The New York Times Magazine, as part of a special issue that focuses on women worldwide, published an interview with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who “staked her claim as an advocate for global women’s issues in 1995, when, as first lady, she gave an impassioned speech at a United Nations conference in Beijing.” The interview was conducted ahead of her 11-day, seven country tour of Africa.

Clinton said “women and girls” are a “signature issue” of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. She pointed out that “maternal health” is part of the “administration’s outreach.” She said the administration is “very proud” of PEPFAR, and “[w]e’ve moved from an understanding of how to deal with global AIDS to recognizing it’s now a woman’s disease, because women are the most vulnerable and often have no power to protect themselves. And it’s increasingly younger women or even girls.” Clinton said, “HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria – those are all, unfortunately, equal-opportunity killers. Maternal health is a woman’s issue; it’s a family issue; it’s a child issue. And for the United States to say to countries that have very high maternal mortality rates, ‘We care about the future of your children, and in order to do that, we care about the present of your women,’ is a powerful statement.”

When answering a question about microlending, Clinton said she is “struck” by international public-opinion polls that show “the No. 1 thing most men and women want is a good job with a good income.” She said, “Microenterprise is uniquely designed to empower women because … women are much greater at investing in future goods than the men who have participated in microcredit have turned out to be.”

The interview touched on several other topics including: terrorism, women’s rights in countries that have strategic importance to the U.S., sex trafficking and gender-based violence (Landler, 8/18).

Related articles appearing in the magazine include:

• “The Women’s Crusade” (Kristof/WuDunn, 8/17).
• “The Daughter Deficit” (Rosenberg, 8/19).
• “Madame President” (Solomon, 8/18).