Women's Empowerment Is Key To Progress
SECRETARY CLINTON: Good
afternoon. (cheers and applause) Thank you so much, President Lee. I am
honored to be here at this great university. I wish to thank also
Chairperson (inaudible) and the more than 107,000 alumni at this great
school. Standing up with me was our Ambassador Kathy Stephens, who has
told me that more than 50 graduates of Ewha Womans University work at
U.S. Embassy Seoul. We are extremely proud of the education they have
received here.
It is a great privilege to stand here before
you on the stage of the largest women’s university in the world. And I
came to – (applause) – this university as a matter of destiny, because
you see, Ewha and I share a connection. (Cheers and applause.) I am a
Methodist, my family on my father’s side comes from Scranton,
Pennsylvania – (applause) – and I must say that Wellesley College is a
sister college for Ewha University. (Applause.) So being an honorary
fellow seems right at home today.
I also note that in this
audience are some Korean-American friends from New York and California.
There are several Wellesley graduates whom I met backstage as well –
(applause) – and an extraordinary number of talented young women,
faculty members, and administrators.
Learning about this
great university and the role that you have played in advancing the
status of women made me think about so many of the women throughout
history who are inspirations to me: Madame Scranton, someone who
started teaching one young woman, and from her dedication and hard work
came this university; Eleanor Roosevelt, a pioneering First Lady of the
United States and a voice for democracy around the world, and one of
the driving forces behind the United Nations Declaration on Human
Rights. Now, that was more than 50 years ago, but just a few weeks ago,
one of Korea’s most accomplished leaders, United Nations Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon, called on all nations worldwide to push for more
progress on women’s equality. And I want to thank the Secretary General
– (applause) – because he said that women’s empowerment is the key to
progress in developing nations.
People who think hard about
our future come to the same conclusion, that women and others on
society’s margins must be afforded the right to fully participate in
society, not only because it is morally right, but because it is
necessary to strengthen our security and prosperity.
Before I
came out on stage, I met a number of young women who are in political
office here in the Republic of Korea, and I hope I was looking at a
future president of this great nation. (Applause.)
As you
think about your own futures, keeping in mind security and prosperity
and the role that each of us must play, is essential because of the
urgent global challenges we face in the 21st century. We need all of
our people’s talents to be on the very forefront of setting a course of
peace, progress, and prosperity; be it defending our nations from the
threat of nuclear proliferation and terror, or resolving the global
climate crisis or the current economic crisis, and promoting civil
society, especially women’s rights and education, healthcare, clean
energy, good governance, the rule of law, and free and fair elections.
All of these matters speak to our common desire to make a nation that
is safe and strong and secure.
More than half a century
ago, this university became the first to prepare women for professions
that were formerly reserved for men, including medicine, law, science,
and journalism. At about the same time, your government wrote women’s
equality into your constitution and guaranteed protections for women in
employment. And there have been other rights and protections for women
encoded in Korean law in subsequent decades.
These advances
coincided with Korea’s transformation from an undeveloped nation to a
dynamic democracy, a global economic power, and a hub of technology and
innovation. The inclusion of women in the political and economic
equation, calling on those talents and contributions from the entire
population, not just the male half, was essential to the progress that
this country has made.
As I have been on this first trip as
Secretary of State, I have visited Japan and Indonesia, and tomorrow I
will be in China. I was very impressed by my visit to Indonesia, a
young democracy that is demonstrating to the world that democracy,
Islam, modernity, and women’s rights can coexist. I met elected women
officials. I met high appointed members in the foreign ministry and
other cabinet positions in the government. It would be hard to imagine
the progress that Indonesia has made in the last ten years, moving from
a stagnant autocracy to a burgeoning democracy, without women being
part of the reason.
And on Sunday, I’ll meet with women in
China to hear about their efforts to improve opportunities for
themselves in their own country, another reason why women have to lead
the way if there’s going to be higher standards of living, a healthier
population, and an actively engaged citizenry.
