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Good morning Hillary-supporting community at Daily Kos! Lots to cover today.
Hillary Clinton campaigned in California yesterday, calling Donald Trump a loose cannon and Bernie a kindred spirit — www.mercurynews.com/… . In addition, here is a first hand from one of our own peeps about one of the live events yesterday www.dailykos.com/...
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Good Morning Everyone, I’m standing in for violining247 today and I’ve never done this before so I hope all the links work (they may look different as I can’t seem to hyperlink them properly-I’ve tried everything), that the content is moderately interesting etc…
Here are a few interesting tweets from yesterday:
Unlikely allies?
Premature Peaking?
Rasmussen in Crisis?
BNR Shoutout to Someone in Busville?
Good news to start the day
I know we usually get a much more substantial write up of current happenings in HRC world but I wanted to take this chance to highlight some not so current happenings today.
A number of comments over the past week or so have suggested we should try and focus on some of the positive stories about HRC that get lost in the noise of the outrage of the day. I took the suggestion to heart and decided to highlight a few of the causes and initiatives HRC has championed over the years either directly or in conjunction with activists, NGOs and political leaders. Some are links to organizations who have chosen to highlight either HRC’s involvement with them or her documented statements supporting their causes on their websites. Please click on the links to learn about the individual groups and/or initiatives etc...as there is only so much I could cut and paste before this got way too big.
This is not meant to be an exhaustive compilation of HRC’s involvement in social advocacy or a recitation of her land-mark speeches and most of the items I have included are more obscure and may not be considered “worthy” of front-page coverage in the MSM (because HRC does not need constant positive reinforcement from the media to do what she thinks is right). In addition, these causes and initiatives are specifically related to Women’s Rights, not because they are the more important than any other issue, but because they are as equally important as any other issue.
Finally, you may have seen these videos, read these stories, know the successes or failure rate of any given advocacy etc...That’s great and please share your views — this edition of HNV is not to proclaim HRC the most successful champion/politician/woman of all time, it is simply to highlight her deep connection to, and advocacy for women’s issues. Cheers.
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This video is not the beginning of HRC’s advocacy on Women’s Rights but it is perhaps the most famous speech she has ever given (well until her acceptance speech in November and then inaugural speech in January). I have included it not because it will provide anyone with new information but because it is incredibly powerful and deserves to be heard many times over.
From this video you can see that HRC is passionate about Women’s rights which includes women’s access to reproductive care. I love this next video because it shows what a strong, unflinching and intelligent advocate HRC is on behalf of women and their right to choose when, where and if to start families. On a side note — is it me or does Christopher Smith refer to HRC as the “distinguished gentleman” when her yields to her?
Speaking of reproductive rights, HRC is also a strong ally to those seeking to end child marriage — she understands that forcing young girls to marry and bear children while they are children themselves is not only is morally wrong but frequently consigns the girl and her children to a lifetime of poverty, servitude and in many cases abuse.
Here are a few quotes from HRC on this issue and links to a few stories and organizations HRC has had some involvement with in the past.
Hillary Clinton Catches Up With Her Hero Nujood Ali
Stopping child marriage is not just a must for moral or human rights reasons—it lays the foundation for so many other things we hope to achieve. Primary education. Improved child and maternal health. Sustainable economic development that includes girls.
www.glamour.com/...
Please visit www.vitalvoices.org which is the organization HRC asks you to link to at the bottom of the Glamour article. Lots and lots of good stuff.
End to early and forced marriage needed to achieve gender equality – Hillary Clinton, International Women’s Day 2014
We must ensure that we bring an end to gender-based violence and to early and forced marriage.
Hillary Clinton
www.girlsnotbrides.org/...
Committing to end child marriage: Hillary Clinton meets the Elders
“An estimated one in three girls in the developing world is married before the age of 18.”
As US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton concluded her 11-day visit to Africa, she met Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel at their home in South Africa. After discussing The Elders' work to tackle child marriage, Secretary Clinton affirmed her commitment to ending this harmful traditional practice.
theelders.org/...
Child marriage is not the only issue HRC sees as having a major impact on young girls and women. She sees the lack of education as a major impediment to progress toward equality and self-sufficiency. To that end, in 2014 she joined her daughter Chelsea and Julia Gillard, a Fellow at the Brookings Institute to lead the $600 million Clinton Foundation initiative called CHARGE (Collaborative Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girls Education) which is aimed at improving learning and leadership opportunities for young women and girls.
No Ceilings Announces CHARGE: Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girls’ Education
“We know when girls have access to quality education in both primary and secondary schools, cycles of poverty are broken, economies grow, glass ceilings crack and potential is unleashed," said Secretary Clinton. “The scale of this commitment matches the gravity of the challenge. Ensuring every girl receives a quality secondary education will take all of us, governments, civil society, the private sector, multilateral organizations, the entire international community working together.”
www.clintonfoundation.org/...
On the theme of improving women’s lives, here are two causes that HRC has championed — the first -microfinance- has had it’s proponents and detractors. The second, the Clean Cookstoves Initiative is one I love and was the first thing I ever diaried here (since this is only the 3rd diary I’ve done it is not like there is an extensive list).
