in the country or region that ignores half of its population will undercut its chance of success politically, economically, and democratically

fact. another factor, there are some demographic realities in the arab world. young people, including young girls, young people are a disproportionate majority. use unemployment is among the highest numbers. s.c. people shaking their heads because they know, and you know, the use bowles is going to continue until at least 2030. these facts but in -- nine people at the top of every single agenda. let's stick with facts here. young women are the largest cohort in higher education in many countries in many regions,

and they are the next generation of human capital. if we limit that pool of emerging problem solvers, we will limit unique perspectives, experiences, skills, and solutions. we have to keep citing studies, statistics, and facts. according to a world bank study, women in the arab world have the lowest rates of employment of any region. the economies of the middle east will never reach their potential with the women playing a significantly more active role in the workforce. okay. we have done the economics. let's go beyond economics. let's talk about extremism. that's it -- that gets people sitting up higher in their

chairs. women are frequently the ones most intimately connected in the community, families, neighbors. they are uniquely positioned to prevent extremist ideology from creeping in their communities. they are the communities most frequent teachers of respect and tolerance, and they can bring there attributes to more than the so-called women's issues. they are good at conflict resolution, economic management of the household income, and political leading. all across the region we are seeing women taking the initiative. women like carmen now about 40

dear to the 43 year-old mother of three, a car recipient of the nobel peace prize in 2011 for nonviolent efforts to enhance women's safety, human rights, and peace building. the uae, minister of development and international cooperation all. scientists a science camp, go girls, bringing educational opportunities and scholarships to girls and women in the palestinian territories. can you please help imagine an entire region if the groups are no longer just a short list of individual exceptions but regular citizens building

infrastructures of democracy, freedom, dignity, prosperity, innovation. it is essential in today's world that women actually govern. in yemen you could say that 28 percent of the delegates of the national dialogue are women, but the truth is, they hold very few of the real decision making seats. women only have three out of 72 seats in the new syrian opposition coalition. egypt, egypt. historic, important to egypt. the abuse of women has violated not only bodies but rights to free expression and the right stuff fully take part in their country's transition.

only about nine women legislators won seats in the parliamentary election. stand up against official pronouncements that distort religion and deny rights to women. there is also what is frustrating to many of us, an internal conundrum. what is the conundrum? women are needed in decision making circles to bring about political change. but until there is political change women have difficulty attaining influential political positions. i hope what i am doing for you is helping you to help women who are finding their voice to build

the strongest and possible solid case for their inclusion because the evidence could not be more clear cut. women are the bellwether, the barometer, and the building bricks of greater economy, democracies, and countries. yes, we should care because they care. because they and us are in charge of building a safer and more secure world. there is another reason we should care and the women out there in these countries care. we should care because when we stop caring, when we stop talking about it, governments and economies backslide.

women are sidelined, further marginalize, and there is and can be retrieved. and here is what happens when there is retreat on these issues . failed expectations, violence, suppression of rights, everyone's right. the cost of systemic discrimination and the filly to harness the contributions of women will have consequences for prosperity, stability, and violent extremism. two weeks ago i had the opportunity to sit with 16 young women from the middle east and northern africa. they were here on a state department international visitors leader's program. they had come to the united states to your meet with other american under briards and met with and government, civil

society folks. we have to look at their faces and there's a man's. parliamentarian, members of society, professors, doctors, election monitors, and they are in the trenches of pushed back to hostility and institutionalized resistance. they asked me to tell you, they do not believe in retreat. the women from egypt were particularly moving in laying out for me their challenges. they talked about tear-gas. they told me, they experience it almost every day. they told me that teargas comes in different colors.

sometimes they said it is a kind that burns your skin or takes your breath away. one woman joked. i think we are getting addicted to it. what they did not joke about was horrific rape and sexual violence in their own countries. i did not ask them to describe how it happened. they asked if i would listen to how it happened. they described how during a demonstration men surrounding women like a pack of football players in the huddle. one by one they take turns raping. we are following these developments very closely. though more so than secretary carry who has shown a commitment to these issues throughout 30

years in the senate. he vowed at his confirmation hearing to carry forward secretary clinton's work to institutionalized women and girls and make them the center of american foreign policy, and he said this week, president obama and this administration share real concerns about the direction that egypt appears to be moving in. it is our hope there's still time to turn the corner. the recent arrest, violence in the streets, exclusivity with respect to the opposition and public ways that make a difference to all people in egypt, that is a concern today. so as we condemn the attacks -- attacks everywhere in the world and urge government to prosecute those responsible, we recognize that sexual violence is endemic

across societies not only in egypt, not only in this region, in many parts of the world, and not only in cities, but in rural communities. well, let's not have folia downer day here. if faugh many of the women also shared some good news stories. won moroccan woman told me she is the youngest female parliamentarian and morocco. she looked about 12, but i'm sure she was not. she was the first corona her village to go to school, to attend a university, become elected to public office. she said she is determined to make sure her exceptional story becomes every moroccan girls normal story. another woman escaped from our country during the green movement demonstration and the

regime cracked down. she is working to reach out to other women to produce democratic change. i heard stories of transforming societies echoed by women like the minister of social affairs incident who is working to protect children. the legislature who said she is fighting for the widowed women and the disabled, a palestinian woman working on higher education. and there was something unanimous in all of the stories, something they all agreed on. we want freedom, and most of all, we want dignity. so it was interesting that words mean things to these women. you have to be very careful with word choice. i said to them that i prefer not to talk about the gender space phenomenon so much in the women's space. it just seems like we are beyond

this base and corner. no, no, they said. oh, no. no. they are not ready to take that word women out of the lexicon. they want us to continue to talk about women and to make sure women are not sidelined, views, or marginalized. they tell me that women and the keys. they want free, fair, and transparent economies, enhanced securities, rights for women and girls in school. they want our civil society, our foundations, and our government, to promote change, to integrate them into peace and security building. they want us to share lessons on preventing gender based violence , and they want us to do more to increase their civil societies.

what i am focused on in this job , and they hope to chat mall with you about trying to stitch together all that we do in the u.s. government and the whole of a community. have you put it into some comprehensive tapestry to show what we are doing to support society's and to create out comes that we can measure? we do so much, but at times it is so desperate bid rework in the middle east and northern africa. we joined the g8 ministers at the forum for the future in tunisia. we committed to progress in gender equality. we have a robust middle east partnership. with training journalists, were training lawyers. we are doing so much. our embassy.