But no country
has yet achieved full equality for women. We still have work to do,
don’t we? And just a few weeks ago, President Obama signed into law a
new provision protecting women from salary discrimination, a step that
was overdue. So there is a lot ahead of us to ensure that gender
equality, as President Lee mentioned, becomes a reality. And we also
need to remain vigilant against a backlash that tries to turn the clock
back on women and human rights, countries where leaders are threatened
by the idea of freedom and democracy and women are made the scapegoats.
The abuses of women under the Taliban are horrific reminders that just
as women had been central to progress in countries like ours, the
reverse can happen as well.
Some of you may have seen the
news reports some weeks ago of young girls in Afghanistan who were so
eager to go to school, and every day they went off with a real light in
their eyes because they were finally able to learn. And one day, a
group of these young girls were assaulted by a group of Taliban men who
threw acid on them because they had the desire to learn. We have to
remain vigilant on behalf of women’s rights.
We see this
kind of suppression in different forms in different places. In Burma,
the valor of Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her
courageous struggle for freedom of expression and conscience. To the
North, 70 percent of those leaving North Korea in search of a better
life are women, a sad commentary on the conditions in their own country.
So
part of my message during this trip and part of my mission as Secretary
of State is that the United States is committed to advancing the rights
of women to lead more equitable, prosperous lives in safe societies. I
view this not only as a moral issue, but as a security issue. I think
that it’s imperative that nations like ours stand up for the rights of
women. It is not ancillary to our progress; it is central.
In
1995, when I went to the United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing
and said that women’s rights were human rights, and human rights were
women’s rights, people were so excited. But that to me was almost a sad
commentary that we had to say something so obvious toward the end of
the 20th century.
So here we are in the 21st
century, and every day we make progress, but we can’t be complacent. We
have to highlight the importance of inclusion for women. We have to
make clear that no democracy can exist without women’s full
participation; no economy can be truly a free market without women
involved.
I want to use robust diplomacy and development to
strengthen our partnerships with other governments and create
collaborative networks of people and nongovernmental organizations to
find innovative solutions to global problems – what we call smart
power.
Today, I’ve come to this great women’s university to
hear your thoughts about the future. The other night in Tokyo, I had
the privilege to listen to students at Tokyo University, and I came
away not only impressed by their intelligence and the quality of their
questions, but encouraged by their concern about the future that lay
ahead and what each of them wanted to do to make it better.
Today,
I’ve held bilateral meetings with your president, your prime minister,
and your foreign minister. We have discussed issues like the need to
continue the Six-Party Talks to bring about the complete and verifiable
denuclearization in North Korea, and how we can better coordinate not
only between ourselves, but regionally and globally, on the range of
issues that confront us. But in each meeting, we took time to reflect
about how far this country has come.
Back in the early 1960s,
there were a series of studies done where different groups were looking
at nations around the world, trying to calculate which ones would be
successful at the end of the 20th century. And many commentators and
analysts thought that the chances for the Republic of Korea were
limited. But that wasn’t the opinion of the people of Korea. And so for
50 years, you have built a nation that is now assuming a place of
leadership in the world, respected for the vibrant democracy, for the
advances across the board in every walk of life. And it is a tribute to
your understanding of what it takes to make progress at a time of peril
and uncertainty.
The relationship between the United States
and Korea is deep and enduring, and it is indispensible to our shared
security. Without security, children can’t even imagine their futures
and may not have the potential to actually live up to their talents.
Our two countries have joined together as a force for peace,
prosperity, and progress. Korean and American soldiers have served
shoulder-to-shoulder in so many places around the world.
We
know that the most acute challenge to stability and security in
Northeast Asia is the regime in North Korea, and particularly its
nuclear program. It bears repeating that President Obama and I are
committed to working through the Six-Party Talks. We believe we have an
opportunity to move those forward and that it is incumbent upon North
Korea to avoid provocative actions and unhelpful rhetoric toward the
people and the leaders of the Republic of Korea. Remember that the
North Korean Government committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and
returning at an early date to the Treaty of Nonproliferation of Nuclear
Weapons.
