Wyatt Fisher

JSIS 202 AE

June 9th, 2015

Final Paper

Introduction to Issue and Key Figure

Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights. These

were the words spoken by at the time First Lady of the United States of America, Hillary

Rodham Clinton, in September 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women in

Beijing. As First Lady of Arkansas, First Lady of the United States of America, Senator

from New York, Secretary of State of the United States of America, and candidate for the

Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States of America, Hillary

Clinton has been a champion for womens rights around the world and at home. In her

various capacities, Clinton has sought and affected policies to improve the condition of

women, and as a public figure she has over the years evolved her stances and adjusted

how she articulates her stances on any given womens issue. It will be important in the

coming years, especially if she becomes the President of the United States of America,

for Clinton to continue to evolve, be creative, and refocus on womens rights issues

domestically and abroad.

Womens rights can be variously understood to mean a number of rights,

including those related to political, economic, social, and sexual rights, many of which

are interlinked with each other. Issues regarding womens rights include child marriage,

domestic violence, sexual violence, reproductive and maternal health, access to

education, employment and wage inequality, among other issues (Human Rights
Watch). The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without

distinction of any kind, such as () sex..., thus enshrining womens rights into the

internationally recognized notion of human rights. In the United States, the most salient

womens rights issues are those relating to sexual and reproductive health and

employment and wage inequality, while abroad the issues most salient vary greatly

depending upon the country.

Issue Relevance

Approximately half of the worlds population is composed of women. It is a

shame and a disgrace that the rights of a person might be denied to them because of an

extra X chromosome or a lack of a certain sexual appendage between their legs.

Naturally, most women around the world, and many men too, seek to enact policies

which will allow women to enjoy their deserved equal rights with men. Womens rights

advocates around the world understand that states have an obligation not to hinder

these rights, but additionally understand that women gaining full access to their rights

would result in huge benefits to the economy and security of all nations. According to

the OECD, Women typically invest a higher proportion of their earnings in their

families and communities than men, which contributes particularly to development

efforts in developing regions and can result in increased human security due to

decreased financial insecurity. Human security is further strengthened when women

have protections against domestic and sexual violence. Giving women access to political

and social rights, such as the rights to vote, stand for election, receive an education,

freedom of movement, among others, is the only morally responsible course of action.
 This issue is important to me because as a global citizen, as a human being, the

denial of rights to a group of people due to something as inconsequential to their

abilities and contributions to the world as sex or gender is a travesty holding the world

back from its potential greatness. Perhaps not all women in the world are oppressed, but

many are and most all women of the past were. Just as historical oppression and

discrimination against minorities (not that it ever stopped) leaves lasting effects on the

socioeconomics and culture of those groups, so too has historical oppression and

discrimination against women left a lasting effect on many womens self conceptions.

Coming from a matriarchal family, having had mostly women educators, living in a state

with two women Senators and a recent woman Governor, I know women have just as

much, if not greater of a power than men to affect positive change in the world. Women

need only stop being held back by an oppressive patriarchal system of governance.

Analysis of Key Figure

In general, Hillary Clintons positions can be generalized as pro-women. In her

1995 speech in Beijing, she said As long as discrimination and inequities remain so

commonplace everywhere in the world, as long as girls and women are valued less, fed

less, fed last, overworked, underpaid, not schooled, subjected to violence in and outside

their homesthe potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world

will not be realized. As First Lady of the United States of America, Clinton clearly leans

on a utilitarian moral compass, where the improvement of the womans condition in the

world produces the greatest aggregate good for humanity. In this regard, it is also clear

that Clinton rejects in-group loyalty as described by Haidts five moral foundations

theory. She has said, Whether we are talking about empowering and connecting women
in economics or health care or education or politics, it all comes back to a question of

the full and equal participation of women versus their marginalization, (Rucker).

Clearly, Clinton is a feminist, and she has been consistent in this support of womens

rights throughout her political career.

However, while Clinton certainly shows her belief in the utilitarian aggregate

good that womens rights produce, as Secretary of State, Clinton conceptualized and

articulated womens rights as a security issue facing the United States, understanding

that the politics of difference weaken the argument for womens rights on the national

stage. In January 2011, in response to the unrest in Egypt, she said, Because where

women are disempowered and dehumanized, you are more likely to see not just

antidemocratic forces, but extremism that leads to security challenges for us,

(Lemmon). In this role as Secretary of State, Clinton leans closer onto the emotivist

ethical theory, with the argument that the United States deserves security, and denying

womens rights decreases security, thus is it in the interest of the United States to

protect womens rights.