they are out there every single day meeting with women, leading workshop, trying to help displaced persons, mentoring. training leaders from rabat to riyadh. how'd you make all that echo and the real. special muslim communities creating networks of changemakers, an office of a global women's issues to my community of democracy, women and public-service project. feels almost endless. how do we explain that it all matters because it all mentors emerging leaders in powerful ways. we want to leave you with a couple of stories. young woman from morocco now

spearheads human rights for a swift -- swiss civil society organization in our country. another woman wants you to know she is now a political adviser in the iraqi government. a libyan woman wants you to know that she has joined the education ministry, that she has heard our call for female representation in parliament and education and, of course, we have all of the programs of my area kelly dca, c sec, the alphabet soup of fortune program with global, mentoring, sports, arts, culture, tech women, tight curls. i could go on and on. how do we know it all works? well, you have to track the graduates of all these programs.

what to the end up doing? with the fall by women and of doing? what to attack women and of doing? well, graduates of the program have started to share their data and experience. two women who asked that i refer to them only as subcommander and nadia are out in yemen today teaching technology to poor students who have never seen a computer. stories like these give us confidence and evidence and incremental prius. thank you to the efforts of women in civil society, all of you. thank you for helping on to visa , removing the objection and removing what was the convention on the elimination of all forms

of discrimination against women helping navigate that and getting into tony's his draft constitution, something that affirms women as equal rather than complementary. thank you for the work you are all doing to help us on humanitarian assistance and syria. it is challenging to work in syria and in the refugee camps. the we are working with the local coordinating committee inside syria to mobilize non-violence activism. so, where are we at the end of the day? we are making gains. footholds, toeholds. and it is important to room a bit -- remember the progress which seems so unimaginable years ago and remember our own

history. remember our american suffragettes, susan b. anthony who once wrote, and i quote, the women of this nation in 1876 have a greater cause for discontent among rebellion, and revolution and the man of 1776. 1876. one hundred years, 100 years after our democratic revolution 50 years before women got the votes commander still had decades of work to secure rights for people of every creed, color, and gender. so, it is inevitable. building a democracy takes time. please, don't stop talking about it. don't stop pushing. don't stop working for women in this region. they want our help. they seek your help. they need our help.

women's rights are not just rights. they are necessary. countries all over this world will be stronger when everyone has a stake in the global system , so it is about success. we are going to plant these habits of democracy in to the soil of every region, and then maybe our spring will bloom in our real arab spring will bloom along side it. thank you very much. would forge your questions. >> thank you so much. he put a lot of on the table for us. a lot of wonderful stories from the women that you have spoken with across the middle east. perhaps what we start with, something that was a much

discussed aspect of the arab awakening that can have the positive and negative impact, an issue you are very involved with which is technology. technology is is thought to be a tool for empowerment. certainly when you think about women in traditional societies or societies that faced barriers to women's public participation, technology can be a way of reaching those barriers. i wonder if you can give us a little bit of a sense of the way that the u.s. government is using technology to reach out to women in the middle east. >> well, over the last 24 hours i think some of you have seen technology in action. but me asking the question broadly and then give you some specifics. one year ago when i came in i understood that certain

inspectors are committed to was called 21st century statecraft, the marriage of technology and policy. and so i knew coming in we were going to be a state department in the midst of tweets, bloggers, facebook, to hang an ounce, virtual exchanges. there was just a conversation going on in the world. our secretary of state previous and current wants us out there in those conversations. but those conversations happen very quickly. policy sometimes happens very slowly. so one of the challenges is matching the time frame. and so i think, as we pursue this, and others may be more

interested in the pacific -- specific cases of when those time lines sank up and when they don't, but this technology is both useful in conveying who you are, what you are, what you stand for, what your values are. technology is useful in hearing from people about what they think is important, what they need, and the technology is useful in creating dialogues, online education, online training commercial exchanges, english-language teaching in a mobile home. so what i'd also, technology is not cover bad. in the end it is somebody's judgment. it is just a piece of equipment. but what you do with it, their lives the power. it is also interesting because, of course, we think of diplomacy as something that is very

carefully managed, every word wade. in a 21st century high-tech environment it is often impossible to weigh every word if you're going to try and engage in that manner, so is a certain degree of risk that naturally comes along with embracing these tools. and i think one of the things, the uninteresting lovers of the state department and the sure you confront every day the saudi embrace and limit that risk. >> it is interesting because as a recovering journalist i know that people love to focus on two things. one, i love stories about media. they also love when things go wrong. and so in the hundreds of thousands of tweeds and facebook pages in the last year i have seen bills created, disseminated, distributed. people have gone out from

embassies and for the most part, for hundreds and thousands of bits of information it has gone well. on a couple of occasions it has not, and no surprise, feeding frenzy by folks focusing on, oh, this looks like a glitch between this tweet and that. and some of it can, as we know, go viral and be very serious. it is an no-show carrier, but we are encouraged and encouraging people at indices to be out there. you cannot hide under your desk or under your computer because the conversation is going on around you. can in no way, even when they're bottled, it is an opportunity to engage honestly. sometimes the most important diplomacy is not going to be a step that is carefully managed. it will be the stuff that breaks out. and if it goes wrong, what i

encourage officials to do his own it. if it was a glitch, say it was a glitch. i think the worst thing is when you try to craft an answer that is not much you and that might be let's see. what you really just want to say is, that was an increase. thank you. i think when we talk about having an honest conversation you were very honest and very outspoken in your remarks about sexual violence. and this is an issue that is tough to talk about. it is tough to talk about in society that embraces traditional values, and it is tough to talk about in these societies that are undergoing change because the stakes are seen as so high. now, i remember during the egyptian revolution, women

participating in protests was an important signal, not only to other women and families, to amend. their women at the demonstration , you know, that means this is a big deal and i should be there to. to some people to see women in the demonstration meant that it was safe. but i also remember talking last year about the of the demonstration. she said it was almost a way of sharing the man. we're out here risking it. where you? it brings to mind a question of whether some of the sexual violence that we have seen in egypt is a way not only of pushing women out of the public's fear, but of trying to suppress public protests as a whole. a couple of points that i learned in the course of talking to so many people from this

region. first, it is not only women who are raped or violated. men and boys can experience the same thing. some and not in the same numbers secondly, there are still some taboos among which is what you're alluding to. the hardest thing is to get men and women to talk about these sexual issues and sexual violence of rape. and it is not just the arab world. i was recently in delhi shortly after the terrible bus incident, and i was with young people at our american center in delhi. teen-age and early 20's boys and girls. and i asked them what they would like to talk about. and they said, can we talk about the rape incident? and first i was surprised. secondly, they said, we have trouble talking about this at home with their parents and grandparents. we are not really some time sure

where the lines are. in wars in particular said, it is just not a comfortable subject of home. old school. so unless we get dialogue going we are focused on changing the laws, the legislation, training police officers and reporting of rapes and implementation. ..

