Philosophy 15

“[H]uman rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.”

Quote: Hillary Clinton (1995): Keynote address during the "Fourth World Conference on Women" Beijing 1995. Picture: By White House - Official Portrait of First Lady Hillary Clinton, Public Domain, Wikimedia, Creative Commons.

Hillary Clinton (*1947) is an American politician and was First Lady during her husband's presidency from 1992 to 2001.

This quote comes from Clinton's speech as "First Lady" of the USA during the "Fourth World Conference on Women" in Beijing, China. It addresses various dimensions of the violation of women's human rights. She points out that many women who wanted to attend the conference were denied participation. Freedom means that everyone is allowed to contradict their governments without risk to life and limb. While Clinton sees herself as a human rights activist, she is criticized for subordinating demands for human rights to the economic and power-political interests of the USA, thereby undermining their fundamental importance. The slogan is also better known in the context of feminist movements, which use it to advocate equal rights for women.

*Kevin Young, Diana C. Sierra Becerra (03.09.2015): Hillary Clinton’s Empowerment, Brooklyn: Jacobin. *Amnesty International (2024): Women’s rights are human rights!

1995