One of Clintons main strategies to improve womens rights abroad as Secretary

of State was to use American power and influence to increase the number of women

public officials. From Iraq to Papua New Guinea, she sought to elevate women to

positions of leadership from where they could inculcate about womens rights. She

additionally sought to use the United Statess role as a global leader to unify

international actors around other womens rights causes, such as human trafficking

(Lemmon). With promotion of access to womens education as one of Clintons top

policy goals, she honored Malala Yousefzai for her hard work and dedication toward

promoting education for girls in Pakistan by saying,

 Today, we stand together with Malala and the millions of other girls and

women who are risking their lives to get an education. Girls with secondary

schooling are far less likely to become child brides. They are more likely to earn

better incomes when they begin working. They will have smaller families, and

their children will be healthier, (Puschak).

It is clear in the way Clinton speaks of womens rights advocates around the world that

in-group loyalty plays little role in her moral mapping regarding womens rights; women

perhaps can be conceptualized as a nation themselves.

In regards to promotion of womens rights abroad, some could easily argue that

Clinton was promoting what Scheper-Hughes refers to a moral relativism, which is the

idea of projecting morals founded in one culture, typically Western, onto those of

another. However, Clinton has articulated a response to such a notion, stating in 2001

regarding womens rights in Afghanistan,

I believe such criticism fails on at least two counts. One, it does not recognize

that we, as liberators, have an interest in what follows the Taliban in

Afghanistan. We cannot simply drop our bombs and depart with our best

wishes, lest we find ourselves returning some years down the road to root out

another terrorist regime. Second, the argument that supporting the rights of

women will insult the Muslim world is demeaning to women and to Muslims.

Women's rights are human rights. They are not simply American, or western

customs. They are universal values which we have a responsibility to promote

throughout the world, and especially in a place like Afghanistan.

This argument seems to lean on both the utilitarian and emotivist ethical theories, with

the former argument using emotivist reasoning to entitle the United States to protect its
security interests, while the latter argument uses utilitarian reasoning that womens

rights are part of the aggregate good. It is clear from her time as Secretary of State,

Clinton actively seeks to avoid this moral relativist approach to womens rights. When

speaking to a womens college in Saudi Arabia, Clinton reaffirmed her commitment to

womens education as the cornerstone of improving womens rights, seeking to praise

the progress already attained, while gently pushing for more in the Kingdom wherein

women are required to wear burqas and receive permission from a male authority figure

to do many things (Ghattas 134-5).

In her current bid to become President of the United States of America, Clinton

has sought to make womens issues a central piece of her platform and campaign. She

has focused her campaign message on paid maternity leave, child-care benefits,

contraceptive access (Fuller), wage inequality, womens representation in STEM

(Bobic), and LGBT rights (Gambino). In arguing for these rights, Clinton strongly relies

on appeals to the moral foundations described by Haidt as harm/care and

fairness/reciprocity. She argues that women deserve maternity leave and child-care

benefits because it shows that we care about our mothers. She argues for combating

wage inequality and low representation of women in STEM fields because it is only fair

that equal work and education should result in equal pay and opportunities.

Following the decision by the Supreme Court of the United States of America to

partially strike down a component of the Affordable Care Act requiring employers to

provide their employees with insurance that would cover contraceptives as it would

apply to employers with moral objections, Clinton raised her significant concerns.

Clinton argued that the decision was akin to a decision allowing employers to opt out of

providing insurance that offers blood transfusions (Davidson). In this response, it is

clear that Clinton does not value Haidts purity/sanctity moral foundation, and generally

is in opposition to fundamentalisms that seek to limit the rights of people, particularly

women.

Hillary Clintons moral mapping quite closely follows Haidts predictions for a

liberal; Clinton highly values harm/care and fairness/reciprocity moral foundations,

while she does not value purity/sanctity or in-group loyalty. The ethical theories which

best explain her approaches to womens rights are utilitarianism and emotivism, and it

seems as she becomes more powerful in more prominent roles, she leans heavier toward

emotivism. While it is likely Clintons personal convictions more closely originate from

the utilitarian ethical theory, she seems to realize that the American public and the

world population more heavily identifies with emotivist theoretical approaches.

Policy Recommendation

Hillary Clinton already has most American liberals and a good number of

American conservatives on board most of her stances on womens rights. One would be

hard pressed to find an American who actually thinks women should make less than

men for the same work (much of the opposition for this I suspect comes from a lack of

negative capability to understand that even though some women do have money and

power, this is not representative of the majority), and it would be near impossible to find

an American who does not believe in educating women. Thus, domestically, Clinton

should focus on how to convince her detractors of the importance of access to

contraception and abortions, because these are the most controversial womens issues,

and a policy to prevent future wage inequalities. Abroad, however, Clinton should focus

chiefly on promoting education and general health care to women, because these are the
building blocks necessary to allow women in other countries to enact the changes in

their societies they wish to see.