>> in the search was to have at your disposal as well. now before the event today, we've listed a question from our audience not only in washington, but around the world and invited people to submit questions on our website. i have a couple of those a day to share with you. one that came in from california is about tradition and being progressives. basically through the ages, why haven't women and progressive than being more successful at modernizing traditionally

male-dominated societies? he referred in your marks to a lot turn here in the united states to change in our social berenson tradition. is this about progressivism and culture? or is this about right? >> i'm going to borrow from joe biden. some of us got to hear joe biden speak to this issue at the vital voices conference. he said part of why it was taking so long as they were great movements in every century. they were great struggles that dominate the conversation and referred back to the civil rights movement and really captivated and swept the united

states about civil rights. then we got onto the 20th century of world wars. it is big conversation. he believes, i believe, a lot of us believe the gender equality issue will be this century's conversation that made its way slowly to the forefront. what secretary clinton did by insisting that it be part of american foreign policy from institutionalizing an author zora khomeini to galvanize people. when it starts to get traction its gigantic conversation, a speech at workings with mad

women and people across discipline and c-span covering the period and is part of the foreign policy conversation. it takes nevada from the periphery to be a ride out there every single day. this one is catching on and will be about laws and argue about closer and tradition that was progressive and a feminist and a women's issue in the gender ratio and that's all great, but it means for having a conversation. >> the point is everyone should have the ability whether they have traditional days, religious to him or whatever label you put on it. that takes us to another question that came in over the

web, what do you see to that many women in this country is who support him are as [laughter] women's role? >> research when you look across religions, social movement, what's really interesting is you can't classify anything as peer they progressive women are not. all islamists parties agree on when xyz. i'm convinced we have to do this by the old word and deed status. not a witch or party people is where political group. you either do or you don't. do you think women are equal to

men without qualification? your laws and actions are going to flow from not. that is a better way to cut out and do you believe ms spoke or political ideology? becomes pretty obvious when you don't believe in women's rights. it's not hard to tell. they're certain activities that happen. i don't want to get trapped into those boxes. >> let me open it up to questions from the audience and as usual i'll ask you two things. first, identify yourselves. second, please keep it brief and a question.

why don't we start in the front row. >> thank you for your presentation, which you should have challenges facing women in the arab awakening. what's needed to be known as what could the united states do in terms of commanding the human rights and women's rights without having the perception with the internal affairs of europe countries? >> most important question, how do we not appear to be teaching, imposing, project name, demanding, insisting. what we do in a great example is your readers the paradigm and

support the local indigenous, the engineers. you let the local voices carry the day because those local women, they know what they want and they don't want to be a subset of them and they don't want to be marginalized and they don't have the resources, the means of moving the major. so i think we have to work through them. certain things we have to do in the country. there are also people's needs. they need to eat. they need fuel, so we can't just not beat the urgent need of a society in a governmental level, but from a public diplomacy

level, we have all been sacked. come ngos, foundations, cultural people come artists. they can be amplifiers and we have to support them. >> when i took over the program in 2009, it had four pillars. one was the women's pillar and one of the things i did is we eliminated the women's pillar because i wanted to integrate women's empowerment across all areas of programming. i didn't see it as a stand-alone priority. if you take seriously the notion limits his inclusion to economical success, security, you have to integrate it and you can't treat it as a stand-alone

issue. i remember to being in kuwait and meeting with a young woman in law school. she hadcom from a rural area and a taken two years to persuade her father to let her go to law school. i remember thinking to myself, that's her battle. i can't persuade her father. her struggle is to persuade her father. my struggle is to make sure that her family gets to the point where they've evolved in their conversation he's going to let her go but she has opportunities to be successful as a lawyer. so i think we can understand our roles, but we understand them as would we do that listening to get inside challenges within

each society come in each community so that the work the state department does for ngos to his responsive to the actual battles individuals are fighting every day at home. let's see, right here in the navy blazer. >> hi, i am fred altman. my question is from the state department site dvd, what can we do to influence the men because the men are the ones who have the problem. supporting the women and bringing them up is great, but we have to change the men's behavior. >> okay come a couple rows behind them. right there. >> hi, i work with hamilton extensively throughout the government. my question follows on the two

questions asked before. what are the points you brought up was the fact women at the the core of society and through the connections they have to their families, they have a real influence and a lot that's going on. counterterrorism or integrating women warranty society. how do you think we can better integrate women who don't have support from families there has been with the community in general through their daily interaction, whether taking kids to school, working with other women in their communities, how can we speak to them for making a difference without changing what they're doing in their daily lives? >> both are wonderful questions.

i love the fact that you're here. these audiences used to be really 80% women, 90% women here that's really changed. the first thing is not our participating because men are in literally. they have to be in the conversation. i do think is conversation expand, universities are the best place for me to have these conversations because you have people who have not yet graduated, the whole since they different expectations, the work soldier overseas is going to be with the mind set around these issues. even backing out to the younger

grades, we have to have boys and girls talking about these issues. it's hard to do it at her kitchen table. it's hard to do in her classroom, but this is where it begins. is absolutely marvelous we can have these conversations. in terms of those who are quite connected. every woman in a rural village trying to raise six kids is online doing a virtual program. part of what we do is try a new programs make it mobile. we have american spaces to tell you about the work and things available. you literally have to move around the country and get into a village and respect in afghanistan what a village has as its codes of conduct.

but you have to go with the universal sign that there are certain universal rights of expression, rights under the law, rights that come with just 290 indian freedom. the right to information. and he had what i all of those really is about information first beard information is oxygen. it is the way society breeds. and if you're cut off from information, you are cut off. part of its information on projects and programs and initiatives in resource and pulling together government and nongovernment and making this a central part of our international policy. thank you for the opportunity to be with all of you.

thank you, brookings for having me and i hope will keep going. >> thank you for being with us on all the work you do. [applause] [inaudible conversations]

>> at a very political marriage, much like john and abigail, so she would not be in the house of congress. she was careful to say that it believes that and matt do not dictate that, but she herself was doing the pitch and one of her husband's opponent said he hopes the james river elected president, she would take up housekeeping like a normal woman. she said of james and i are elected, i will neither keep house northlake better.