And I make the offer again right here in Seoul: If
North Korea is genuinely prepared to completely and verifiably
eliminate their nuclear weapons program, the Obama Administration will
be willing to normalize bilateral relations, replace the peninsula’s
longstanding armistice agreement with a permanent peace treaty, and
assist in meeting the energy and other economic and humanitarian needs
of the Korean people.
Also essential to our shared security
and prosperity is a resolution to the global economic crisis. Korea and
the United States have both benefited from a strong economic
relationship, and your leaders and I today discussed ways we can
develop that relationship further. We are going to work on a vision of
a much more comprehensive strategic relationship. We want more
partnerships to bring not just government leaders together, but
business and professional and academic and political and
people-to-people. We want to work with Korea so that both of us will be
leaders in getting at the root causes of global climate change and
vigorously pursuing a clean energy agenda. And I applaud your country
for being a global leader in this area, and for calling on the
ingenuity and skills of the Korean people to promote green technologies
that will create jobs and protect our planet and enhance our security.
Students
here at Ewha have a long and proud tradition of engagement with the
world. And you have the talent and the training to help shape that
world. It may not be always obvious what you can do to make a
difference, so do what you love. Do what gives you meaning. Do what
makes life purposeful for you. And make a contribution.
I
don’t know that Mary Scranton, who founded this university teaching one
student in her home, could have ever dreamed of where we would be
today. But that’s often the way life is. I never could have dreamed
that I could be here as the Secretary of State of the United States
either. (Applause.) You have to be willing to prepare yourselves and as
you are doing to take advantage of the opportunities that arise, to
find cooperative ways to work with others to promote the common good,
and then follow your dreams. You may not end up exactly where you
started out heading toward, but with your education and with the
opportunities now available in your country, there is so much that you
can do. And I know that you will be well-equipped to make your
contribution that will contribute to the peace and prosperity and
progress and security, not only of Korea, but of the region and the
world that needs and is waiting for your talents.
Thank you all and God bless you. (Applause.)
And now we’re going to have some questions, I think, right? (Laughter.)
MODERATOR: (In Korean.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh, so many hands. (Laughter.) Yes, right there. Here comes a microphone.
QUESTION:
Good afternoon, Madame Secretary. Welcome to Korea and welcome to Ewha
Women’s University. It’s an honor to have you here with us today. I’ve
read your biography before and you mentioned that you were once
interested in for working for NASA. If you had not gone to law school
and if you had not pursued your current career as Secretary of State,
where and as who would you picture yourself now? Thank you.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, that’s a – (laughter) – that’s a hard question. Now, there is an
astronaut here. Where is she? Where’s my astronaut that I met? There
she is. There she is right there. (Applause.) I told her when I met her
– (cheers and applause) – my dream was to be an astronaut when I was
about 13 or 14 years old and the United States was starting its space
program. So I wrote a letter to the NASA space agency and asked how I
could become an astronaut. (Laughter.) And I got a letter back saying
that they weren’t accepting women. (Chorus of boos, laughter, applause.)
Now,
I have to be very honest with you. I could never have qualified.
(Laughter.) But it was a dream, and I have been thrilled to see young
women follow that dream and do so with such skill.
Now, it’s
hard to think about what I would have done, because I have taken a path
that has been very satisfying to me. But there are so many paths that
can be. When I was younger, I went from wanting to be an astronaut to
wanting to be a journalist to wanting to be a doctor. I had so many
different ideas in mind.
But I did become a lawyer, and I
initially used my legal education on behalf of children. I worked for
something called the Children’s Defense Fund. And I was particularly
concerned about children who were abused or neglected or deprived in
some way, and that was very important work to me. I also taught law and
I practiced law. If you had asked me 20 years ago, would I ever run for
office, I would have said no. I was very proud of my husband’s work,
but I never thought that I would do that. I was satisfied being a
lawyer and working as an advocate, particularly for children.