Micro-finance — I’ll be honest here, although the webpages for this first group are still active (and terrible), I’m not entirely sure how current they are. The group is also not specifically focused on micro-credit but women’s issues growing out of the Beijing Summit. I decided to still include this item though because it shows how on top of these micro-issues and the potential benefits for women HRC actually was. This group was funded womenwatch.unwomen.org.
MICRO-CREDIT SCHEME HELPS POOR WOMEN: CLINTON SUPPORTS
UNITED NATIONS, New York (June 5) - US First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has batted for microcredit, which provides soft loans for small businesses, to help uplift the lives of millions of people all over the world.
Clinton, speaking at the opening of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Women 2000, said that a micro-credit scheme that she had helped launch two years ago is now able to reach some 20 million people from the poorest communities worldwide.
The program, launched during the Microcredit Summit, aims to reach 100 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, with credit for self employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005.
"Although it is called 'microcredit,' this is a macro idea...with vast potential," said Clinton."Whether we are talking about a rural area in South Asia or an inner city in the United States, microcredit is an invaluable tool in alleviating poverty, promoting self-sufficiency and stimulating economic activity in some of the world's most destitute and disadvantaged communities."
Clinton first lent support to the promotion of microcredit during the Fourth International Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. The Microcredit summit was held two years later.
www.womenaction.org/...
Here is an excerpt from the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Mission page. I love this cause and have donated to it in the past. Such a simple thing to take for granted — cooking a meal for your family — safely. Once again, with lending her voice and advocacy to this cause, HRC saw where she could make a profound impact on people’s lives — no fanfare required.
The use of open fires and traditional cookstoves and fuels is one of the world's most pressing health and environmental problems. Globally, three billion people rely on solid fuels to cook, causing serious environmental and health impacts that disproportionally affect women and children. According to the World Health Organization, household air pollution from cooking kills over 4 million people every year and sickens millions more.
Yet, safe, affordable, and accessible clean cooking solutions exist that can dramatically reduce fuel consumption and exposure to harmful cookstove smoke, while providing economic opportunities in communities around the world.
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (Alliance), hosted by the UN Foundation, is at the forefront of efforts to promote the adoption of clean cooking solutions and spur universal adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels. Launched in September 2010 by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative, the Alliance has an ambitious 10-year goal to foster the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in 100 million households by 2020. The Alliance and its partners are working to establish a thriving global market for clean cooking solutions by addressing the market barriers that impede the production, deployment, and use of clean and efficient cookstoves and fuels in developing countries.
cleancookstoves.org/...
Finally, here are the last two initiatives I want to highlight — both data projects. Why data projects? Well to know where you have been, where you currently are and where you need to go you need data. It is not enough to talk about feelings, dreams and lofty ideals — you need good,objective data — especially when you hope to get other nations, governments, SMEs, donors, volunteers etc...onboard to make significant, quantifiable change.
First from the Clinton Foundation (I know, I know some consider this a dangerous topic) — a data project which is aimed at helping quantify any improvements in women and girls rights and helping target areas needed for improvement. This is initiative is in co-operation with the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation. I hope you forgive me for including it as there is no specific reference to HRC but it is after all her and Bill’s foundation and this has her fingerprints all over it :-)
No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project
In 1995, at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, leaders from governments and civil society around the world came together and committed to ensuring that women and girls have the opportunity to participate fully in all aspects of life.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of that moment. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the No Ceilings initiative of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation have joined forces to gather data and analyze the gains made for women and girls over the last two decades, as well as the gaps that remain.
noceilings.org/...
So No Ceilings did not specifically reference HRC but here is a complimentary project, an initiative of the United Nations Foundation, which does — Data2x. This group’s mission is clear in the tagline on it’s landing page “Without Data Equality There is No Gender Equality” — open the link for their explanation of the importance of data.
Here is Data2x’s explanation for the differences between No Ceilings and them -incidentally they also have a better description of the No Ceilings project and HRC’s involvement that the No Ceilings project-lol.
Data2X is a close partner and advisor for No Ceilings: The Full Participation Project. No Ceilings is an effort led by Hillary R. Clinton, at the Clinton Foundation, to understand the progress of women and girls in the 20 years since the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. No Ceilings focuses on reviewing available data, and making it visually appealing and accessible, to demonstrate progress and remaining areas of work to close gender inequalities worldwide. No Ceilings is an initiative that takes stock of the limited gender data that currently exists, in order to set a policy course for women’s empowerment in the future. In contrast, Data2X focuses on improving that data, so that in the future we can say more about women’s progress.data2x.org/...
Here is a quick rundown on Data2x’s origin
How was Data2X started?
In July 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Data2X with the intention of spurring improved gender data to better inform policy and global development agendas….
What is the story behind the name “Data2X”?
Data2X is named for the power women have to multiply progress in their societies. It means that we should not only look at one gender in our statistics and data collection. In the words of Hillary Clinton, “We already know that investing in women delivers returns for entire societies, but we are missing critical information to guide our investments better… And since women make up half the population, that’s like having a black hole at the center of our data-driven universe.”data2x.org/
So I’m finally done. I’m sorry if it was a bit of a slog and not what you were expecting or worse, not what I should have done. If you are still awake thank you for reading to the end. Enjoy the rest of your stay at HNV.
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