>> now a discussion with mary robinson, former president of ireland talks about her book, "everybody matters," a number of her life in politics. this is in our 20 minute. >> at evening. it's my distinct pleasure to introduce you to the hall. my name is jamshed bharucha and it is truly an honor tonight to introduce the former president of ireland, who wastes those of you who have come to know about and trance three spoke, which is quite a revelation.

we're very fortunate to have her tonight. it little bit of background for those of you who might be new to it. grandma at cooper union is the place where lincoln gave his famous right makes might speech from this very podium. that began a long history of social justice movement launched her celebrated in this hall, including the naacp had their first convention here. the first major conference in native american leaders that direct talks was held in this very room in 18th century at a time when people were being slaughtered on the planes. there's quite a history here of

events that occurred during some critical in turbulent times and irish immigration to the united states as well. from 1866, when within a thousand people met here better to the eve of 1916 easter rising, the stage was the host of leaders of the irish independence movement as o'donovan rosett, michael davitt and eckel. i was intrigued by some of those and thanks to google was able to find a "new york times" article from 1887 when mutating brotherhood assembled in this hall. the article is called margrethe scored. a parent one of the speakers named richard townsley according to "the new york times," quote,

the bearcats is quoted, after careful study of irish history, had come to conclusion the best way to right the wrongs of the oppressed country was to plant a bomb in the heart of the land. there followed cheers and a yell of dynamite. the speaker then attacked another speaker, his name is received with hussein and had to be dead by people who were then escorted out of this hall. tonight's talk i'm sure will be more civil than not. at least it gives you a sense of continuity and history that is most fitting we welcome the honorable mary robinson, former president of ireland and former u.n. high commissioner for human rights to cooper union.

president robinson's career has been devoted to fairness in all aspects of society. she defended the causes of nnn marginalized as a member of the irish senate promote a progressive legislation, including legalization of contraception. president robinson has been the honorary president of oxfam and a member of the group of others brought together by nelson mandela to offer collective influence to support peacebuilding. how to dress and shared humanity. in 2009, president obama already has a presidential freedom -- medal of freedom calling her an advocate for the hungry and hunted, forgotten and ignored. mary robinson has notably shine

the light of the freight and make a better future for our world. this book, "everybody matters: my life giving voice" said that some of the work of our speaker tonight and i will allow her to speak in her own voice. please welcome president mary robinson. [applause] >> thank you very much for that warm welcome. it's very inspiring to be in a hall that's had so many illustrious speakers, particularly social justice and one in the kind of change that

will be better for society. i'm delighted to be at cooper union and very much appreciate the sponsorship of ireland house of nyu, which are very familiar with, a place i've visited and enjoyed. i feel at home for lots of reasons and appreciate the fact you've braved the weather, the elements. yesterday was such a beautiful day. what happened today? highfield area home because i had an early experience of learning about human rights. early in growing up in the west of ireland, the only grow wedge

between four brothers, two older to younger come his way to in human rights, but also my elbows and asserting itself. i think it's good to record what ireland was like at that time. that wasn't the norm. the ireland i was growing up in the zen ireland were girls and women knew their place. their places in the home where the nunnery or become writers or artists or musicians. i was very aware that somehow boy seemed to have much more option, even though my parents often repeated i had the same opportunities that my brothers had and they would support me and not. after six years of the sacred heart orting school in dublin, i

realized the options are not very exciting. most of my contemporaries were talking about what they would do a year or two before they married. marriage is the goal, objective and parents would help and that is what was expected. i had benefited from various knots in my background who were doing other things. who would've been very forceful as the reverend dr. written and talked about how she tried to influence education policy in england and i enjoyed talking with her when i was a teenager and more so my father's older sister, iv. the older sister iv had gone to india with the sacred heart order and become involved in children who would not have had

an education and all the issues related to that. i felt this is interesting and worth doing. so i decided my best option was to offer myself as a postulant and become a nun. at the age of 17 after it done a certificate, i spoke to reverend mohler and said i decided to become a nun. she looked at me shrewdly and that maybe you should think about it. go away for a year and if you want to be a nun would be delighted to receive you. i parents who are devout catholics are very happy with my choice. he felt honored is going to be a nun and were also delighted to have me another year. nothing was too good for their daughter and they would send me to paris for a year. and of course i changed everything and i do describe that in some detail in the book.

i came under a different influence also and i was very young. edit grandfather who retired early to ill health from the practice of law. bellotti practices support guy against the landlord for the parcel person. he was pleased to have a young girl time, 11, 12, 13 interested in what he was talking about. it is unusual. he spoke to me as if i was an adult. that was wonderful. he spoke about lobbying instrument of social justice. so once it was inappropriate to become a nun, i decided to study law and went to trinity college in dublin. no sir my two older brothers. both my parents forgot to

undecided medicine. i chose and my younger brothers were also coming to college at the same time, so there were five of us together. we were lucky to get an apartment, number 21 west and drove, the house or oscar wilde was born. the coaches would tell the passengers to turn their head and see the plank of the house were oscar wilde was born. for reaso i again go intfor reaa little bit in the book, mainly to do with my brothers, not so much is made. is a good student in the front front of the class and in the same year in law school i became friendly with without paying much attention: nicholas

robinson. three of us got honors a necklace and myself were among those three and i went out to dinner and got to know each other better and he decided he had better things to do come as a kennedy said in the back and draw cartoons and i said in the front of the class and sought to achieve good grades. i also forced myself and again i tried to say this. honestly in the book because why would this memoir was to be encouraging, to push yourself a better and reach your potential. so i pushed myself to stand up and not go blank of shyness. i got better at it, so i decided to go forward for auditor of the dublin university law society and was the first female student to be elected.