But
when I was asked to consider running for office, I thought hard about
it, and I will tell you the story about why I decided to do it. I had
been a lawyer, I had been a law professor, I had been an advocate, I
had been a First Lady of the United States because of my husband’s
presidency – (laughter) – and that was a wonderful experience serving
my country. So in 1998, at the end of that year, the Senator from New
York, Senator Moynihan, decided to retire. And people in New York
started asking me if I would run for the Senate. And I said no, no, of
course not, I won’t do that that makes no sense to me. And they kept
asking and they kept asking, and I kept saying no. And they were very
persistent. (Laughter.) And I have to tell you a little secret. Some of
it was because they couldn’t find anybody else to do it. (Laughter.)
And
I was at an event in New York City as First Lady promoting women in
sports, because I’m not a very good athlete, but I’ve always loved
sports and I’ve played volleyball and softball and tennis. And so I’ve
always thought that having young women involved in sports was very
good. And there was a banner behind me which said “Dare to Compete.”
That was the name of the special on women in sports. So this young
woman, the basketball captain of this high school, introduced me. And
she was much taller than me. (Laughter.) So she finished introducing
me, and I went up to shake her hand and thank her, and she leaned over
and she said, “Dare to compete, Mrs. Clinton. Dare to compete.”
(Laughter.)
And I pass that on to you because sometimes you
have to be willing to take a risk. And running for office, which I had
never done before, and I’m – looking back on it now, not even sure how
I did it, because it was quite challenging, was something that I am
very happy I ended up doing, even though it was hard. And then when I
ran for president, that was really hard. (Laughter.) But I learned so
much and I had such an extraordinary experience. So it’s difficult for
me to sort of run back through my mind and think of any other path,
because this is the life that I’ve both lived and chosen.
Now,
when President Obama asked me to be Secretary of State, I was really
surprised. And I had to think very hard about that because I loved
being a Senator from New York. But I concluded that working with
President Obama on behalf of my country at this time was important. And
so I said yes. And look where I get to come; I get to come to Ewha and
see all of you. (Cheers and Applause.)
Out here somewhere. I see there’s a hand. There’s a hand right there that I think the microphone can get to. Yes, okay.
QUESTION:
I’m currently studying English language and literature. (Inaudible),
and I saw that you are one of the most influential leader in the world,
and I think you also have some obstacles in coming to where you are
today. So my question is that how have you realized these experiences
to become (inaudible), especially now as Secretary of State? Thank you
very much. (Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you.
Well, I have been fortunate because I’ve had a very strong family and a
very strong faith and very good friends. And so no matter what happens
in your life, whatever obstacles you may encounter, you’re very
fortunate if you have people who will support you and if you have a
faith that will sustain you. And that has been my personal experience.
I
think that every life faces challenges. No one escapes without
difficulties. The real question is: How do you respond? And we all know
people who are just amazing the way they can overcome obstacles, and we
know other people who just seem to give up. And I don’t know all the
reasons why that happens in a life, but I do know that being a good
friend to someone in need and supporting people who are going through a
hard time is very important.
One of the phrases that I keep
in mind is “the discipline of gratitude.” No matter how difficult a day
can be or a problem may be, find something to be grateful for every
day. Today on my way to the meetings with the foreign minister and the
president and the prime minister, I saw flowers everywhere. (Laughter
and Applause.) And it was so wonderful to see. And walking in the
foreign ministry building, I saw, pots of flowers being nurtured –
(laughter) – so that they will spring forth and see blossoms already
there. And so although it’s cold outside – (laughter) – I was very
grateful that people have thought enough about the symbols of hope and
spring that flowers bring, and that there they were for us to enjoy.
