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Hillary's Call for Women's Rights

More than 4,000 women from 185 countries traveled to Beijing, China, last week for the United Nations Conference on Women. One of those women was United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. In a formal speech, Clinton said she wanted the meeting to be a "call to action" that would "create a world in which every woman is treated with respect and dignity."

Clinton spoke with passion about the barriers that women face in many nations. "As long as girls and women are valued less, fed less ... underpaid, not schooled and subjected to violence in and out of their homes," she said, "the potential of the human family to create a peaceful and prosperous world will not be realized."

Clinton didn't mention China in her speech, but many people believe she was criticizing the host nation and other countries that do not treat women and girls fairly. Chinese officials, afraid of such criticism, cracked down on protests during the conference and prevented many women from attending. Several angry clashes took place between visitors and Chinese police.

The women's conference is held every 10 years, in a different country each time. The United Nations began sponsoring the conference to create a worldwide exchange of ideas about problems women face. A document signed at this year's meeting calls for all nations to grant girls the chance to be educated and give women the right to vote and be treated equally to men.

"The power, rights and contributions of women can no longer be denied," said Gertrude Mongella of Tanzania, who led the meeting.

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