by this stage, i was really interested as an instrument of social change. one of the things that bothered any zen ireland at that time in the mid-to-late 60s, there is a total equation of crime and it was in allowing the private space for individual morality and take into account their non-catholics in the republic of ireland of christian faith, jewish faith, no faith, whatever and we should open up to minorities and respect their viewpoint. soon my natural address in 1967 on law and morality in ireland, and made some modest recommendations. they said we should remove the ban on divorce and legalize family-planning. we should not criminalize adults confronting behavior and we

should not have suicide is a crime. the speech caused quite a bit of interest because the title, law and morality in ireland and was moved to the examination hall and trinity. i deliver to slightly larger audiences, believe it or not. there was a moment of silence when i finished and was kind of worried and then there wa then e than a decent applause, but no real controversy. the feeling was that the students do. i've been more outspoken than others due to, but that's the way it is. i was lucky to get a fellowship to harvard university. that is a wonderful year to be in harvard. when i arrived, i found my united states contemporaries

were questioned what they believed was an immoral war in vietnam and some of them escaping the draft. there's a lot of discussion about poverty programs in the south of the country the civil rights movement and people bravely joining. martin luther king was assassinated and after he graduated, robert kennedy was also assassinated and this had a huge impact on me. it is being taught in a different way to socratic method. instead of the good quality of law teaching in dublin if you took the notes and give them back come you did quite well. they kept changing the goal posts and that was interest in because it encouraged thinking. what struck me about that year

was so different from the ireland i have left the young people are making a difference, deciding they can take change. we can do things that we are going to bring our own into these issues. i came back to ireland in 1968 to practice law, teach law and as my husband to be at the time said i'd do something he recognized and could characterize as harvard humility and that harvard humility let me the following year to question why it was those who are traditionally like it to the university seats in the senate were elderly male professors. why was that? what could it be more diverse?

semi-friend said if you want to go forward, will campaign with you. we'll see what happens. i was elected at the age of 25, which meant i was teaching not, practicing my and influence in law. i had a program that went back to the natural address had given in 1967 about five and morality in ireland. the first item was to legalize family-planning in ireland and not from you is my harvard analytical strength and was very clear. below is not in conformity with the reality of what was happening. we joked married women had regulation problems because so many would get it.her certificate, which was the only way they could get a pill if they had cycled regulations.

you could do that without any sanction, but it sickens the criminal law and the normal course is the bill would be tabled amendment get a nod for first reading and be published on no paper. that never happened. it was held for as long time and meanwhile i've realized i touched a raw nerve in ireland at the time and i was renounced from pulpits and i hate letters. the archbishop required that a letter be read in the diocese in dublin, which said that such a measure would be and remain on the country. they still remember the headline the following day.

i was 26 inches married and it was tough. it is really very difficult. i remember feeling very defensive, even walking down the street. was somebody going to say you're a terrible woman? you're doing terrible things. i'd been used to be more or less supported him that wasn't a problem and said it was a hate figure written about and people who knew nothing were saying how terrible it was. nick saw that i was very defected by these letters intending to read them in horror and be wary. so he burned a lot of correspondence, which we now regret because it's part of a social history of that time, but nobody wanted to talk about relations. this while legislators talk about family-planning.

it is a fit is a fear and antipg so. we persisted, the change from criminal law to a family-planning bill, which got printed, but not to good and the irish government to take its responsibility nine years later, passing a measure in the issue is now of course not controversial at all in maryland. meanwhile, i was enjoying teaching law. i loved the interaction with students and others practicing law and because of the opportunity to discuss the low come i quickly decided that was the area i wanted to focus on and take test cases and the related issues of equality and discrimination and i would take them in the irish courts.

then there is the possibility those cases could be taken beyond the irish courts if you didn't get justice in the high court or supreme court in ireland because ireland had ratified the european convention on human rights and fundamental freedoms. that meant you could take a case having exhausted her domestic remedies are uniquely sometimes go direct to strassburg. the other possibility was to take cases when the ireland joined the european union where they were unequal pay and opportunities that were binding on ireland in the case was started court could be a reference and you go to luxembourg and argue and get a ruling of the court, which the

irish court would be bound to apply and enjoy those cases. the one that stands out in detail in the book because i felt so admiring of the clients are south of the case a woman called juicy hairy. she had a stolen street and claimed she had an abusive husband who beat her and he was convicted in the district court, the lowest court and given a sign and he alleged continued to beat her and wanted to get a judicial separation. remember was prohibited by the constitution. she would have to go into the high court's analysis complex procedure. she went to various lawyers to see if somebody would help her take her case and nobody was willing because there is no

question. her husband went the other pay because he was also very poor and working class. she saw an article in an irish newspaper that ireland had ratified the convention on human rights and was possible to take a case to strassburg and she wrote a long letter, which included the relevant material, but had a kernel of truth. she was denied access to protect her family life currency values and articles under the european convention and clever lawyers and strassburg decided there was an issue to be argued. so strassburg provided legal aid to recruit a solicitor to a barrister to argue this case before the commission of human rights. it is an irony came strassburg

because the argument was no legal aid civil cases at that time. the case are back to strassburg a year or two later before the court of human rights and was very heavily argued by the government of ireland because they could see the implications. if the case exceeded, ireland would have to introduce a citizen as federal aid to pay lawyers to bring aid to poor client. there is a very vigorous case and eventually present because we are also supported by the commission, we want on those two articles, six and eight of the convention but denied access to justice and bless and protect you and family life. they made a wonderful speech, which the irish newspapers carried that wasn't just for me.

this was women who are denied justice. why should we put up with being eaten in our homes and not go to court. it was a wonderful moment and i was particularly touched when i got a letter from a key senior counsel who might dare greatly. he was such a leader and inspirational barrister called tommy calmly and he wrote me a letter congratulating me letter congratulating me on a landmark case for irish law. such a great thing in your early 30s when you do a case is no precedent that has succeeded, so i really enjoyed that. i also in the irish senate was moving various measures and nick and myself established the center and trinity college to provide guidance to various

sectors of the irish life. agriculture, industry, labor, women's issues, et cetera to look at the type of directives of the union and we're very happy about that. i had success with elections and i tried twice to run for duo seats and describe in the book i clearly wasn't a good politician at the grassroots level going to the doorstep. i was able to have the conversation, so i didn't succeed in either case a nice rebate due to the senate. i joined the irish labour party for you. and decided i wanted to go back to the independent ventures to focus on issues relating to northern ireland. dr. gary fitzgerald and margaret thatcher entered into an

agreement, which certainly was a breakthrough relationships, but it was totally opposed by the whole community in northern ireland, so i thought of some is totally opposed, it's not going to work. never did work. to change the dynamic, but didn't work. i wanted to express those concerns in the irish senate. i'd resign and gone back to being an independent and then we came to 1989. i've served for 20 years at that stage and was now a member of legal chambers and one in. these cases were increasingly interesting and changing the circumstances in a way that was all about social justice. and we have three young children, the youngest of which was eight at the time. i decided not to go forward for

election, basically to retire and concentrate. that said we do the future. all this while. fast forward to the 14th of february, 1990 and i get a surprise call from attorney general and friend of the irish bar, john rogers assenting to discuss privately. if they come around. i'm at home. come see me. we came into our dining room in our home and he posed the question very unexpectedly. he said would you be prepared to accept the nomination of the labour party to run for president of ireland. there's going to be an election this year. what happened to have election for president. sometimes presidents are elected by acclamation.