By far the hardest battle to win will be to convince her detractors that women

should have access to abortions. With mostly conservatives highly valuing purity and

sanctity, including purity and sanctity of body, in comparison to liberals, but still

valuing harm/care above the other moral foundations, it is most important for Clinton

to frame the issue as one about preventing the harm of pregnant women and the

communities around them, While perhaps not the best move politically, it would likely

be helpful to remind detractors that in many cases, women who get abortions would

otherwise put their babies into the adoption system, which is already overfilled with

orphans as it is, and it would cost the government more money to maintain the adoption

system. Clinton should also more vociferously connect the issues of abortion and

contraception. Essentially, if her opponents would allow for better sexual education, to

include education about contraception rather than limited to abstinence, as well as

better access to contraception, including condoms, birth control pills, and the morning

after pill, among other contraceptive devices, then there would be less of a need for

abortions.

To address wage inequality, Clinton should seek to promote women-run

businesses and increase awareness for women through some sort of program that would

help show them how their wages compared to their male counterparts. Additionally, if

Clinton is elected president, she should use the federal governments large force of

employees to address the pay gap. This would mean creating or reshaping jobs that pay

women what they deserve, and would require these jobs wages to be competitive with

the private market.

 In dealing with foreign relations, if Clinton seeks to promote womens rights, she

must take firm and difficult stances against countries with gross violations against

women. A country is unlikely to take the United States seriously regarding womens

rights when one of its biggest partners is Saudi Arabia, which is well known for its often

repressive laws against women. An additional policy initiative she could implement

would be to earmark some foreign aid to be used specifically for projects to empower

women through education or employment. However, in dealing with these countries,

Clinton should be careful to avoid moral relativist initiatives, such as pushing for the

abolishment of Islamic head coverings. This is particularly looking at Frances blanket

ban of headscarves, which amounts to religious persecution and the United States

should never tolerate.

Even if she does not end up as President of the United States, Hillary Clinton is

still one of the most powerful women in the world. She should collaborate with other

women world leaders and even male allies to present a united, international face of a

global womens rights movement that shows a commitment to progress for all women

everywhere. It would send a message to women across the world that if Hillary Clinton,

Dilma Rousseff, Angela Merkel, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Park

Geun-Hye, but also Barack Obama, Pope Francis, Ban Ki-Moon, and other male world

leaders support womens rights and are actively working to promote them across the

world, there is hope. This is important because hope, as manifested through mimetic

desire, can instill in a world of women a passion and drive to seek their rights.
 Bibliography

"Investing in Women and Girls." Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development, n.d. Web. 9 June 2015.
"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UDHR, Declaration of Human
Rights, Human Rights Declaration, Human Rights Charter, The Un and Human
Rights." UN News Center. UN, 10 Dec. 1948. Web. 09 June 2015.
"Women's Rights." Human Rights Watch, n.d. Web. 09 June 2015.
Bobic, Igor. "Hillary Clinton: It's Time For Wage Equality 'Once And For All'"The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 Feb. 2015. Web. 09 June 2015.
Clinton, Hillary. "New Hope For Afghanistan's Women." Time. Time Inc., 24 Nov.
2001. Web. 09 June 2015.
Clinton, Hillary Rodham. "Women's Rights as Human Rights." Fourth World
Conference on Women. Beijing. Sept. 1995. Speech.
Davidson, Dana. "Hillary Clinton: Obamacare Contraceptive Decision 'deeply
Disturbing'" CNN Political Ticker. N.p., 30 June 2014. Web. 09 June 2015.
Fuller, Jaime. "Hillary Unveils Her Plan to Advance Women's Rights (and Her Own
Campaign)." Daily Intelligencer. New York Magazine, 23 Apr. 2015. Web. 09 June
2015.
Gambino, Lauren. "Hillary Clinton Rouses Women's Summit with First Big Speech
of Presidential Run." The Guardian, 23 Apr. 2015. Web. 9 June 2015.
Ghattas, Kim. The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the
Heart of American Power. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Haidt, Jonathan. "The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives." TED, 31 Dec. 2012.
Web. 09 June 2015.
Lemmon, Gayle Tzemach. "Hillary Clinton's Mission to Help Women and Girls
Worldwide." The Daily Beast. Newsweek/Daily Beast, 6 Mar. 2011. Web. 09 June
2015.
Puschak, Evan. "Honoring Malala, Clinton Says It's Time to Close the Education
Gap." Msnbc.com. NBC News Digital, 02 Oct. 2013. Web. 09 June 2015.
Rucker, Philip. "Hillary Clinton to Lead Review of Progress for Women since 1995
Beijing Conference." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 25 Sept. 2013. Web.
09 June 2015.
Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. "The Primacy of the Ethical: Propositions for a Militant
Anthropology." Current Anthropology 36.3 (1995): n. pag. Print.