This one has finished her turn."
Though Joyce finished her turn much too early, her lessons will live on -- not only at the
University of Ulster, not only in Northern Ireland, but also in the future generations of
women all over the world whose days have come.
2
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One of those lessons Joyce taught was that "nothing separates us." At the
Women's Information Drop-In Centre, in Beijing, in Eastern Europe, in Africa, and
throughout the world, I have met women who work in fields and factories, in corporations
and homes. Whether at the kitchen tables or the conference tables, and whatever their
differences of race, culture, and religion, they are doing what women have always done
talking to each other in the same language of hope, articulating many of the same dreams
for our children, and all the while trying to the find common ground to meet common
challenges. That doesn't mean that women will always agree. Nor should that ever be
our goal. I remember sitting around a table with women in Poland who were engaged in
one of our most essential democratic acts: disagreeing with each other without being
disagreeable or disrespectful. It also doesn't mean that women should be a monolithic
group. What we have fought for - and will continue to fight for - are choices about our
roles and dreams. Choices about where to work and when. Choices about whether to
have a child and when. And choices about whether to contribute to the political process
as a community leader like Joyce McCartan or a national leader like Mary Robinson. I'm
told that during Benazir Bhutto's term as Prime Minister in Pakistan, Lady Howe asked a
little boy there what he wanted to be when he grew up. "A truck driver," he replied.
Surprised, she tried again, "But surely you would like to go into politics, even become
Prime Minister?" "No," said the little boy, "that's women's work."
Yet, even as we strive to give all children a full menu of choices about how to
fulfill their lives and strengthen their families and communities, there is one thing we do
not have a choice about. And that's our responsibilities in a democracy, which are also
our rights and rewards. In my own country, we struggle every day with the challenges
posed by democracy. We have learned that we cannot build or sustain a democracy just
by writing a constitution, filling out a ballot or contributing to the marketplace of ideas or
goods. What we want in our nations we must expect in ourselves. If we are going to
make sure that all people are treated with dignity and respect; if we are going to give a
voice to all women - not just those with power right now; if we are going to build and
sustain democracy, then democratic values must live and grow in the hearts of all men
and women. They must grow in our civil society, the space between our government and
our economy, in the countless daily associations and actions that weave together the
fabric of democratic life. Because just like a fish needs water to survive, neither peace
nor terrorism nor democracy can survive without the life support of communities.
What do I mean by community support? Last month, our government released
almost $20 million to the International Fund for Ireland in order to support community
groups that are growing the economy and the peace. We will always remember Olympic
athletes like Mary Peters who brought home the Gold for Belfast and invested the money
in a community track that has never been touched by terrorism. We salute academic
institutions like this one, for using your leadership to teach peace and conflict resolution
here and around the world. And, of course, we can learn so much from activists like
Joyce McCartan, who teach us how grassroots alliances can help us not only build
understanding, but also build up families and communities. How alliances can help us
turn personal pain into collective action. How they can inspire us to use our religion as a
source of faith and healing not only within ourselves, but among ourselves. How they
can help us to resolve our conflicts with conversation - and not just tolerate each other's
differences, but really respect them and honor them.
Another lesson that women like Joyce McCarten are teaching is that we must do
more than turn swords into plowshares. We must use those plowshares to break new
ground, to dig up the causes of violence and despair, and ensure that women play a
central role in ensuring the economic and social progress essential to any democracy.
3
005
Joyce liked to say that "You can't fry flags in a pan." Her message was the same
one I've been hearing around the world. Women understand that they need access to
credit to create new jobs and new businesses, to spur economic independence, and fulfill
lifelong dreams. And they understand that we need to eliminate the barriers like teen
pregnancy and lack of education and training that close doors for our young people. I met
women in South America who are teaming up to improve literacy and health care for
women and children throughout the continent. And I'll never forget visiting a village in
Bangladesh, where Hindu and Muslim women from one of the poorest countries in the
world came together to tell me how their lives had changed, how they had more
independence, more confidence, more security, simply because they had become
borrowers with the Grameen Bank Microenterprise effort.
Just last week, we held a White House conference to talk about one of the most
important challenges facing families in my nation and all over the world: child care.
Notice I said it was an issue facing families - not just women. I'm always amazed when
people refer to critical challenges like child care, health care, wages, and education as
"women's issues." They are family issues, human issues. Because fathers also care if
they have somewhere safe and affordable to leave their children while they work Men
also care if their wives' salaries and pensions are high enough to survive on or retire on.
And fathers also care if their children have the health care and education they need to
fulfill their God-given potential.
What we are saying is that empowering women to participate fully in our
democratic institutions should not be done solely for women or by women. It must be
done by all of us and for all of us: For the benefit of all families, all communities, all
democracies. And by men as well as women. By businesses who will benefit if their
employees can be good workers and good parents. By police officers who can help bring
domestic violence victims to safety and their perpetrators to justice. By all citizens young
and old. At a conference Elie Wiesel had a few years ago in Vienna, young people from
across the globe came together because they had seen too much violence and division.
They wanted to find a way to change all of that, to live in a different kind of world. They
seemed to understand what Wiesel believes: that "Peace is not God's gift to its creatures.
Peace is our gift to each other."
Who can forget the image of the two children, one Protestant and one Catholic,
holding hands as they introduced my husband at the Mackie Plant? Why did it strike
such a chord? Yes, because we want to honor those children's wish, and give them what
all children deserve: a chance to live and learn and grow in peace without fear. But,
when they stood together, they also revealed an important truth, too often forgotten:
namely that children are not born hating. They are not born hating each other because of
religion or ethnicity or race. And they are not born believing that women are worth less
or should be treated worse. Children have to learn all of that. Just like they can learn to
love and respect each other. They can learn either way - but they must learn the right
way from their families, their communities, their teachers, their national and their
religious leaders. They must learn the right way from all of us.
Let us teach our children the democratic values that must live in the hearts of all
men and women who are free. Values that inspire us to treat all people with dignity.
Values that give women an equal voice and an equal stake. Values that Joyce McCartan
believed in. Values she would have wanted us to pass on. And as we do so, please know
that the people of our nation will continue to stand with you as you use the power of these
democratic values to achieve the most enduring legacy of all, the legacy of peace. Thank
you very much.
4
CHARTER SCHOOLS
The day after we left Chelsea at Stanford University, full of excitement as she begins the
next slage of her education, my husband and I went to San Carlos, California to the state's first
charter school to study an educational development that is brightening the futures of children
across the country.
We met with teachers, parents, administrators, and students who told us about their
experiences building charter schools. These are public schools, supported and chartered by the
states, open to all students, and accountable for their performance. But they are unique because
they are freed from the red tape of traditional school bureaucracies. In San Carlos, we heard
about what worked and why; the problems and frustrations they've encountered; and lessons
learned.