it's a while since we had an election. the labour party is determined. that is a complete surprise and not a positive surprise because the presidency at the time, the sixth president to have served had been rather elderly when they were elected or came to the presidency because they were not opposed and they served with distinction, but had not been proactive for pushing the frontiers. there are important powers of a president to refer both to the supreme court if they are deemed to be potentially unconstitutional to houses of the parliament and so on, that mainly a ceremonial figurehead role and paints pay in-state visits outside ireland and the president was the first citizen of the country. the political power rested with

the prime minister and his cabinet in a parliamentary system. the fact that the labour party decided to nominate a candidate was not that the person nominated but when because the labour party was the smallest of the three anubis node in the way these things are known were politically literate. it was well known for popular deputy prime minister would be nominated and he was in those terms issue when. so the irish bookmakers will give you a sense of what your arms are a strategic moment. as soon as i was nominated this hundred to one and we didn't even put money on it. what i'd been encouraged by nick

to do, first about what i told him john rogers had posed this invitation of the blue, he said it's valentine's day, come to lunch. she said more or less configure the constitutional lawyer. have you ever looked at those provisions that relate to the opposite president? i had to add a new about them but they were in the front of my mind. so i went back and read those provisions and realized that directly elected president who is in the sense above but also below politics could do a huge amount because people had voted for you to do your best for seven years to serve, to really take this on and be the personification of the country

for seven years. so this gave me a kind of case to argue for a much more proactive president the third relate to what people were doing it towns and villages in parishes in ireland and inner cities in various sectors, northern ireland to begin a peace process. you name it. i made these arguments and more and more people were interested in them. by the time the two men who were nominated, the favorite in the beginning and often carry who is nominated with the presidency in an interesting way they had an on the road for assignments i had. if any of you who run for office in one way or another, you get to know how to be in tune with

those you're speaking to, how to hone your arguments and after hurly-burly election, i was elected president and in a speech of acceptance on the night of the election and all that huge emotion, it is a very real signal of a different ireland for someone of my track record and be elected by the people of ireland to serve as president for seven years. they were half crying because they couldn't believe it. in my acceptance speech, particularly singled out the women of ireland because i knew that was one of the things that helped. when you're in a general election the fact there is so many white suited to other has

been encoded differently and daughters who didn't tell father. i'd prefer that were recently when i was working for realizing rights. i said boise, idaho speaking to an audience at the end i saw this young woman in her early 30s coming purposefully and she had her hand out, so i came down and help a handout and she shook my hand and said i wanted to shake your hand. you're my first vote. i was 19 at the time when i told my father, he nearly killed me. it captured the fact they're women who did come out. the second think i mentioned during a speech which i completely underestimated was the power of symbols. they sent out the light in the window at the official residence, which will some of you know has an irish name.

i said i would put a light in the window for all those to emigrate from ireland for centuries and decades that we cared and wanted them to know their welcome home. i did phyllis john lee because i've known about irish fallen on hard times and we did notice care enough. dissenters who dealt with undocumented irish and others and if i'd known that from his senate days as a human rights person and i wanted there to be some role, but i totally underestimated. nick and i were both thinking of a candle because it was the ultimate symbol of security would recant our resident. i might burn the place down. so we got a lamp specially made with no off switch and plug it into the kitchen that she could be going through the park and

that was the ultimate symbol of the lights from the road saying you are welcome. i was welcome anywhere i came in canada, argentina and parts of europe and very often the people at the podium saying we have a light at the window and that encouraged me to make the irish diaspora to the first time the word was used in ireland. it was shaping of a connection that was so much stronger now. now since this is leading to the st. patrick's day weekend and i've wish you a happy st. patrick's day, that there is a concerted effort to encourage people to come back for a gathering that builds on the connection of the irish

diaspora. in my inauguration address later, is keen to set up my promise was, what i tried to do and promised i would try and support locally because i would so much as support clubs and activities and work being done now is changing inner cities and helping cope with local employment, et cetera. i also wanted to level, international level to be a champion of human rights if it arose. they did come along in 1992. it helps them cope with a

terrible situation are fighting words are preventing food from getting to the people and nobody was prioritizing. somalia was a forgotten place and was really critical. the government was afraid, but i went to somalia with the then foreign minister and it was actually a visit that marked me in the way that it is very difficult to see these long lines of people waiting for food and feed dead children in the arms of their parents because they hadn't got there soon enough and the work being done and the injuries from the fighting going on. i did manage to meet and speak with both of the warlords and neck at the time accused me of poking them in the tummy. i take back my finger and tried

to say this is not acceptable. fruit basket to people so they can survive and then i went to new york to secretary general to draw attention to the situation. he came to me for years and years afterwards. every time a meeting time he raises the head of state came and raised and how that had been very useful for his purposes. was somehow less difficult in the sense that it became more what they might be good to do to go to rwanda and nick and i did cover 1994. neither of us will ever forget the aftermath, something you never want to see. the blood splattered rooms, clothes and shoes and a small

rwandan government and country trying to cope with the prison population. the following year was the 50th anniversary of the united nations in new york in the building and i knew the 50th anniversary is going to be a time of great frederick. wonderful speeches, heads of state. so i went back to rwanda to bring the reality to the united nations summer would be done to prevent this violation of human rights. i remember some harrowing scene that had been destroyed. a prison for such a population that they're getting gang green because there's not room room to lie down, so they had to stand day and night. just the awful images of that.