So
I think that it is just a question of what you decide inside yourself
and how you determine you’ll meet whatever obstacle life throws your
way. And I wish all of you friends and family and faith and all the
other sources of strength that can make a difference for you, and to be
grateful for something every single day no matter how hard it looks.
(Applause.)
Yes. Here comes the microphone.
QUESTION:
Madame Secretary, you look stunning today. I’m a junior in English
literature. My question is, in Korea, (inaudible) is also in progress,
but the word (inaudible). So do you think this is the right time to
bring Korean innovation, and what’s the outlook for the success?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Great question. (Laughter.) And we talked a lot about that in our
meetings today. Your president has talked about low-carbon green
growth. We talk about it – a Green New Deal. We talk about clean
technology and energy efficiency. I think we have to do it now, and I
also believe that despite the difficult economy, there are
opportunities for new jobs that will help to grow the economy into
recovery.
Now, this is going to be one of the most important
issues for the Obama Administration, and we are looking to partner with
your country and others, because the problem of global climate change
and the increasing effects of this on our environment and on our health
is costing us money. We’ve done some studies in the United States that
breathing the emissions that come from coal-fired power plants and from
exhaust from tailpipes of vehicles makes people sick. It creates
asthmatic conditions and other health problems. We know that we will
have increasing droughts and other problems in the world because of
what’s happening.
So you know all of this. You’re studying
it. You see it. The real question is: Do the people of the world, and
particularly the leaders of the world, have the will to help lead us in
a new direction?
Now, what we have tried to do with our
stimulus package to try to get our economy growing again is to put
money into that package that will incentivize different energy choices.
So there will be money for retrofitting buildings so they’ll be more
energy efficient, money to enhance the development of cleaner energy
appliances and vehicles. We’re trying to change behaviors while we
change the economy.
Now, for some countries, that will be
harder than for other countries, which is why the United States must
lead. And I’m very proud that President Obama has made a total u-turn
away from the policies of the past eight years. We cannot deny or
ignore the global climate change problem. The question is: How do we
effectively address it so that we don’t cause more economic dislocation?
And
I think if we’re smart enough and we work together and we don’t get
discouraged, we will see progress this year leading up to the
Copenhagen conference at the end of the year. On this trip, for
example, I brought with me the Special Envoy for Climate Change that
President Obama and I appointed, Todd Stern, so that he could meet with
the people in your government and the Japanese and the Indonesian and
the Chinese government who are working on climate change.
So
yes, we have some serious problems in the economy as it is trying to
recover from this global contraction, but we can’t postpone dealing
with global climate change. So let’s be smart; let’s be ingenious and
innovative. When you think about what this country has accomplished in
the last 50 years, think of what you could do leading the world in
global climate change and clean technology and science in the next 50
years.
And we’re going to do our part in the United States.
We’re going to try to get our own domestic policy right, pass it, begin
to deal with a cap-and-trade and other approaches to controlling
emissions in our own country. I’m going to have a series of talks with
the Chinese Government, because last year China surpassed the United
States as the largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions.
So
all of us have to be part of the solution. We can’t leave anybody out.
And I think we have to do it now. I don’t think we can wait, and we’re
going to try to make real progress. (Applause.)
Let’s see. Is
there an aisle – I can’t see. Is there an aisle back there? I don’t
know how we can get to you. Oh, here comes somebody. Okay. (Laughter.)
QUESTION:
Hi, Mrs. Clinton. Thank you for being with us today. I’m actually a
junior at the high school, the Seoul foreign high school, which is
right down yonder. (Laughter.) And --
SECRETARY CLINTON: Down yonder? Is that in Korean terms? (Laughter.)