I've been caught up in the challenges facing our education system since 1983, when Bill was
governor of Arkansas and entrusted me with chairing a committee to make schools better. There
are certain things I've come to believe deeply that help explain why charter schools make sense.
First, children learn differently and are smart in varied ways; we need to tailor schools to
respond to their individual needs and talents. Second, the key to good education is to have high
expectations-- of students, of teachers, and of parents-- and then give them a hand in making
changes happen. Third, good ideas are contagious.
The day my husband took office in January, 1993 there was just one charter school in the
country. Now, supported by legislation he passed in Congress in 1994, there are 787, serving
over 100,000 students in 24 states. These schools were started by many different kinds of
people-- teachers, administrators, community groups, businesses.--who want to make our schools
better. Let me tell you about just a few places that reflect the extraordinary diversity and
promise of charter schools.
Earlier this year, I visited the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center outside Los Angeles.
Once one of the lowest-achieving elementary schools in the area, grossly crowded and bordered
by a neighborhood of broken-down crack houses, it's been transformed into one of the country's
most exciting charter schools. Stressing the crucial involvement of parents, Vaughn has an
onsite Family Center to help the school's mostly poor Latino and Asian-American familics gel
the basic health and social services they need, from immunization and dental care to parenting
classes. Parents volunteer in the school in return for the services. The school requires students
to wear uniforms, provides after-school tutoring and gang prevention programs, and calls
students' homes when they are absent, resulting in an attendance rale of 99%.
Another acclaimed charter school, Boston's City on a Hill, was founded by two teachers
from traditional inner city schools where they felt they had only minimal influence shaping
decisions. They chose to spend (and risk) their careers building an alternative school where the
diploma truly means something. It's only granted when children have earned it by demonstrating
they've mastered a demanding set of academic skills that they'll need to compete in the 21"
century world they're entering. City on a Hill takes advantage of all the great resources of
Boston: art classes are held in museums; the gym program uses the YMCA. Students are
required to get involved and work in the community to link school to real world experience and
learn in practice the values underlying our democracy. They also can't graduate if they haven't
learned to swim.
The first charter school in the nation, City Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, was started to
attract and serve children who'd dropped out of school. One of the main reasons for its
tremendous success was the involvement of twenty school drop-outs who helped design and
create a school they'd want to attend.
Charter schools aren't without problems. The start-up costs are high. They sometimes face
opposition from entrenched bureaucracies reluctant to give up control. They need to be
scrutinized closely from the start in deciding who gets charters, how they'll be managed and
their performance judged. If charter schools don't perform, they can be closed down. A handful
have been.
In November, Secretary of Education Dick Riley will convene a national conference on
charter schools in Washington so they can learn from each other and we can learn from them all.
This year's budget calls for funds for another 500 schools. Charter schools are already proving
what exciting things can be achieved when we relinquish the idea that one size fits all in
American education and give the people who know and care most about our schools a free hand
to find new and better ways for children to learn.
(770 words)
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Charter Schools: A Gift to Our Community
insure
September 24, 1997
I wish you all could have been with Bill and me when we visited the San Carlos Charter
Learning Center, one of the very first charter schools in the nation. It was a day I'll never
forget.
We had just left Chelsea at Stanford, one of the toughest moments we've ever endured as
parents. Visiting San Carlos was just what the doctor ordered.
San Carlos is a good news story - one of hundreds taking place every day all across the
country. It's a school that works. Volunteers gave 20,000 hours of time to create the
Charter Learning Center. When it was created, one of the organizers said, "The granting
of the San Carlos Charter is a gift the community has given to itself the gift of the
opportunity to create choice for all learners."
That's what charter schools are all about.
Charter schools are public schools operated under a charter or contract They may be
organized by parents, teachers or others from the community, but the idea is that, in
exchange for public funding, they are freed from the regulations and red tape that stifle
effective innovation. In addition, they are held accountable. If they don't meet the high
expectations they've set for themselves, their charter is revoked.
In 1991, Minnesota became the first state to pass a charter school law. Now, merely six
years later. there are 700 charter schools in 29 states.
As parents, we all know what works for our children: clear expectations that all children
can and should learn; manageable school and class size; an orderly classroom
environment; the close personal involvement of at least one teacher with each child; a
commitment to tailoring instruction to how different children learn; and active parent
participation.
These are pretty fundamental principles. Yet, in too many cases, our public schools have
become too big- too industrialized Gone are the basic ingredients once considered
requisite to a good education That's where charter schools come in.
I've been privileged to visit charter schools all across the country. At San Carlos, Bill
and I new a business nun by students at the school. Eleven to 14-year-olds develop and
market inexpensive games and software for children of all ages.
AI the Vaugha New Century Learning Center, principal Yvonne Chan showed me where
ench beaves med w stand next to the school. She fought for state funding to bulldoze
FROM
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Sep. 25 1997 07:34AM P3
the houses and build new classrooms. What Chan is most proud of, though, is her
students' daily attendance rate - 99%.
Another California school has lengthened the school year to 200 days. Jingletown was
created by Oakland's Hispanic community, long frustrated by the school district's refusal
to provide a bilingual middle school. The longer school year, combined with a longer
school day, allows the school to provide study hall, art and music classes that are no
longer offered in the district's regular public schools. Jingletown parents clean
bathrooms and provide food services for one hour each week, allowing the school to
spend precious resources in the classroom, where they belong
Early on, critics complained that charter schools would serve only the affluent. Actually,
the opposite is true. Charter schools are serving more minority and at-risk students than
anyone ever expected. Michigan's charter schools have more than twice the minority
enrollment of the public schools.
Here's one of my favorite stories: Pam Girod, a teacher in Minnesota, used $9,000 of her
own money to fund the Cedar-Riverside Community school for students from a
community housing project who had no neighborhood school.
I could fill a year's worth of columns with stories just like these. Parents, in partnership
with energetic educators, are making them happen all across the country.
The President and I are determined to take the lessons we've learned from these stories
and use them to infect every public school in America. In November, Education
Secretary Richard Riley will convene a national conference on charter schools, bringing
together teachers, administrators, parents, and others who are interested to share their
very best ideas.
The recently enacted balanced budget agreement contains enough money to set up
thousands more charter schools across the country. At San Carlos, Bill announced the
release of $40 million in grants to establish 500 more charter schools right away. We
want to see 3,000 - or even 4,000 - charter schools in operation by the year 2000.
Charter schools are about giving people a chance- - about empowering parents, teachers,
and communities. But, most of all, charter schools are about doing what's best for our
children.
TALKING IT OVER (758 words)
Last week, my husband and I flew to California to get Chelsea settled in at
college. It was a difficult time for me as a mother, but as First Lady I had a
different experience.
