Hillary Clinton on women empowerment

More on the UN: on March 12 2010 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a speech at the U.N. in New York  about the pivotal role of women in securing global peace and security.

(Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Friday the United Nations needs more women in top positions as it strives to raise the profile of women’s issues and fights gender-based violence.

She identified equality for the world’s women and girls as the central challenge that will determine the peace and progress of the 21st century.

Among others she mentioned Wangari Maathai (see my post) and she spoke of the importance of empowering girls (see my post on Betty Makoni).

See the whole transcript of the speech.

Here are some passages of Hillary Clinton’s UN speech on March 12:

So as we meet here in New York, women worldwide are working hard to do their part to improve the status of women and girls. And in so doing, they are also improving the status of families, communities, and countries. They are running domestic violence shelters and fighting human trafficking. They are rescuing girls from brothels in Cambodia and campaigning for public office in Kuwait. They are healing women injured in childbirth in Ethiopia, providing legal aid to women in China, and running schools for refugees from Burma. They are rebuilding homes and re-stitching communities in the aftermath of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. And they are literally leaving their marks on the world. For example, thanks to the environmental movement started by Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, 45 million trees are now standing tall across Kenya, most of them planted by women. (Applause.)

Earth Day もったいない

もったいない mottainai in Japanese means “What a waste” a typical expression mothers used for generation.

Wangari Maathai, the Tree Mother, has adopted this expression and encourages us to act to pass the beauty of the world to future generations, through the 3Rs:

reduce waste,

reuse finite resources

recycle what we can

Wangari Maathai speaks about mottainai

I’m doing the best I can.

Collectively it will make a difference.

Wangari Maathai

It’s Earth Day!

On this occasion of Earth Day, I send you greetings and best wishes. It is appropriate for us to call ourselves to action wherever we are and whatever we are engaged in. Each one of us can make small changes in our lives to better the Earth. Together we can make a huge impact. Wangari Maathai http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/

Let’s celebrate Professor Wangari Maathai, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy, and peace.”

“Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment” said Ole Danbolt Mjoes, the head of the Norwegian Nobel  Committee.

Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, was born in Kenya. She was the first woman to earn a doctoral degree in East and central Africa. She has been active for decades for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation.  She was the chairperson of the National Council of Women of Kenya from 1981 to 1987. She stood up against the former oppressive regme in Kenya, which was From 2003 to 2007 Professor Maathai served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in Kenya’s ninth parliament.  She founded the Green Belt Movement, a grass-root organization that fights poverty and promotes environmental conservation through tree planting.

She believes that ordinary people can make a difference realizing that the power is in each of us.

In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.

She said in her acceptance speech at the Noble prize ceremony.

Through education, family planning, nutrition and the fight against corruption, the Green Belt movement has paved the way for development at grassroot level.

Regarding the differences between men and women, that African men referred to in order to maintain women under their dominance, she said:

Just use the anatomy that matters right now, from the neck up!

By now women of GBM have planted more than 40 million trees on community lands. See the story of the Green belt Movement: