For Immediate Release
Office of the First Lady
March 8, 2004
Interview of the First Lady by Dalia Al-Aqidi of AL Hurra Middle East Television on International Women's Day
The Diplomatic Reception Room
Monday, March 1, 2004
11:00 A.M. EST
Q Mrs. Bush, women's groups around the world chose March 8th to
be their day. It was designated by the United Nations to be
International Women's Day. What does this day mean to you?
MRS. BUSH: Well, it's a wonderful day to be able to celebrate the
contributions of women around the world. In March 2002, I spoke at the
U.N. for International Women's Day and I talked about the women in
Afghanistan and the way American women are standing with them and
wishing them the very best, and the things that our government, the
United States government, has done to try to make sure little girls in
Afghanistan are educated and women have rights in Afghanistan so they
can leave their homes, for instance, by themselves during the day.
But also for me, personally, International Women's Day is a great
day to celebrate the strong women in my life. It's a good time for all
of us, really, to think about our mothers and our grandmothers and all
the sacrifices they made, all the mothers and grandmothers in the world
who sacrificed for the wellbeing of their children.
Q In your November 17, 2001, radio address to the U.S., you
said the brutal oppression of women is a central goal of the
terrorists. What did you mean by that?
MRS. BUSH: Well, I think that if you marginalize half of the
society, if you keep women at home with really unnecessary restrictions
so that, for instance, in the case of the women in Afghanistan who
couldn't work, you reduced them to being beggars, you reduced their
children to being beggars because they couldn't leave their homes.
They were widows in many cases, and weren't able to work or even go out
to look for food for their children. And that's a way to keep a whole
people subjugated. And that's what I meant by it.
Q You have criticized the Taliban and Muslim extremists for
their treatment to women. But some claim that it's justified by
religion or traditions. What's your reaction to that?
MRS. BUSH: Well, I don't -- I'm certainly not an expert on Islam
in any way. But I know that Islam as well as Christianity, and other
religions around the world, don't believe in putting people down, in
subjugating people to tyranny but, instead, believe in the intrinsic
value and worth of every human being as a child of God. And that's
what I believe most religions think, that people deserve respect and
dignity and that sort of treatment, men and women and children.
Q Even though Afghanistan now is free of Taliban, yet millions
of women are prevented from registration -- registering to the first
elections in Afghanistan, mostly by traditional and tribal elements.
What would help the women who went through similar circumstances to
get accustomed to the new reforms or to face the new challenges?
MRS. BUSH: Well, certainly education is one of the most important
things we can do for people around the world, for countries to be able
to prosper, to -- once peace is secured, to be able to reach prosperity
for women and children, and all people to be educated really helps.
But I also think it's important for people around the world to
reach out to the women in Afghanistan, to let them know that we're
standing with them and that we want to help in any way we can. In the
United States, women didn't get the right to vote until early in the --
the last century. And many, many women and men marched and protested
so that women could vote.
And as we've looked around the world, as we've seen emerging
democracies in central Europe, for instance, and in other places around
the world, and we've seen people getting the right to vote for the
first time, it should make all of us aware of how important that right
is and how we shouldn't -- certainly in our country, for instance --
take it for granted.
Q What do you think about certain countries' efforts to ban
religious expression, such as scarves for Muslim women in schools, or
wearing crosses?
MRS. BUSH: Well, in the United States, because we are a country of
immigrants, because of that, we have learned to accept differences. In
fact, that's what makes our country so rich, is our diversity. It
makes us rich culturally. We have every religion, we have people from
all parts of the world who now call the United States home. And all
that great confluence of ideas that came from every culture has made
our country particularly diverse. And because of that, though, we've
been more willing to accept differences, to accept the idea that in
some religions you would want to wear a cover or a cross or a
yarmulke. I admire that about the people in my country. I admire that
tolerance that we have for each other.
Q The U.S. wants to establish women's rights and equality in
the Middle East with proposals such as training women to educate
girls. Some in the Arab world were upset or complained that reforms
must come from within, not to be imposed from the outside. How do you
address this issue?
MRS. BUSH: Well, of course, I believe that. I believe that
reforms must come from within, and that if the people of a country are
invested in their reforms, because they developed them themselves,
they've written the constitution, they've participated in the debates,
then they are much more likely to defend those reforms that they have
come up with.