While we were in California, the President and I visited the San Carlos
Charter Learning Center, one of our nation's emerging charter schools. There, we
encountered a vibrant community of dedicated teachers, students and parents
working together to meet the diverse needs of their children. It was easy to see
success on the smiling faces of those kids.
I don't think anyone would deny that a strong public school system is crucial
to the health of any nation. As we are so often reminded, today's children are
tomorrow's doctors, teachers, business owners and parents. We all agree that
every child, from every background and in every part of the country, deserves the
opportunity to develop his or her God-given potential.
For that reason, the President and I have devoted a lot of time and attention
to education reform. While Bill was Governor of Arkansas, we went Into the
schools to learn what was needed. We worked on many issues, but one of the
things we heard expressed frequently was a desire for public school choice. Before
long, Arkansas passed a law granting parents more freedom to choose which
school their child attends.
Charter schools -- which have developed in the last five years -- take the
element of choice one step further. Charter schools are public schools which are
not bound by ordinary regulations but instead are created under contracts specific
to them.
Each child is different, and each child has a different set of talents as well as
needs. Sometimes it takes a particular kind of environment to truly nurture a
child's gifts. Because charter schools operate under a set of guidelines that they
themselves have established, they have the freedom to develop innovative
techniques -- or to reinstate effective old ones -- to meet the varied needs of their
students.
Many advocates of school reform believe that schools would be more
effective if, like businesses, they were answerable to their customers -- in this
case, students and parents. Charter schools are accountable: In order to keep their
charters, they must maintain high standards, and they must satisfy the people they
serve.
And charter schools are satisfying people all over the country. In Pacoima,
California, a charter has transformed the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center
from a place where drug deals were happening on school property to one of the
most promising schools in the nation. Among Vaughn's many successful facilities
is a Family Center, a one-stop referral center which helps families obtain health and
social services.
In San Diego, the O'Farrell Community School clusters its students in
"families" headed by a single teacher for three years, so as to keep track of
students' progress. Community service is a requirement for graduation, and the
school has a counseling center to help students with nonacademic problems.
In Massachusetts, where there are currently twenty-two charter schools,
studies show that the overwhelming majority of participants are delighted with the
results. Eighty percent of the parents and students surveyed reported that their
charter school experience was superior to that of their previous school, and
seventy-five percent of the parents reported that their child's interest in learning
has increased at the new school.
Beyond educating our children, charter schools educate us -- about what
does and doesn't work for our students. Far from leaving other schools behind,
these learning centers provide models to be emulated. With some care and
attention, what succeeds in one school can be adopted by another. In this way,
every school will be encouraged to act like a charter school, and students across
the nation will enjoy improvements in the ways they learn.
There are now over five hundred charter schools across the United States.
Because these schools often use money already allocated for public schools, they
are cost-effective. But they need additional support to get started. The President
recently released $40 million in grants to help these schools get up and running,
and I share his hope that every American will see the value in funding these
schools.
Charter schools represent what is best about America -- diverse groups of
teachers, students, parents and members of the community joining together to take
responsibility for meeting the needs of our children. We can improve the quality of
education in this country. In fact, we are already doing so, and charter schools are
leading the way.
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Monday, October 20, 1997 09:49:20 AM
Page 1 of 4
T
DRAFT SPEECH
It was two years ago that I was last in Northern Ireland. I remember travelling on
Ormereau Street, heading towards my meeting at the Lamplighter Café and being aware
of the violence that had erupted on that very street just weeks before. The weather was
rainy and cold and gray, much as it is today, but I remember my visit here in a glow of
warmth and optimism. And that's because I was privileged enough to share some tea and
spend some time with the woman whose life we are here to honor this afternoon: Joyce
McCartan.
In a country dimmed by the darkness of violence and fear, Joyce McCartan held out a
light of compassion and faith. A light that spread beyond the bullet chipped borders of
her café, her neighborhood, and even her country. I know it touched me.
This was a woman who, after her youngest child was killed at the age of 17 - just a year
younger than my own daughter is today - did not stop, or even pause, in her work to end
the violence that has taken too many of Ireland's sons and daughters. She did not allow
herself to become twisted by bitterness and hate, but instead chose to continue her search
for common ground.
This was a woman who endured, and endured gracefully, despite the fact that 18
members of her own extended family had been killed in the troubles. Despite the fact
that she was a Catholic married to a Protestant in Northern Ireland. Despite the fact that
she faced her own poverty and hurt and despair.
This was a woman who believed that the responsibility for a solution to her country's
problems rested not on someone else's shoulders, but upon her own.
"It's ordinary people who are getting killed," she told me. "It's ordinary people who are
going to stop it."
That's why she started her own business, her café, providing two full-time and seven
part-time jobs to the community. That's why she founded Mornington Enterprises to
train people in catering, office work, painting and decorating and technology. That's why
she started the Women's Information Drop-In Center, to provide support to women, both
Catholic and Protestant, and to work at solving the community's well-entrenched
problems of poverty, illiteracy, joblessness and despair.
She thought that the women of Northern Ireland were uniquely qualified to help bring an
end to the violence here. I believe she was right.
Joyce McCartan, and other women like her, have done much of the important work of
problem-solving and job creating and national healing that is SO important for creating
peace in Northern Ireland. And, my travels throughout the world have shown me that the
women in Northern Ireland are not alone in this effort. Around the globe women are
taking it upon themselves to nurture societies SO that democracies can grow.
1
Monday, October 20, 1997 09:49:20 AM
Page 2 of 4
After all, it's after the fighting is done, after the papers are signed, and after the wooden
boards come off the store windows when so much of the real work of democracy building
takes place. That's because democracy is much more than free elections, open markets
and well crafted constitutions. These are necessary prerequisites to building a
democracy, but like ingredients for an elaborate recipe, alone they are not enough.
Democracies work best when children are taught democratic values and are nourished
with good education, good health care and good role models. Democracies work best
when women are full participants, when racial and religious groups are not relegated to
the side-lines, and when the right climate is created for businesses to prosper.
Democracies work best when men and women and children are free from violence and
crime and are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve.
For Democracy to succeed it must be more than a method of governance, it must become
a system of values. And the values that make democracy possible - opportunity,
responsibility, tolerance and respect for human dignity - must be internalized in people's
hearts and minds and everyday lives.
Some of the women who have been instrumental in trying to create democratic societies
have achieved high positions or have attracted a certain amount of fame: Women like
Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma and of course your own former President Mary Robinson
who is now doing such a terrific job as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
But most of the work of democracy building is achieved far from the spotlight. Instead it
takes place in dusty fields and corner cafés; in weathered school houses and bustling
community health clinics. Places where day after day, ordinary women do the heroic
work of creating democracy.