the third time that i went to rwanda in march of 1997 come a few months before i completed my term as president was for a pan african women's conference less than three years after the killing because it was in march, three years before. those women had enough spirit and determination. i was one of two women who were invited to it and it included a vice president at the time. some ministers, some women academics then they came as sisters and cavalli and that's it announced that rwanda and had a huge crush on me. i remember going back to dublin and they were journalists at the airport in a press conference and i try to sum up then i used a phrase that was a little bit of a cliché, but i felt it very

much. i've seen the future of africa and i meant it in so many sent to because those of you who know africa know they do the work and i've seen a different level of decision-making and determination. i love serving as president of ireland. every day was a full day and special day and we came close to seven years, i had the difficult decision of whether to seek a second term and the conventional wisdom is if i had gone forward, i would not have been opposed because people were used to me being in the job and therefore there wouldn't be an election. i would have loved to have done it for another three years. to my heart i was saying that i do at that level and it wasn't my mission to show the presidency could be more

proactive, to strengthen within the constitution. isn't it better now to let someone else come with their own capacity to take that forward. i decided not to seek a second term president not least is elected and brought karen scales and now we have higgins bringing his strength to the office. glad to see it's in good standing in ireland. it's a popular office at a difficult time when not all people are popular and it's good to see it's filling a much more substantial role. having decided not to seek a second term, the question is what to do. it was not obvious at all and was quite lonely. by coincidence the first u.n. commissioner for human rights resigned set money.

but back to his native ecuador to become foreign minister. the rumor, which i think was inaccurate rumor is the left because the job was too difficult. i approached the irish government, april, may of 1997 and i didn't finish until september. i said that the irish government to nominate me because that would be the way would be to secretary general kofi annan. i was warned the office is small, tight, low morale and their other possible jobs and i said this is the one i would really like to do. the irish government had been a big can gain kofi annan decided to appoint me and then put pressure at the first commissioner had gone in the opposite is in disarray.

in a way i allowed myself to be persuaded and agreed to come 10 weeks early in september. the irish people really did not like that. i've been alike did a full 70 years and left earlier and i do admit it was a mistake and what i should've said was then keen to do the job, but i want to serve out my term. anyway, call cnn praise me. i find it then would i know that the u.n. is always in crisis i would have waited. anyway, when i did take on the position, it was quite a shock to find error management issues in the office on three month contracts.

everyone felt they were underfunded, underresourced, didn't have adequate support and in july was a reform package of the united nations, which co-cnn had that come discreetly in creased positioning and wrote the human rights. the only office in the union is a member of all four committees on peacekeeping, development, humanitarian issues and economic and social issues. the small office in new york sometimes we manage all of that. for the first few, everything i looked at seem to be a problem. her response was to get earlier and earlier and stay later and later in the office and start taking seeping pills. it was a difficult time and it would've been able to write

about this as i've done in the book without the fact i was writing with my daughter greatly helped make him a. she has two young children couldn't stay any longer. but it is interesting. she said i remember how absolutely perfect idea where. there were so exhausted and distressed about the job. i was well received in ireland but somehow i was admitted the job was so difficult that it undermines my home. a brother of mine said to me if i wasn't careful to be heading for a breakdown territory. i said no way. i decided to take time, and go for walks, take an extra week and go back and from then on it

is difficult, but we built up a great team that gradually strengthening, resources. that's probably the best way for me to fulfill the role to be where the victim the violations were. a lot of my time as high commissioner was spent being aware human rights to play spit onto chechnya during the fighting there. guess the fighters were brutal at times, but my focus is on those of either russian army or police who were terribly violating human rights in getting the stories of witnesses was a good russian ngo, ngo of a country to take on the cause of the minority part of the country the violations are taking place

in. with the first-ever resolution of the human rights commission passed against the russian federation against the permanent five country. it was a good day's work for accountability for violations of human rights. i went to see early on when the fighting was taking place there. as in each of the countries with the kosovo refugees pouring out of kosovo and addressing their issues and helping the then prosecutor of the tribunal to have more support for the work she was doing and she became one of my successors as high commissioner. i went to china and describe in the book the fact that because i was a former president, had greater access to the president at the time and senior officials in a fight just been a minister

or ambassador or a .. had been high commissioner. the fact i had the standing gave me access and i learned when you have access, use it, so i used it so i use it best i could with the chinese. i encourage the chinese government to sign both of the main human rights covenants. culture right senate ratified the covenant on economic and social rights during a time of high commissioner and they had workshops where they would bring chinese experts and bring outside experts, judges have reeducation through labor, still an issue in china putting people away with no due process and we were addressing it at the time. i was briefed by amnesty and human rights watch on the worst transgression of the tibetan

monks and police, monks and nuns, the political dissident and i would raise these cases and rarely got any satisfaction. so i would give encouraging remarks about what the chinese are doing on one side and then be very strong criticizing china. i learned having been there that the media are completely divided at the western media never picked up is given credit. they focused for violations of human rights. the chinese newspapers gave me full coverage. high commissioner of china for organizing. it was really very interesting and still in part true and hard to get a balanced view.

the last research as high commissioner was after the terrible attacks of 9/11 than most difficult task of the world conference against racism. that extra year is a very tough year because once the united states no longer fully uphold its commitment under the covenant on civil and political rights, and made a much more difficult to state that the standards applied because ministers in egypt and pakistan would say, but look at the united states. there's a double problem. first of all, the united states should have uphold standards and secondly was leading to problems all over the world, which human rights rapporteurs are reporting on and i was trying to address. when i finish the fighters as high commissioner, i wanted to

pioneer work in a practical way on the part of human rights if of western countries don't pay attention to. good and safe water, health and education. it's been eight years in new york and i have colleagues in aspen who worked on a health program and colleagues in geneva on human rights. were focused on supporting economic and social rights and helping their capacity worked on health issues in some countries, peace and security issues, business and human rights, corporate responsibility and took me to african countries over a period of what ended up being eight years to the end of 2010. for five of his eight years, i realized something happen not being taken account of. the way i describe these people would begin a sentence by saying things are so much worse under

so much worse where we don't have predictable seasons anymore. when i was growing up, my friend you can do but say poor, but we knew when to sow when to harvest. now we have long periods of drought and flash flooding and then more drought and destroy the school and associate or a group of women to cope. in liberia, who i'd known before she was president would say to me when i was growing up way too predictable rainy seasons. they came within a week of initiative time. not anymore. we make it a rainy season. how do i manage my economy and the situation? that is the situation oliver not just africa, the south asia, latin america. edison pena -- and saw the

devastating impact of the flooding from a cyclone, where it had filled miles and miles -- hundreds of miles of this paint us what are the crops would not grow on an solid adaptation to climate means. besides revenue base of growing that grow in dry conditions and this is expensive and difficult and poor people are undermined through security. if you undermined people by the heads of the security, it has a huge gender dimension. it's women primarily. still have to get the fire road to go further for the water and that is a pattern that is so in hatful now. we haven't heard as much about it because a lot of poor people didn't know this was caused by the carbon emission that are