But at the same time, I think that we can learn from each other.
It took us a very long time in our country to have a true democracy.
We started off, the United States started with a wonderful constitution
written by brilliant people. But we didn't live that constitution; we
had slavery for another almost 100 years after that constitution.
That's what we don't want other countries to have to go through, and
that's the very long time it took.
So as reforms need to come from within, also we can learn from each
other. We can see what other countries have gone through as they
develop to democracy and we can make our own emerging democracies
easier to develop because we can learn from what other countries have
done and what they've suffered as they've finally been able to build a
democracy.
Q Critics of American culture and especially the American media
and American entertainment, they claim that the U.S. is already trying
to impose values of promiscuity or selfishness in the Arab world. Is
this a fair assessment?
MRS. BUSH: No. That's not a fair assessment.
Certainly, when people look at American television or read some
American books or listen to some American music, they get a view of
America that's not a full view, that's not a real view of what the
American people are like.
I met recently with a group of women who had studied here at the
University of Nebraska. They were teachers from Afghanistan. And they
had come over to study so they could go back to Afghanistan and train
more teachers. And while they were here, they lived with families in
Nebraska.
And they were so amazed at the way those families were. They were
amazed that these families were religious. And, in fact, Americans are
very religious. They were amazed at how honest they were.
And I think when you in any part of the world see only American
television or listen only to some parts of American music, you get a
very unrealistic picture about the way the people of the United States
really are. And I hope that people around the world will look at the
United States and see what people are really like in the United
States.
Q In the 2002 Arab Human Development Report that was released
by the United Nations Development Program, and written by a number of
Arab scholars, one of the findings notes that 65 million Arab adults
are illiterate. Two-thirds of them are women and about 10 million
children are out of school.
What would it mean to the women -- to the region if women were
given more access to education?
MRS. BUSH: Well, it would just make a huge difference if women
could read and if women were really a part of the societies. When you
deny women an education, then you've denied half of the population the
chance to succeed and the chance to contribute to a society and to a
culture.
It means a lot for economic progress and for prosperity. But it
also means so much for the welfare of children. Women in every society
are the ones who make most of the choices for their children. They
make the choices of what foods to serve, they many times make the
health care choices for their children. And if they are educated, they
are more likely to be able to make informed choices so that their
children don't suffer from malnutrition, so that their children can
receive the best health care.
They also -- educated women want their children to be educated, and
they make good choices for their children. They make the choice to
send their children to school, for instance, or they can help their
children at home with their homework.
Literacy is really one of the most important functions of a
society. And being able to make sure that children and adults in every
society are educated is really one of the most important functions of a
government. And certainly we feel that way in the United States.
Q Speaking of children, you're backing up a proposed $500
million hospital to be built in Basra in Iraq.
MRS. BUSH: That figure is not correct.
Q I know it's a big hospital. But yet that project is facing
problems on the Hill. Do you expect that this project will pass
through?
MRS. BUSH: I certainly hope so. And in fact, today, a number of
people will be here to discuss this very issue. And that is a way to
build a children's hospital in Iraq that is a teaching hospital, so
that nurses can be trained there, doctors can be trained there, and so
that the children of Iraq can receive the very best possible health
care.
I understand that leukemia is a childhood disease in Iraq where
there are increasing rates of leukemia and leukemia is very treatable,
childhood leukemia is very treatable. And so those are the sorts of
health care we want the Iraqi children to be able to have.
I know that the mothers of those children want that for their
children. And I hope that we can work together with the people of Iraq
and the mothers and fathers of Iraq, to make sure that their children
receive really excellent health care.
Q My last question would be about the Iraqi women. How do you
see their role in the society now?
MRS. BUSH: Well, the good news that came out of Iraq that the
Governing Council has been able to write this agreement so they can
begin to write the constitution is very good news. And even though I
don't know what all is in that agreement, I do understand that women's
rights are protected in that agreement, and I like that very much.
I want the women of Iraq to know how much American women stand with
them. We want them to be successful. We want the people of Iraq to
have peace and to be able to build their country in a good and secure
way, so that the children of Iraq have a future that's free from
violence and that's happy and with wellbeing for all the children and
the people of Iraq.
Q Mrs. Bush, thank you very much for having us.
MRS. BUSH: Thank you very much.
END 11:15 A.M. EST
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