QUESTION:
You spoke a lot about being a woman and how women are a necessity to
the world right now. How has – especially being a mother. How has it
been dealing with other world leaders who aren’t as accepting of the
role of women for example, in different countries who don’t really
respect women? How has that been trying to get them to cooperate with
you as a female yourself?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I
don’t feel like I’ve had any problems either as a senator or in my
short tenure as Secretary of State, because I hold an official position
and I represent the – in the first case, the United States Senate, or
in this case, as the representative of the United States. So there is a
funny kind of difference that sometimes goes on in some countries that
are not particularly supportive of women in official positions. I think
they just kind of ignore the fact that they’re dealing with someone
who’s a woman. That seems to be almost a change that goes on in their
mind.
So I don’t have any problems with that, but I do
believe that it’s important for someone in my position to raise the
role of women on an ongoing basis, even in countries where women are
not given full and equal rights. So I don’t think it’s enough that
people deal with me; I want them to deal with their own women, I want
them to think about giving all women the rights to be fully
functioning, productive citizens. So that is part of the mission that I
feel I carry as the Secretary of State of the United States, and that’s
what I intend to promote as I travel around the world talking about a
lot of these important matters that are really at the core of the kind
of future we’re going to have for ourselves and our children.
(Applause.)
QUESTION: (Inaudible) meet you, Madame
Secretary. I’m a student of Scranton honors program majoring in
(inaudible). I have a very simple question. (Inaudible) student
university, I am very curious about your college life at the Wellesley.
(Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I loved
Wellesley. I loved going to a women’s college, and I made so many
wonderful friends that are still my friends today. I went to Wellesley
a long time ago – (laughter) – and at that time, there were a lot of
universities in my country where women could not attend as full
students, so you couldn't attend a lot of the Ivy League universities.
They didn’t admit women. They had – some of them had separate colleges,
like Harvard had Radcliffe, for example.
And so when I was
thinking about going to college, going to those universities was not an
option. I could not have gone there. But even with that, I’m very glad
that I went to a women’s college. I feel like it helped to shape and
support me. It gave me opportunities for leadership, and the faculty
was very involved in our studies and provided advice about what we were
thinking of doing. So it’s just a wonderful experience. And for those
of you who have been to Wellesley, it’s a beautiful campus, and so you
felt like you were really out of the world for four years. You didn’t
have to cope with a lot of the problems that were waiting.
But
what was interesting is that for many, many years in the United States,
graduates of women’s colleges went to professional schools and into
business and into academia at a much higher percentage than women
graduates of co-ed universities. Now, I don’t think that is quite the
same in our country as it used to be, but that was very significant to
me because so many of the women I know today who are leaders in many
fields in the United States had a women’s college background. So I’m a
very strong believer. And as an alumni of Wellesley, I had the
opportunity to speak and discuss whether Wellesley should go co-ed, and
I’ve always said no. I think we need women’s colleges like Ewha and
Wellesley to provide an alternative for young women and to provide that
supportive environment that I certainly found when I went to Wellesley
and that I think many of you find here to help prepare you for the
future. So I’m very, very proud of Wellesley. (Applause.)
Do you have a microphone? Here, I’ll take one over there. Okay. Oh, too many hands. Too many hands. (Laughter.)
QUESTION:
Thank you for your speech, Madame Clinton. Welcome to the Ewha Womans
University. Considering the social atmosphere and social pressures,
it’s not easy for women to work and take care of their family at the
same time. Now, I thought you were quite successful in managing those
two different bills. But what do you think should be women’s primary
responsibility – her career or her family, or is there any alternative
ways to incorporate them together? Thank you. (Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON:
I think it’s important for each young woman to be true to herself. I
have many friends who have made different choices. I have friends who
were full-time devoted wives and mothers. I have friends who were
full-time professional women and either never married or, if they
married, did not have children. But most of my friends, including
myself, have balanced marriage, motherhood, and work. And that is the
more common pattern in the United States now.
And for some
women it is a difficult choice and there is no formula, because it
depends so much on your husband – (laughter) – so think hard –
(laughter) – about whether you have the same views on these important
issues, whether you have an understanding about how to manage your
time. Because some young women make a decision to postpone
childbearing, some have their children early and then go back to work.
