For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
October 6, 2004
Remarks by First Lady Laura Bush at the 2004 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit
The St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort and Spa Dana Point, California
9:36 A.M. PDT
MRS. BUSH: Thank you all very much, and thank you very much Ann.
Thanks to you and to Pattie Sellers for your leadership of this very
powerful group of women. I'm happy to be here to be part of this
dialogue with so many smart and savvy women. In fact, I'm wondering
how the guys are managing without us. (Laughter.)
As prominent women in business, law, the media, public life, I
imagine that all of us have been subjected to a few stereotypes. I was
reminded of that recently when I received some letters from a group of
kindergarten students. Their teacher asked them to write what they
thought my responsibilities were.
A little girl named Shelby wrote that I help the President with his
paperwork and then I help him clean his office and I take care of him
when he's sick and put cold cloths on his head. (Laughter.) I only do
that after debates. (Laughter.)
Shelby wasn't the only child concerned about the President's
health. Megan said that, as First Lady, I feed the dogs and I plant
the daffodils and I do the President's speeches when he isn't feeling
well. (Laughter.)
On the other hand, Todd thinks there's more manual labor involved
in my job, but he actually might be headed for a career in fashion,
because he wrote that I wear pretty suits and I shovel the snow and
feed the birds. (Laughter.)
Of course, what I really get to do is take part in great events
like this, and meet remarkable Americans who are shaping our world.
President Bush and I appreciate all that each one of you do to make a
difference in your community and in our country.
Our economy remains the strongest in the world, thanks to America's
entrepreneurs and business leaders. We all know that empowered women
are essential to a democracy. And this is even clearer to us today as
we look around the world and see what happens in countries where half
of the population is left out.
I'm proud that, in my husband's administration, there are more
women in senior positions than in any presidential administration in
history. Dr. Condoleezza Rice advises the President on foreign policy,
Margaret Spellings is in charge of domestic policy. That means at the
White House, women are in charge of everything abroad and everything at
home. That sounds about right to me. Dr. Rice is also the first woman
ever to serve as National Security Advisor.
Each one of you has achieved success in your respective fields, and
you've done it through perseverance and hard work, sometimes while
you're balancing a career and a carpool.
I'm glad to see that former Governor of Texas Ann Richards is
here. She put it best when she said, "After all, Ginger Rogers did
everything that Fed Astaire did, she just did it backwards and in high
heels." (Laughter.)
We've all benefited from generations of strong women who have
blazed trails before us. Women didn't get to sign the Declaration of
Independence, but businesswoman Mary Goddard printed the first official
copy. Verne Mitchell was the first woman to play in major league
baseball, although she was still professionally called Miss Jack
Mitchell. In her first game in 1931, the 17-year-old struck out Lou
Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Talk about a powerful woman.
That same year, Jane Addams won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work
to advance international peace. She was also a staunch advocate for
women suffrage. She shocked her female audiences by pointing out that
women were not better than men. In fact, she said, we haven't wrecked
railroads, nor corrupted legislatures, nor done many of the unholy
things that men have done. But then we haven't had the chance.
Women like Jane helped open the doors of opportunity to women to be
leaders in business, government, the arts, education and every other
field. And you in turn are inspiring millions of other women,
especially young women like my daughters.
Today, women-owned businesses account for nearly half of all
privately held firms. And women are opening businesses at twice the
rate of men. We're making progress toward the day when we have a lot
more of your colleagues who will be women and the First Lady of America
will be a First Man.
The struggle for women's rights is a story of ordinary women doing
extraordinary things. And today, the women of Afghanistan are writing
an exciting new chapter in their long struggle. In just three days,
they'll vote in the first free election in the history of their
country. (Applause.)
Those who question whether people in the broader Middle East desire
freedom need only ask the more than 10 million Afghans who have
registered to vote. More than 4 million of those new voters are
women. In a few short years, the people of Afghanistan have made great
strides in transforming their country from a land of terror to one of
opportunity and hope.
Just a little over two years ago in Afghanistan, women were not
allowed to even walk outside of their house without a male escort, and
they were beaten and executed in a sports stadium. They were not
allowed to work outside their homes, little girls couldn't go to school
or learn to read.
Today, women are going back to work and little girls are going to
school. The people of Afghanistan have strong leaders and a
constitution guaranteeing the rights of women. Several women helped
draft this constitution, which is one of the most progressive documents
on women's rights in the Muslim world.
