A Female Secretary of State, Making a Difference in Africa

A female secretary of state who identifies with the plight of women is making a difference. We’ve had two female secretaries of state with Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice. But Hillary is the first one to spend seven days in Africa and use her time there to put a bright spotlight on an issue that has survived largely in the dark -- the massive use of rape as a tool of war.

Such mutilation and violent abuse of women will continue as long as the world turns a blind eye to such massive atrocities. Hillary Clinton’s visit to the worst war torn areas in the Congo makes it that much harder for anyone to say “we just didn’t know.”

But being a female secretary of state, married to a former president, continues to burden her with baggage she should no longer be asked to carry. One slip of the tongue, in a moment of fatigue, threatens to undermine all that she has accomplished. Why, after having proven that she is a skilled diplomat in her own right, are the commentators so quick to jump on her?

The issue was a question asked by a student: if she knew what Mr. Clinton thought. She responded in knee-jerk fashion that she was the secretary of state. Not a big deal, but it became a big deal (the student said later he meant to say Mr.Obama) because the media is still so eager to diminish her role, to see her as a shrewish, jealous woman. Even at her best—going to African killing places like Goma, where few if any Americans have gone to save women’s lives -- she is not acknowledged for her courage. Worse yet, the torture, rape and killing she wants the world to see, is obscured.

We cannot allow the old habit of Hillary bashing to distract us from her mission and ours -- to create outrage against the targeted, purposeful, destruction of thousands of women’s lives, so that the perpetrators will be punished, or at the very least, shamed into changing their gruesome tactics of warfare.

Madeleine M. Kunin is the former Governor of Vermont and was the state's first woman governor. She served as Ambassador to Switzerland for President Clinton, and was on the three-person panel that chose Al Gore to be Clinton's VP. She is the author of Pearls, Politics, and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead from Chelsea Green Publishing.

Comments

[all4hill]

Hillary is the smartest public servant, she is always trying to help others, but that doesn't matter. Most in the media can't wait to bash Hillary. They are scared of her because she will call them out when they are being stupid. She is doing a wonderful job.

[psk]

Sometimes I am just not sure what to make of HRC. I like her and sometimes I don't, it all depends on the issue of the moment I guess. She first came to my attention as First Lady of the United States, then as a Senator for New York. This is a woman that has spent most of the last 20 years being ridden hard by vicious nonsense attacks from all sides. The media, the Republican party, quite a few Democrats as well.

I think they ride her because they are frightened of her. Here is a woman that is very intelligent, very independent, very driven to complete her goals using only herself and her own resources. Whether you like her or not, she is impressive. imho

It would be nice to see the media and others be less concerned with attacking her simply on principle (she's HRC) and begin to concentrate on what she is trying to accomplish. Nearly everything she does is for the benefit of others and not for self gratification.

[texasnative3]

The press members usually have a stereotype for public persons, and the theme for Bill and Hillary Clinton is "brilliant but...," or "prickly" and "thin-skinned." Absolute B.S. but whenever there is an opportunity to work that theme in, the press will. Thank you Madeleine Kunin for this post.

[Aaror]

There is a reason for the killings, scratch the surface and you will see American mega-corps profiting from the deaths. Those corporations own the news outlets, and own advertisers the news outlets depend on for revenue. If Clinton threatens their cash flow, of course the news will be about her slip of the tongue rather than the killings and rapes done to make some company a few dollars.
We don't interfere in Darfur because China doesn't want us to, and our corporations have too much invested in China (plus they own the US gov't).

[dreffein]

Gov. Kunin: well said and written. HRC has proven herself over and over. She has sacrificed much so that others can do better. And yet, it's still the old boy's clubs that focus on the minutia and consistently miss the big picture. Think Chris Cilliza and Dana Millbank and that's what she battles every single day.