Women help nations learn to live peacefully with their neighbors; even if those
neighbors look different or practice different religions and customs. That's certainly
true here in Northern Ireland where women have worked to build bridges between
counties, between neighborhoods and between religions. And it's true in many other
places around the world: Just look at the women of South Africa - both black and white
- who were critical in the struggle to end apartheid. And the women of Bosnia - Croats,
Serbs and Muslims who came together to transcend long-standing ethnic hatreds. I've
seen it in Israel, where women are working for stability in that violence-weary land. And
I've seen it in my own country where women have fought for equal rights for minorities
and to end gang warfare in our inner cities. Women are the world's peacemakers, and
they are more.
Women work to create communities that are safe and healthy. In South America,
women have joined forces to improve literacy and health care for women and children. In
Belarus women are working to bring quality health care to the critically ill children of
Chernobyl. And in Cape Town, women are building houses to replace the squatters
camps that have inadequately sheltered their children for too long.
2
Monday, October 20, 1997 09:49:20 AM
Page 3 of 4
These are women who refuse to accept conditions as they are and who instead take it
upon themselves to create more suitable environments for their entire communities.
Women are the world's primary educators. They are the ones who instill
democratic values in our children. Women are our teachers and our mothers. They are
our martyrs and our heroes. They are the living embodiment of the greatest principle of
democracy: that ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. After all, what is
more extraordinary than the reality of democracy itself? History certainly tells us that
democracy is not necessarily the natural inclination of humankind. It must be taught, and
once taught, nurtured carefully.
A successful democracy depends on all these principles and enlists the strengths of
all of its people. A democratic nation cannot reach its potential if its women are not
reaching theirs. The vibrancy of an economy, the richness of a society, the success of a
political system simply cannot be achieved without women's full participation.
Unfortunately that goal is still far from realized.
While women comprise more than half the world's population, we are 70 percent of the
world's poor. We represent two-thirds of those who are not taught to read and write. We
are sold into prostitution, are not given enough to eat and are beaten in domestic violence.
It is impossible to have a healthy society, a just society and thriving society, if half the
population is mistreated like this.
That's why work around the world to empower women - usually led by women - has
been SO important. I've seen it myself in fledgling democracies that realize that women
must be an integral part of the equation if they are to succeed. I've seen it in South
Africa where courageous women are working to stop domestic violence and child abuse;
I've seen it in Slovakia, Hungary and Estonia where women are strengthening their
gender's participation by ensuring they are well-incorporated into the full lives of their
societies; I've seen it in the Ukraine where a government ministry is now devoted solely
to women's affairs and in Lithuania where new services are now supporting the needs of
elderly women.
And I've seen the importance of this work in the proud faces of women whose lives are
being changed thanks to micro-credit. Micro-credit institutions throughout the world are
working to change the status of women in a way that no law, no mandate, and no edict
ever could: It's doing it by giving women the tools to create their own success.
By granting women access to small loans, women are becoming self-sufficient members
of their communities. In countries like India and Bangladesh, Managua and Peru and
many other places around the world, women are taking out small loans to buy milk cows,
rickshaws, thread and cellular phones to create a livelihood for themselves and their
families.
3
Monday, October 20, 1997 09:49:20 AM
Page 4 of 4
This work of democracy building is not simple. My own country has been laboring with
it for more than 200 years and there is no end to the work in sight. But the truth is,
democracy is not something that ever really reaches perfection or completion.
Democracy is less like building a house - a task that has a beginning, middle and end -
and more like building a fragile castle made of sand. Just as the sand castle is constantly
threatened by sea and wind and the kicks of playing children, SO is democracy constantly
at risk by the everyday corrosive effects of hate, of prejudice and of intolerance; of
joblessness, illiteracy and poverty.
Joyce McCartan understood this, as do many other women around the world.
Women in this country know the care that it's going to take strengthen a land that has
endured too many decades of violence and fear and SO have committed themselves to
providing that care. What unites them is their knowledge that just as they have shared the
pain of their homeland's troubles -- SO they share the responsibility of bringing them to an
end.
There is a poem on the wall of the Lamplighter Café. It says: "Never be afraid to expect
the impossible to be possible."
Here in Northern Ireland, for too long, too many things have seemed impossible: Simple
things like knowing freedom from violence and fear; like experiencing peace of mind
when your child walks out the door; and like living in a place where getting a job does
not depend upon your religious background.
Democracy's success depends on making these things possible. It depends on the success
of places like the Women's Information Drop In Center on Ormereau Street, and the
Grameen Micro-Credit Bank in Bangladesh. It depends on the literacy programs and the
voting projects and the values that we instill in our children. It depends on the willingness
of people to transcend hatred and prejudice for the greater good of a just - and
democratic - society.
It depends on the work of women like Joyce McCartan - and those of us who live on in
her legacy.
END
4
OCT-19-97 02:40 PM
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e
REMARKS FOR SPEECH IN HONOR OF JOYCE MCCARTEN
OCTOBER '97, UNIVERSITY OF ULSTER
Greetings and thank you. It is a great pleasure to be back in
Northern Ireland, to visit with your president, Mary Robinson, and
to reunite with 80 many of the courageous women and men whom I met
when I first came here two years ago with my husband. Once again,
you've made me feel so welcome. It's also a great privilege to
participate in this lecture series in honor of one of Ireland's
great peace makers -- Joyce McCarten. Thank you for inviting me.
I find it a particularly eloquent tribute that this event in her
memory is being held at such an historic moment in Irish history --
as the leaders of Northern Ireland's Catholic and Protestant
communities are sitting down for the first time in over 25 years to
discuss how to end a generation of violence. It's a milestone that
so many of you have longed for so deeply, and worked for BO hard.
I believe -- as I'm sure you do -- that this first effort toward a
lasting peace would not have taken place without the tenacity and
courage of women like Mary Robinson and Joyce McCarten.
As some of you may know, I met Joyce during my 1995 visit here, and
spent an afternoon with her and a number of other women at the
restaurant Ye Olde Lamplighter, which is part of the Women's
Information Drop-In Center that she helped found. She told me
about the work of the Center, and how her efforts to bring Catholic
and Protestant women together for peace had evolved into plans to
strengthen the local economy. Joyce understood how the struggle
for peace must also overcome the deep-rooted causes of violence:
poverty, limited education, and joblessness. She knew she had to
empower women in their own lives in order to promote the cause of
peace and justice in her country.
As we talked, I could see that as much pain and suffering as Joyce
and the other women with us had endured over the years, as they
watched their sons, husbands, brothers and friends lose their lives
in this terrible struggle, that her vision was always toward the
future. She was on a mission to promote understanding, to save
lives, to preserve families, to defy history.