Of course, Afghanistan still has much work ahead, but its new
constitution declares that Afghan women have equal rights and
responsibilities under the law. The constitution reserves 25 percent
of the seats in the lower house of parliament for women. Women head
two cabinet posts and many more serve throughout the government.
For the first time, a Ministry of Women's Affairs is focusing
solely on issues for women, including health care and civic education.
At provincial women's centers across Afghanistan, women are learning
about their rights and their opportunities.
I thank Ann Moore and the women executives at Time Warner for
collecting $60,000 for a women's resource center in Parwan outside
Kabul. The center will provide classes in literacy and health care to
women and girls.
At a similar center in Kabul, women ages 16 to 80 are learning to
read and write, and they're learning about other inspiring role models
in a course called "Women of the World." One teacher said, "Two months
ago, the women in this class didn't even know how to hold a pencil in
their hand. Now they're writing out their assignments in their
notebooks."
Education for the women of Afghanistan is about more than learning
to read and write. Women are also learning that they have value and
worth. And as the women of Afghanistan gain confidence, they're
becoming the greatest advocate for their daughters' education.
Today, nearly 5 million Afghan children, including more than 2
million girls, are in school. Girls now talk about their future and
about rebuilding their country. One little girl said, "I want to
become a lawyer because I want to bring justice and freedom to
Afghanistan, especially for women."
The U.S. and friends of Afghanistan have built more than 200
schools, including many for girls. And together, we've published and
distributed 25 million textbooks and trained thousands of teachers.
And this year, 17 Afghan Fulbright scholars including five women are
again studying in the United States after two decades of absence.
Summer before last, a group of Afghan women visited our friend and
the President's advisor, Karen Hughes, in Texas as part of the
U.S.-Afghan Women's Council Meeting. When I talked to Karen the next
day, she told me that the women had agreed that literacy was the key to
improving every aspect of women's lives in Afghanistan, from health
care to political participation.
More than 60 percent of Afghans are illiterate and the situation is
especially dire in rural areas, where 92 percent of women cannot read
or write.
I'm proud that just two weeks ago, thanks to the leadership of
Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky and Secretary Ann Veneman,
and with support from my office and the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council,
the women Teacher Training Institute in Kabul officially opened.
(Applause.) Thank you, Paula.
The institute will use an innovative program to train and quickly
deploy women teachers to teach basic literacy, numerancy, and life
skills. These master teachers will travel to women's centers and train
others to teach in rural and under-served communities.
Through this advanced program, most of the students they teach will
try to learn the equivalent of two years' worth of work in just one
year. Teachers like Storay, a mother of seven, who once held secret
classes in an underground school for girls and risked her life by doing
that, will now be able to freely and openly help many others. And
women across Afghanistan are learning from and working with some of
America's most talented women, including many women in this room.
Pat Mitchell mentored two Afghan journalists at the News Hour with
Jim Lehrer. These women contributed to Afghanistan Unveiled, an oral
history project, and they returned home to Afghanistan with a renewed
appreciation for the vital importance of freedom of speech and the
press.
Connie Duckworth established a micro-enterprise cooperative for
Afghan women to make and export rugs. Her company, ARZU, which means
"hope" in Dari, placed its first orders on International Women's Day.
In a few months, Barbara Barrett will host a dozen Afghan
businesswomen at the Thunderbird Business School of International
Management. These women will receive advanced training in
entrepreneurship and will return home to teach more women how to run
their own business.
The people of Afghanistan still face many challenges in
strengthening their young democracy. But Afghan women are making great
progress in exercising their freedoms. And the women of Afghanistan
are an inspiration to their sisters in Iraq.
I know that Iraqi Minister of State for Women's Affairs Narmin
Othman spoke here yesterday. Last week, she visited the White House to
talk about the advances being made by and for women. After three
decades of brutal dictatorship where women were punished by rape and
torture, Iraqi women are participating in the reconstruction of their
country.
Three women helped draft the Transitional Administrative Law that
is a model for women's rights. During the signing of their interim
law, Iraqi women marched together and many spoke publicly for the first
time after years of oppression. In Baghdad, more than 200 women
marched for greater rights, chanting "Yes for equality, yes for
freedom." Perhaps most important, the march was applauded by a group
of Iraqi men. One of them smiled and said, "This is the first time
women have demonstrated freely in Iraq."