I mean, there’s many different ways of making this happen, but it is
hard if you don’t have a supportive family. And I think that is one of
the keys to helping you make the decision.
But I also believe
that society still makes it very hard for women to balance family and
work. It’s true in my country, where we don’t have the kind of support
for childcare – quality childcare, where we often don’t have flexible
work hours, where so many women who work full-time feel like they are
not fulfilling either their responsibilities as a mother or their
responsibilities as a worker. They’re so torn by it. And it would be –
it would make it so much easier if there were more support generally
from society and it wasn’t just each person basically on her own.
So
I think we have to look for ways to create that support. If it’s not
created society-wide, then create it within a network of friends.
Looking for ways to support each other is so critical as you start out
trying to make this balance.
But I think the other piece of
it is that, at the end of the day, you have to live with yourself and
nobody else can tell you how you’re going to feel. I know so many –
because I just know so many people over the course of my lifetime who
have made different choices. And the choice your friend makes may not
be the best choice for you. The choice your mother made may not be the
best choice for you. So try and be really honest with yourself and how
you will feel.
I had to – when I had my daughter and I was
working as a lawyer, nobody in this law firm where I worked, because I
was the first woman to be there, they – nobody had ever coped with
someone who was pregnant and about to have a baby. (Laughter.) Nobody –
none of my male partners and other lawyers even wanted to talk about
it. (Laughter.) They acted like if they didn’t look at me -- (laughter)
– it wouldn't necessarily be happening.
So when I had
Chelsea, in those days, we didn’t have anything like maternal leave.
Nobody was quite sure what to expect. And the day after I had her, one
of the lawyers that I worked with called me up at the hospital and he
said, “Well, when are you coming back to work?” (Laughter.) And I said,
“Well, I don’t know. I think I’ll take maternal leave.” And he goes,
“Well, what’s that?” (Laughter.) And I said, “Well, that means I’m
going to stay home for a couple months and take care of my baby.” “Oh,”
he said. “Oh, oh, okay.” (Laughter.)
But that shouldn’t be
– we should have a policy. There should be an understanding about how
to support – the most important work that is done in any society is
raising the next generation. There isn’t any more important work. We
shouldn’t make it so hard for bright, talented, educated young women to
be able to do their work and raise their family. And I hope that those
of you who wish to make that choice and balance that have the support
you need, both from your immediate family and from the larger society,
so that you can do it and do it well. (Applause.)
Well, let me see. Back there. I try to pick the aisles because it’s easier to get to, I guess. Here we go.
QUESTION:
Good afternoon, Madame Secretary. Welcome to Ewha and Korea. First of
all, thanks for the speech and what you said about doing what you love.
So I have a question related to love. (Laughter.) (Inaudible) was one
of the major reasons (inaudible) husband (inaudible), then presidential
(inaudible). How did you know your husband was (inaudible)? (Laughter
and Applause.)
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yeah, I feel more
like an advice columnist than Secretary of State today. (Laughter.) How
does anybody describe love? I mean, poets have spent millennia writing
about love. Psychologists and authors of all sorts write about it. I
think if you can describe it, you may not fully be experiencing it
because it is such a personal relationship. I’m very lucky because my
husband is my best friend and he and I have been together for a very
long time, longer than most of you have been alive. (Laughter.)
We
are – we have an endless conversation. We never get bored. We get
deeply involved in all of the work that we do and we talk about it
constantly. And I just feel very fortunate that I have a relationship
that has been so meaningful to me over my adult life.
And I
just wish all of you to have a positive experience, whatever you choose
to pursue in life, because it makes life more interesting. It is
something that gives real texture and color, and it’s a learning
experience. Let me put it that way. You learn a lot about yourself in a
relationship as well as the other person. So it’s no longer Valentine’s
Day. That was last week. (Laughter.) But I think that personal
relationships are really what is most important in life.