While I had never met Joyce before, I felt, in a strange way, that
I had met her many times, and seen her compassion in other eyes as
well. Her yearning for a more peaceful and democratic world
resonates through the ages, and stretches across the globe.
Joyce follows in the well-worn footsteps of strong and courageous
Irish women over the years -- women like Betty Williams, Mairead
Corrigan, and so many others, who despite the unbearable loss and
pain in their own lives, have spoken out in the universal language
of recondiliation and non violence.
Mothers. Wives. Daughters. Ordinary citizens. Their insistent
voices for peace -- raised sometimes in a roar, sometimes in a
whispered prayer -- have inspired women around the world to pursue
OCT-19-97 02:40 PM
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-2-
their claims for more open, democratic, and peaceful communities.
And this chorus can be heard today, in the Middle East, in Bosnia,
in Haiti, and wherever people are working to end the violence and
start the healing in their families and nations.
As First Lady, I've been privileged to travel widely overseas, and
have met the world's top leaders. Yet it's often in small
communities -- sitting around a kitchen table or at a local
workplace, and talking with women like Joyce about how they're
improving their lives and strengthening their families -- where
I've learned the most valuable lessons. And one of those lessons
is the central role that women are playing -- and have always
played -- in the building and sustaining of democracy around the
world.
When we talk about democracy, we talk about the highest of ideals:
freedom of religion; freedom of association; freedom of speech and
the press; freedom to participate fully in the civic and political
life of your country. But democracy is also about every citizen
having equal access to education, health care, jobs, and credit.
Democracy is about upholding human dignity, and giving people
choices. And it confers to every individual the right to live up to
his or her God-given potential.
Democracy, in other words, is the fulfillment of our deepest
yearnings to live in a just and peaceful world, and it speaks a
universal language of hope. Our poets seem to best capture this
profound sense of longing. And here, I'd like to draw on one of
America's great poets and an African American women, Maya Angelou,
who stands as a powerful and often painful reminder of America's
own struggles - past and present -- to gain civil rights and human
dignity for every citizen. She writes: "The caged bird sings with
a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still; and his
tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of
freedom."
Yet what we've learned over the years is that these lofty ideals
and beautiful words are only made real through the every day
efforts of ordinary citizens. Yes, we need the laws and a system
of justice that upholds those laws. But democracy is nurtured and
sustained in the hearts of people; in the principles they stand
for; in the way they conduct their daily lives; and in the lessons
they teach their children before they tuck them into bed at night.
And that's the profound yet simple lesson that Joyce McCarten and
BO many women understood so well. These grass roots struggles
against sectarian violence teach us, once again, that democracy
calls us to live peacefully with people who are different from
ourselves -- whether they live across the street or on the other
side of the world. That love of family runs deeper than calls to
hatred. That faith can bring us together instead of divide us. And
that an extraordinary power is unleashed when ordinary women reach
OCT-19-97 02:41 PM
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-3-
out to their neighbors to find common ground, and are empowered to
begin solving problems in their own communities.
The power of ordinary women making extraordinary contributions to
peace was again recognized by the world a few weeks ago, when the
Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to an American activist, Jody
Williams, who helped lead the international campaign to ban
landmines. Like Joyce McCarten, she didn't have a large office or
major funding: her effectiveness lay in her ability to organize
people in a grass roots campaign around a common cause: to protect
the world's children.
But today, while we celebrate these women for their invaluable work
on behalf of peace and democracy, we must also begin to acknowledge
the contributions of others whose names we do not know, and whose
work still goes unheralded. By putting the spotlight on women
working in the front lines, we will broaden the lens of our own
understanding about what it takes to sustain the spirit and
institutions of democracy around the world.
The women I've met here in Northern Ireland who are working with
young people to break the cycle of hatred are surely at the
forefront of the fight for democracy. Because what does freedom
mean if we can't overcome division and suspicion, and find our
common humanity?
Women involved in microcredit operations in small rural villages in
Bangladesh, India, Nicaragua, and Chile, are in the business of
strengthening democracy. Because what does freedom mean if people
don't have equal access to the financial resources that enable them
to gain independence and self sufficiency?
Women in South Africa and in some of America's inner cities who
have set up domestic violence councils are contributing to the
strengthening of democracy. Because what does freedom mean if a
woman is afraid to leave her home, or protect her children, because
of a violent husband or lover?
Women in Zimbabwe and Bolivia who are setting up rural health
clinics are champions of democracy. Because what does freedom mean
if families are denied access to basic health care services, and
women are denied the right to plan their own families?
Women in Romania and Estonia who are leading electoral education
projects are on the front lines of democracy. Because what does
freedom mean if people are ignorant about the procedures for
electing their own representatives?
And women in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Thailand who are campaigning
for the right of girls to get an education are making an invaluable
contribution to democracy in their countries. Because what does
OCT-19-97 02:41 PM
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-4-
freedom mean if women are denied the knowledge and opportunity to
participate in the free flow of ideas?
Women are not only critical to advancing democracy and free market
economies in every corner of the globe. They are redefining the
very notion of what we mean by a democratic society.
Historically, however, these efforts been overlooked and under
appreciated. It's time to bring their achievements out in the open
and to celebrate them as well. In fact, I see a growing part of my
work now, as I travel around my own country and other nations, is
to pull back the curtain on women's emerging roles in promoting
democracy.
Doing so is important for two reasons. First, the efforts of women
to build strong families, to reach out to others different from
themselves, to teach their children tolerance and compassion, and
to empower themselves and others to lead productive and independent
lives, should be recognized for the simple reason that we can all
learn from them, and be inspired by their efforts.
But more importantly, democracy cannot flourish if women aren't
full partners in the social, economic, political and civic lives
of their communities and nations. Validating their contributions
will help deepen movements for change, and ensure greater progress
toward democracy. Women are the world's greatest untapped
resource. We must begin to unleash the full power of their vast
potential.
In the last presidential election in the United States in 1996,
people were surprised that so much attention was being given to
"women's issues." All of a sudden, the swing vote was in the hands
of "soccer moms" who were talking about the stress of parenthood or
drugs in school or the lack of quality day care for their children.
But why should this have surprised us? The topics that women talk
about around the kitchen table -- whether it's in a small town in
Chile or a row house in Belfast -- are in fact the issues that we
need to listen to the closest.
Women are concerned with questions that impact the entire
community: how to balance work and family; how to improve the local
public school; how to stretch their budgets to cover the rent; how
to protect a neighbor who is the victim of domestic abuse. They
want to stop the violence on TV; and they want to teach their
children to play with kids who are different from them. Yet when
I talk about many of these issues, they are often dismissed as
"marginal," or only "women's issues." During the United Nations
Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing a few years ago,
I said that women's rights were human rights, and human rights were
women's rights. Yet that unremarkable statement set off a
firestorm of controversy.