Six women ministers serve in the Cabinet and women hold a quarter
of the seats on the Iraqi National Council. Nearly 100 women serve in
Iraq's national police force, and for the first time women are serving
beside men in the military. Thousands of Iraqi women are receiving
training in political leadership for the coming elections. Some will
soon learn how to produce their own call-in talk show on the radio to
improve women's political participation.
Recently, hundreds of women formed a coalition called Mothers of
Iraq. These women represent many different religions and regions,
including Sunni and Shia from Basra to Baghdad. They're registering
voters, they're teaching women how to vote. And such grassroots
organizing is new to Iraq, but this coalition has quickly realized the
influence that women can wield.
During the summer, Mothers of Iraq collected 16,000 signatures in
support of a campaign to end violence. They rallied local communities
and held their first press conference, which was widely covered by the
Iraqi media.
As they are making their voices heard, the women of Iraq are also
experiencing the freedom that education brings. Because of the United
States and our allies, more than 2,400 schools have been renovated in
Iraq. Master teachers have trained more than 30,000 teachers. Two
million girls are back in school, and they no longer fear that secret
police are monitoring their studies.
Six Iraqi women are also among the first Fulbright scholars to
study in the United States in 14 years. In June, for the G8 Summit, I
invited one of these students, Dalia, to join me, Cherie Blair,
Bernadette Chirac, Afghan Minister of Women's Affairs Dr. Habiba
Sarabi, and Iraqi Minister Pascale Isho Warda, for a discussion of
women's rights.
Dalia told us about the great suffering her family endured under
Saddam Hussein. She was temporarily blinded in the gassing of her
village and she was the only one of her 28 classmates to survive the
bombing of her school. Today, she is realizing a lifelong dream while
pursuing a masters degree at Duke University. Next year, she'll return
to her homeland to teach.
Dalia told me, "For the first time in my life, I'm optimistic about
the future. I want America to know about the real Iraq, not the Iraqi
the media portrays. Iraq is a country of 25 million human beings, each
with their own hopes for a better future. We want to live in freedom."
Great progress is being made in Iraq, despite ongoing violence
there. Terrorists continue to commit barbaric acts. They hope the
Iraqi people will abandon their dream of freedom. But the
determination of the Iraqi people is great.
We know that the building of a democracy is not always easy. We
know this from our own history and from the history of other emerging
democracies. I'm reminded of what Vaclav Havel, the former President
of the Czech Republic once told me. He said, "Laura, you know,
democracy is hard, because it requires the participation of
everybody." The Czech Republic is just one example of a country that
struggled against communism and achieved democracy. And the Czech
people have made supporting freedom in other countries a major
component of their foreign policy.
Not long ago in the march of history, our own mothers and
grandmothers started out without the right to vote. But thanks to
their efforts, and advances being made by women like you, this century
promises to be one of even more milestones for women throughout the
world. As our role models have shown, being first comes with more than
rewards and recognition; it comes with responsibility.
Today, we are called to be more than women leaders -- but also
leaders of women. We have an obligation to help our sisters who face
prejudice and injustice. We know that no society can prosper when half
of its population is not allowed to contribute to its progress.
All of us have an opportunity to speak out for women, for women who
are denied the chance to learn, to vote, or to live in freedom. We may
come from different backgrounds, but advancing human rights is the
responsibility of all humanity -- a commitment shared by people of good
will on every continent.
I'm proud to be part of the President's efforts to make women's
rights a global policy imperative. Our work to help the women of
Afghanistan and Iraq is part of a broader effort to support women
across the Middle East, from girls' literacy programs in Yemen to legal
workshops in Bahrain.
President Bush organized the Middle Eastern Partnership Initiative
to help create a women's network in the region so that women can share
and learn from each other, much as we're doing today. Many of you are
actively involved in helping the women of Afghanistan, and I encourage
you to extend your talent to helping the women of Iraq and the broader
Middle East.
As we work to meet the challenges that women face at home and
abroad, our goal is simple: We seek women's full participation in
every dimension of life. I'm inspired by the words of Farahnaz Nazir,
founder of the Afghanistan Women's Association, who said, "Society is
like a bird. It has two wings. And a bird cannot fly if one wing is
broken."
Our dedication to advancing women's rights in all countries will
lead to a better and safer world for our daughters and granddaughters.
I hope you will get involved and support education and business
development in Afghanistan, Iraq and in the broader Middle East. With
our help, girls and women across the world can look forward to a future
of hope.
Thank you for your leadership and your continued work for women
everywhere. And thank you for being great role models for women and
girls in our country and around the world.
Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
END 9:56 A.M. PDT
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