I
had a friend, a wonderful woman scientist who was a pioneering woman
physician and research endocrinologist. She worked for many years at
Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. And she once said something
that I’ve always treasured. She said, in talking about her life, near
the end of her life, she said, “I’ve loved and been loved, and all the
rest is background music.” And so I think about that a lot. So I wish
you a lot of music as a foreground. (Applause.)
QUESTION: Madame Secretary, last question.
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Oh, the last question. What a burden. (Laughter.) Okay, yes, can you
give the microphone to this young woman in pink? Thank you.
QUESTION:
Madame Secretary, thank you so much for giving me the last question.
The question (inaudible) about your daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
Actually, I saw your daughter when I was studying in United States, and
I thought she was so smart and great and was so sure about you and your
campaign at the time (inaudible) she is so like you. (Laughter.) So I’m
pretty sure that you (inaudible) her a lot. So can you just tell a
little bit about how special Chelsea is to you?
SECRETARY CLINTON:
Well, thank you. Well, we could be here for hours. (Laughter and
Applause.) One of the most wonderful things about being a mother is
watching your child grow into an adult whom you like and admire. And
that’s the way I feel about my daughter. It’s not only that I love her
because I’m her mother and I’m very invested in her. I just really like
her. I like being with her. I like talking to her. I enjoy hearing
about what she’s doing in her life.
And I was very touched
when she decided to campaign so vigorously for my election because
she’s always been very supportive but very private and not wanting to
get out and make public speeches and all of that. But she traveled with
me during the campaign and she, I think, had two experiences. One, she
realized how much ground there was to cover and how many people there
were out there to see and talk to. And I think she also was surprised
by what she saw as sort of remnants of gender bias in some of the
encounters that we had in the campaign.
She was with me one
day in New Hampshire when some young men jumped and unfurled a sign
that said, “Iron my shirts” and were yelling at me. She just had never
experienced that. She thought that was ancient history, where you read
about that in a textbook somewhere. (Laughter.) And she was so
surprised, because she’d gone to Stanford, she had gone to Oxford, and
she had a very great educational experience and then a really
challenging work experience.
So she wanted to help. And she
said, look, I’ll go (inaudible) and that’s probably where you saw her
out campaigning for me at one of the more than 400 places that she
campaigned for me around the country. And I was just so touched that
she was willing to do that, because it’s a sacrifice to be the child or
the relative of someone in public life, because it’s hard. And you have
to avoid taking everything that happens personally. And it’s a
difficult experience.
So I just watched her just get better
and better and better at what she did and how she communicated. And I’m
just very fortunate because we are lucky enough to have a very
supportive relationship. She and her dad and I spend a lot of time
together, along with her friends. She’s got a great group of friends.
And
so for me, it’s the most wonderful part of being a mother because you
can see the result of this tiny baby that you were introduced to all
those years ago turn into an extraordinary young woman. Because again,
nobody gives you a instruction book about being a mother. And I
remember one night when Chelsea was like a week or two old and she was
just crying and crying and it was the worst feeling when you’re a new
mother and you can’t get your baby to stop crying and you don’t know
what’s causing it. And you think that it must be something like an
emergency, that you should run to the hospital and get help, and all it
is is she’s a baby. And so I was rocking her in the middle of the night
and I said to her, I said, look, you’ve never been a baby before, and
I’ve never been a mother before. (Laughter.) We just have to figure
this out together, and that’s what we’re still doing. Every new
experience we’re just figuring it out together.
And I just
wish for all of you the most joyous and challenging and exciting
opportunities ahead. It is a wonderful time to be a young woman in the
first part of the 21st century. I know I’m having
experiences and opportunities that my mother, who was born before women
could vote in the United States, could never have dreamed of, and
certainly neither of my grandmothers. And you are living lives that for
many of you, your mothers and grandmothers could never have envisioned.
So it is an extraordinary opportunity. It is also a responsibility. And
I wish for each of you a life filled with purpose and meaning and joy.
And thank you for letting me come talk to you today. (Cheers and
Applause.)
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