OCT-19-97 02:42 PM
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-5-
When will people understand that the concerns of women and families
are universal concerns that are at the heart of our civil society?
When will people understand that strong families and nurturing
communities form the foundations of a free nation? When will
people understand that solving problems like day care and health
care and education and teen violence -- still called "women's
issues" -- will be the most critical test of our entire generation?
Today, we face a daunting challenge. The most formidable threat to
democracy is no longer a communist monolith with imperial designs.
It's the volatile economic and social conditions that come with the
growing disparity of poor and wealthy; with ongoing discrimination
and bigotry; and with the collapse of the old order. Democracy is
weakened wherever there's the dissolving of a sense of community.
And democracy is threatened whenever and wherever the full
partnership of women is held back.
We must strengthen the laws and institutions and alliances that
uphold the principles of democracy and freedom -- in our own
countries and in fledgling democracies around the world. Perhaps
most importantly, we must keep the spirit of democracy -- our
deepest hopes for a better future -- alive.
No one has to remind the women of Ireland how rocky and hard is
this path toward justice, or how fragile are these efforts toward
peace. Yet if there's anything we've learned, it's the willful
determination of women here and around the world to listen to the
message of their hearts, and to persuade others to respond to their
better angels. Your gifted Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, claims for
poetry this special power: "the power to persuade that vulnerable
part of our consciousness of its rightness, in spite of the
evidence of wrongness all around it." I would say that women too
hold that power.
Eleanor Roosevelt once said that "The future belongs to those who
believe in the beauty of their dreams." It's difficult to imagine
a more compelling beauty than a true and lasting peace here in
Northern Ireland. Please know that women around the world stand by
you as you take the risks for peace. The future belongs to you, and
as you pursue it, may God hold all of you in the palm of his hand.
MON
13:39
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002
Draft
3
It's wonderful to be back in Northern Ireland. There are so many memories that
my husband and I will always cherish from our trip here two years ago. The lighting of
the Christmas tree outside City Hall - and its illumination of hope in Belfast. Our walk
from Guildhall Square to Shipquay Street. And the day that I had the personal privilege
to meet Joyce McCartan. As we talked with other community leaders at the Lamplighter
restaurant, I was struck, as many of you have been, by Joyce's spirit, by her warmth, her
resilience, and, yes, her humor. But, by something else as well.
In her extraordinary life, we see the ordinary lives of too many women around us:
the anguish of losing relative after relative to bullets and bombs, the unspeakable grief of
having your own son taken away so brutally, so senselessly, so young. But, in Joyce's
strength and determination, we also see the strength and determination of women
throughout Northern Ireland. Because the history of "The Troubles" is the history of
much more than what divides us. It is the history of women like Joyce McCartan, who
have worked tirelessly to unite us in common cause. Women like Mairead Corrigan and
Betty Williams, Nobel Prize winners in 1976 who took to the streets to take back the
streets. Women like Pearl Sagar and this University's own Monica 1cWilliams who
today are giving women a voice and a seat at the all-party talks and the chance to create a
future of peace and opportunity that leaves no citizen behind. Women who are taking
responsibility for their families and their communities. Women who are defying history
to rewrite history. Unsung heroes, most of them. Like Joyce, they are not experienced
diplomats or high-ranking officials. They are mothers and workers and community
leaders who didn't wait for someone else to point the way. Instead, they looked around at
the kids who couldn't play outside safely, at the violence that had infested their lives, at
the poverty and despair, and simply said "No more."
It is quite possible that because of them, because women like Joyce McCartan
had experienced the everyday blessings of peace and refused to go back, that we are now
watching the promise of peace rise again in the hearts and lives of people from both
traditions. We are watching handshakes and conversation replace silence and
confrontation. We are watching new jobs fuel new hopes. And we are watching simple
acts of normalcy, never before possible, like the gathering of 40,000 people to see U2's
first concert in Belfast just two months ago.
This is a truly historic moment, with important choices and new opportunities for
peace, prosperity and progress, a chance that we cannot let slip away. And not only in
Northern Ireland. All over the world, old hatreds are healing into new alliances. Amidst
the rubble of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, tender shoots of democracy are
springing up and setting down roots. People once restrained under the boot of oppression
have arisen to create free elections, free press, free markets, and a new sense of
community. And the approach of the new millennium challenges us to heed the lessons
of the past and focus on the possibilities of the future. Entering a new millennium is
actually a bit like turning 50, which is something I've learned about recently. You can't
avoid it or postpone it - even if you try. It's a time for both celebration and reflection.
But, like turning 50, the most important question about the new millennium is not when it
will be -- the year 2000 or 2001 -- but where will we be? When our children turn 50, will
they look back and know that we did all we could today to ensure that all citizens can
reach their God-given potentials tomorrow? Will we have shown once and for all that
the progress of democracy is inextricably tied to the progress of women?
During the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, I said
that women's rights are human rights - and human rights are women's rights. One would
think that wouldn't be such a extraordinary statement today.
I
MUN
13:40
FAX
003
I remember one man in particular who called up a radio program I was on for the
Voice of America. He wanted to know what my statement about women's rights really
meant. I told him to think about all the rights men have and apply them to women: the
right to be valued as a member of a family, to be treated with simple dignity, to have
equal access to the tools of opportunity - like health care, education, legal rights, political
rights, and economic empowerment. We must make it clear that democracies cannot
survive and thrive if rape is used as a weapon of war, if girls are trafficked as prostitutes
and slaves, and if domestic violence forces women to live in fear. Democracies cannot
survive and thrive if one half of the population is more likely to be poor, illiterate,
uneducated, and denied access to critical health services. Democracies cannot survive
and thrive - and families and communities cannot thrive -- unless we empower women to
claim their rights as citizens, to protect their dignity as human beings, and to participate
fully in every aspect of our nations. Quite simply, democracies cannot survive and thrive
if women cannot survive and thrive.
I was thinking about all of this recently on my visit to the Panama Canal. I saw
how a simple twist of a handful of levers can unleash million of gallons of water, bridge
two different oceans - indeed two different worlds -- and send huge ships on their way for
the benefit of all. It's the same with democracy. Because when women in Northern
Ireland and around the world have access to, knowledge about, and the power to use all
levers of démocracy, when they join together to create one force for progress, I have seen
them too bridge worlds and unleash vast powers for the benefit of all.
Just as they are doing here, when women grab the levers of democracy in the
Middle East, Bosnia, and Rwanda, they are fostering reconciliation and renewal. When
women grab the levers of democracy in Romania, they are developing a new pedagogy
that emphasizes civic participation and democratic values. When women grab the levers
of democracy in India, they are earning money of their own, buying their own vegetable
carts, threads, and other materials, and generating income for themselves and their
families. And when women grab the levers of democracy in South Africa, they are
coming together to end the plagues of domestic violence and child abuse that have
infected all of our nations.
Yet whether women are building new democracies or sustaining old ones, and
whether they are making these contributions in their homes or communities or
workplaces or schools, their stories are all too often ignored. In Washington, I had the
privilege of serving as the honorary chair for a new memorial honoring the women in the
American military services, who, without much fanfare, have sacrificed to serve our
nation during times of war and peace. One of them, Clara Barton, was a Red Cross nurse
in our Civil War. Her words, now etched in one of the glass panels above the memorial,
still speak to all of us today. She said, "Woman has stood like a rock for the welfare and
glory of the history of the country, and one might well add unwritten, unrewarded, and
almost unrecognized." For generations, pioneers like Clara Barton and Joyce McCartan
have struggled to make sure women's contributions are written about, rewarded, and
recognized. They have worked to make it clear that a house divided upon itself- -
whether it be a home, a community, or a nation - cannot stand. And in so doing, women
have helped write an on-going story of democracy and inspired each generation to write
the next chapter. For democracy's work is everyone's work and democracy's work is
never done. As the poet Eilean Ni Chuilleanain wrote, "I said to the other sisters, each of
you will have to do the same when your day comes. This one has finished her turn."
Though Joyce finished her turn much too early, her lessons will live on -- not only at the
University of Ulster, not only in Northern Ireland, but also in the future generations of
women all over the world whose days have come.
2
FA
004
One of those lessons Joyce taught was that "nothing separates us." At the
Women's Information Drop-In Centre, in Beijing, in Eastern Europe, in Africa, and
throughout the world, I have met women who work in fields and factories, in corporations
and homes. Whether at the kitchen tables or the conference tables, and whatever their
differences of race, culture, and religion, they are doing what women have always done
talking to each other in the same language of hope, articulating many of the same dreams
for our children, and all the while trying to the find common ground to meet common
challenges. That doesn't mean that women will always agree. Nor should that ever be
our goal. I remember sitting around a table with women in Poland who were engaged in
one of our most essential democratic acts: disagreeing with each other without being
disagreeable or disrespectful. It also doesn't mean that women should be a monolithic
group. What we have fought for - and will continue to fight for - are choices about our
roles and dreams. Choices about where to work and when. Choices about whether to
have a child and when. And choices about whether to contribute to the political process
as a community leader like Joyce McCartan or a national leader like Mary Robinson. I'm
told that during Benazir Bhutto's term as Prime Minister in Pakistan, Lady Howe asked a
little boy there what he wanted to be when he grew up. "A truck driver," he replied.
Surprised, she tried again, "But surely you would like to go into politics, even become
Prime Minister?" "No," said the little boy, "that's women's work."
Yet, even as we strive to give all children a full menu of choices about how to
fulfill their lives and strengthen their families and communities, there is one thing we do
not have a choice about. And that's our responsibilities in a democracy, which are also
our rights and rewards. In my own country, we struggle every day with the challenges
posed by democracy. We have learned that we cannot build or sustain a democracy just
by writing a constitution, filling out a ballot or contributing to the marketplace of ideas or
goods. What we want in our nations we must expect in ourselves. If we are going to
make sure that all people are treated with dignity and respect; if we are going to give a
voice to all women - not just those with power right now; if we are going to build and
sustain democracy, then democratic values must live and grow in the hearts of all men
and women. They must grow in our civil society, the space between our government and
our economy, in the countless daily associations and actions that weave together the
fabric of democratic life. Because just like a fish needs water to survive, neither peace
nor terrorism nor democracy can survive without the life support of communities.
What do I mean by community support? Last month, our government released
almost $20 million to the International Fund for Ireland in order to support community
groups that are growing the economy and the peace. We will always remember Olympic
athletes like Mary Peters who brought home the Gold for Belfast and invested the money
in a community track that has never been touched by terrorism. We salute academic
institutions like this one, for using your leadership to teach peace and conflict resolution
here and around the world. And, of course, we can learn so much from activists like
Joyce McCartan, who teach us how grassroots alliances can help us not only build
understanding, but also build up families and communities. How alliances can help us
turn personal pain into collective action. How they can inspire us to use our religion as a
source of faith and healing not only within ourselves, but among ourselves. How they
can help us to resolve our conflicts with conversation - and not just tolerate each other's
differences, but really respect them and honor them.
Another lesson that women like Joyce McCarten are teaching is that we must do
more than turn swords into plowshares. We must use those plowshares to break new
ground, to dig up the causes of violence and despair, and ensure that women play a
central role in ensuring the economic and social progress essential to any democracy.
3
005
Joyce liked to say that "You can't fry flags in a pan." Her message was the same
one I've been hearing around the world. Women understand that they need access to
credit to create new jobs and new businesses, to spur economic independence, and fulfill
lifelong dreams. And they understand that we need to eliminate the barriers like teen
pregnancy and lack of education and training that close doors for our young people. I met
women in South America who are teaming up to improve literacy and health care for
women and children throughout the continent. And I'll never forget visiting a village in
Bangladesh, where Hindu and Muslim women from one of the poorest countries in the
world came together to tell me how their lives had changed, how they had more
independence, more confidence, more security, simply because they had become
borrowers with the Grameen Bank Microenterprise effort.
Just last week, we held a White House conference to talk about one of the most
important challenges facing families in my nation and all over the world: child care.
Notice I said it was an issue facing families - not just women. I'm always amazed when
people refer to critical challenges like child care, health care, wages, and education as
"women's issues." They are family issues, human issues. Because fathers also care if
they have somewhere safe and affordable to leave their children while they work Men
also care if their wives' salaries and pensions are high enough to survive on or retire on.
And fathers also care if their children have the health care and education they need to
fulfill their God-given potential.
What we are saying is that empowering women to participate fully in our
democratic institutions should not be done solely for women or by women. It must be
done by all of us and for all of us: For the benefit of all families, all communities, all
democracies. And by men as well as women. By businesses who will benefit if their
employees can be good workers and good parents. By police officers who can help bring
domestic violence victims to safety and their perpetrators to justice. By all citizens young
and old. At a conference Elie Wiesel had a few years ago in Vienna, young people from
across the globe came together because they had seen too much violence and division.
They wanted to find a way to change all of that, to live in a different kind of world. They
seemed to understand what Wiesel believes: that "Peace is not God's gift to its creatures.
Peace is our gift to each other."
Who can forget the image of the two children, one Protestant and one Catholic,
holding hands as they introduced my husband at the Mackie Plant? Why did it strike
such a chord? Yes, because we want to honor those children's wish, and give them what
all children deserve: a chance to live and learn and grow in peace -- without fear. But,
when they stood together, they also revealed an important truth, too often forgotten:
namely that children are not born hating. They are not born hating each other because of
religion or ethnicity or race. And they are not born believing that women are worth less
or should be treated worse. Children have to learn all of that. Just like they can learn to
love and respect each other. They can learn either way - but they must learn the right
way from their families, their communities, their teachers, their national and their
religious leaders. They must learn the right way from all of us.
Let us teach our children the democratic values that must live in the hearts of all
men and women who are free. Values that inspire us to treat all people with dignity.
Values that give women an equal voice and an equal stake. Values that Joyce McCartan
believed in. Values she would have wanted us to pass on. And as we do so, please know
that the people of our nation will continue to stand with you as you use the power of these
democratic values to achieve the most enduring legacy of all, the legacy of peace. Thank
you very much.
4
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Office of the First Lady
Ph: (202) 456-6266
Fax: (202) 456-6244
To: Cheryl Marker
Phone No.:
Fax No.:
From: Michael O'Mary
No. of pages (including cover):
Comments:
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
003. fax cover
Christy Macy to Michael O'Mary (partial) (1 page)
nd
P6/b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Speechwriting (Noa Meyer Subject Files)
OA/Box Number: 17210
FOLDER TITLE:
Speech Candidates Column [1]
2012-0869-S
kc918
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - [44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
Pl National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRA
b(1) National security classified information ((b)(1) of the FOIA|
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office |(a)(2) of the PRA]
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information [(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information |(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors |a)(5) of the PRA]
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy [(a)(6) of the PRAJ
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA|
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells |(b)(9) of the FOIA|
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
OCT-19-97 04:03 PM
P.01
[003]
CHRISTY MACY
P6/(b)(6)
BALTIMORE, MD 21209
P6/(b)(6)
TELEFAX COVER SHEET
TO:
MICHAEL O'MARY
Office of THE FIRST LADY
FAX NUMBER 202-456-5709
NUMBER OF PAGES (including cover sheet)
6
FROM:
Christy Macy
FAX NO.
P6/(b)(6)
PHONE NO.
DESCRIPTION
DRAFT SPEECH FOR THE
FIRST LADY
DATE
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
004. fax cover
Darcy Bacon to Michael O'Mary (partial) (1 page)
nd
P6/b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Speechwriting (Noa Meyer Subject Files)
OA/Box Number: 17210
FOLDER TITLE:
Speech Candidates Column [1]
2012-0869-S
kc918
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - |44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRAJ
b(1) National security classified information |(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute [(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency [(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA|
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA|
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy |(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy [(a)(6) of the PRA]
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA|
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
OCT-17-97 FRI 17:37 BACON
P6/(b)(6)
P.01
[004]
1
BACON FAX
Fax:
P6/(b)(6)
Phone:
P6/(b)(6)
To Michael 0' Mary
Pages to Follow 2
MESSAGE:
From Daray Bacon
OCT-19-97 04:03 PM
P.02
-4-
freedom mean if women are denied the knowledge and opportunity to
participate in the free flow of ideas?
Women are not only critical to advancing democracy and free market
economies in every corner of the globe. They are redefining the
very notion of what we mean by a democratic society.
Historically, however, these efforts have been overlooked and under
appreciated. It's time to bring their achievements out in the open
and to celebrate them as well. In fact, I see a growing part of my
work now, as I travel around my own country and other nations, is
to pull back the curtain on women's emerging roles in promoting
democracy.
Doing BO is important for two reasons. First, the efforts of women
to build strong families, to reach out to others different from
themselves, to teach their children tolerance and compassion, and
to empower themselves and others to lead productive and independent
lives, should be recognized for the simple reason that we can all
learn from them, and be inspired by their efforts.
But more importantly, democracy cannot flourish if women aren't
full partners in the social, economic, political and civic lives
of their communities and nations. Validating their contributions
will help deepen movements for change, and ensure greater progress
toward democracy. Women are the world's greatest untapped
resource. We must begin to unleash the full power of their vast
potential.
In the last presidential election in the United States in 1996,
people were surprised that Bo much attention was being given to
"women's issues." All of a sudden, the swing vote was in the hands
of "soccer moms" who were talking about the stress of parenthood or
drugs in school or the lack of quality day care for their children.
But why should this have surprised us? The topics that women talk
about around the kitchen table -- whether it's in a small town in
Chile or a row house in Belfast -- are in fact the issues that we
need to listen to the closest.
Women are concerned with questions that impact the entire
community: how to balance work and family; how to improve the local
public school; how to stretch their budgets to cover the rent; how
to protect a neighbor who is the victim of domestic abuse. They
want to stop the violence on TV; and they want to teach their
children to play with kids who are different from them. Yet when
I talk about many of these issues, they are often dismissed as
"marginal," or only "women's issues." During the United Nations
Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing a few years ago,
I said that women's rights were human rights, and human rights were
women's rights. Yet that unremarkable statement set off a
firestorm of controversy.
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
005. memo
Lissa [Muscatine] to Michael [O'Mary] re Speech and Column
09/21/1997
P6/b(6)
Samples (partial) (1 page)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Speechwriting (Noa Meyer Subject Files)
OA/Box Number: 17210
FOLDER TITLE:
Speech Candidates Column [1]
2012-0869-S
kc918
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - 144 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information |(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office |(a)(2) of the PRAJ
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRA
an agency |(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute |(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information [(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information [(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors |a)(5) of the PRA]
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy |(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRAJ
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes |(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells ((b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
09/22/97
18:19
GRAHAM/MUSCATINE -> 4562239
NO. 672
002
[005]
TO: Michael
FROM: Lissa
RE: Speech and column samples
DATE: Sept. 21
We need to send the following items to the candidates for the speechwriting position:
1) My cover letter
2) The news clips about the award winners for the Miami Herald event
3) HRC speech in Prague on July 4, 1996
4) HRC speech at the University of Capetown in March 1997
5) The chapter on service from It Takes a Village
Australia
The candidates are:
P6/(b)(6)
Linda Burstyn: Phone
P6/(b)(6)
Laura Schiller: Phone: 690-7470 (HHS) courser
Hanna Rosin: send by courier to
P6/(b)(6)
We need to send the following items to the candidates for the column job:
1) My cover letter
2) POTUS speech from last weekend on charter schools
3) One HRC speech on charter schools (which I'll pick)
4) The education chapter of ITAV
The column candidates are:
P6/(b)(6)
Darcy Bacon fI'll drop it off at her house)
Ed chap
Carol Beach! Phone
P6/(b)(6)
Melissa Levine
we have to arrange to fax to her office when she'll be there)
P6/(b)(6)
1pm
swhole thing
Chicago
San Fermerdo Briefing
-POTUS