causing the sharks in this country and elsewhere. they didn't know about it, so they were talking about it, but they would talk about it when you went there because it's making their situation -- where spirit this is one of the worst human rights problems. i realized this is not only human rights problems, it's also the future of the world. i established a foundation in ireland called the climate justice and the climate justice stars at the injustice of the climate is hurting those least responsible because they live and vulnerable parts of the world at the moment, so there must affect good although it's everywhere. there's a disconnect between his responsible in his suffering and those suffering mustard is not responsible. so that's one kind of climate

justice. the other is a more difficult one but it's quite hard to get real leadership on and that is intergenerational justice. we have to think now about the fact that we have a short period of time and wish to take measures to curtail these carbon emission and adapt and have low carb in clean energy because already we have warned the world to stage where we're beginning to see climate change. the world bank says were heading for four degrees world and then describes what a four-degree world is like and this catastrophic. it's like the titanic heading for an iceberg. not just the people who lose their lives, if everyone in this very interesting they spend so much money and fossil fuel lobby is paying bad science and

confusing people to be forgotten about people. we forgot people are already suffering that the shock would be huge for the future. should hopefully have a bit of questioning there. i finish up our capture an intergenerational base. when our first grandchild was born, is actually the older child of my daughter, tessa. woodbury was born, i had a physical reaction. maybe some of you know what i'm saying. i somehow recalibrated quite physically and i now think of these 80 years, 100 years hence because i know this is part of his life and i was joined by three other grandchildren. two in dublin at older son of barcelona. these four grandchildren, the eldest 99 will be in the 40s

in 2050. theirs may be more. we have 7 billion population and 9 billion were really tough and i have weather shocks, food security and i sometimes think watch what they say about us. what do they say about what we take or don't take now for such an important issue. governments at conferences and african were recently in doha in qatar say we commit to a climate agreement by 2015. we absolutely need that, but they're not very urgent. unless we create pressure may not have been and we have the millennium development goals

reviewed. the comet the end of 2015. many have not reached goals, but are facing sustainable development goals. we have a time and we should see the most extraordinary leadership. we should see a leadership talking to us about how we have to change our ways, how we have to be transformative and make this issue. are we in this country? jess, president obama in his inaugural address and state of the union did signal about climate change. his military are advising current changes changes the biggest security issue. i hope this filters down pretty fast because i worried about the factory new leadership leadership on this issue. it's a human rights issue on a karmic justice issue. thank you for being a great audience. i'd be happy to answer questions.

[applause] [applause] [applause] >> i'm not sure how we do the questions. okay, so who's going to start? this is the interesting part for me to hear your views and your question and i would love if

anyone will be asking questions to say who you are. >> thank you for much, madam. you probably know my question. during the year of 2009 from january to may, there were thousands of civilians massacred by the government. you're the only high-level official to speak at the u.n. about the gravity of the situation as does the u.n. officials were very tight out about the problem. so i came here to stay thank you for your position and more so your role in releasing human

rights based statements, pressuring. my question to you this then you have the real to conflicts such as you saw in sri lanka, how do you deal with it when the states are being protected under the guise of sovereignty and no one is willing to take the role of affect people? is certain between the irish struggle entry won't pay. just give me some ideas to look into the future was somehow. >> thank you for the question. it is true they recently -- i didn't explain. many of you may know there is a group of elders that nelson and all brought together, 10 of us under the chairmanship of march desmond tutu and co. cnn,

brahimi dealing with syria, et cetera and i was trying to make it clear that i'm one of of the younger alders. [laughter] was try to address certain issues and recently last year the situation you described in sri lanka was coming before the human rights council. it can be difficult for governments of the human rights council to pass a resolution criticizing the country. sri lanka mounted a huge can paying to prevent itself from being criticized and we felt it was important to remind the human rights council of the scale of violation of the lack of real accountability and justice processes to address that issue. we were quite active in the human rights council passed a resolution criticizing sri lanka. they gave sri lanka a certain things, but mainly was a

resolution, which held them to account and were not at all pleased and mysterious, they can resolve strongly not enough progress was made on this issue. it's important to have the courage not to become political and say that's a long time ago where things have moved on, but to hold firm so hopefully that will be the case. the problem is of course governments claim sovereignty as you mentioned. but it's a good thing about covenants and conventions of the united nations is that a solid knowledge he issues of human rights don't stop the borders. we've gone way beyond that and it's right for the international community to concern itself with try to concern ourselves. in the book i describe visits to north korea, for example, is

that jimmy carter would then there before and wants his director general of the world health organization of a shock to find conditions were just as bad or maybe worse with no running water. the former president of finland have been to be there before. a shocking to see a country with no civil society. and the difficulty of north korea upping the temperature, i still believe when a dialog of the alders or to view it is better to try to open space to discuss the nuclear issue, human rights issue, for security issue because it is a very big one in north korea. we also went to different african countries, to sierra leone and sudan, but also a major program so can a new name of addressing initiative that

began baking and how to address the continuing equality -- inequality of girls and women. her need to be equal to the boy child and communities and have the same opportunities, et cetera. we realized it can't well be the distortion of religion of faith that causes our tradition, that causes women to be limited of a girl child not to be sent to school. we issued a strong statement about three years ago now, saying that state leaders should champion the equality of girls and women as part of their spirituality. most of them are men. [applause] and then we said that's all very well, but what are we going to do agree? that brought us to the early child marriage issue because

marriage is not a private thing. that's usually sanction some religious way it is good example. i was aware of the extent and certain countries, but by a much we underestimated the issues are talking about. that's 100 engrossed in a decade are married without there can then and knowledge way before they're ready physically or emotionally. we went to ethiopia, where the law is signed and nobody should marry under the age of 18. the then minister of health was very keen to have the elders come help and we went to the region in the rural part of ethiopia for the average age of

marriage was 12 and be talked into villages addressing this and we saw what works if the whole village embraces the need to that girl stay in school because they are convinced that's good for the girls, good for the local economy, brings down mortality, et cetera and that will be away of having it work. and we went a few months later with another alder who founded the self-employed women's association web aren't so much from other to her country and interestingly the same average age of marriage, 12. they ran out into a rural area preschool where there is a project for boys and girls to sort of learn not to accept child marriage. we talk to girls in the school about the way in which they were

negotiating with their parents to stay here longer in school. when a crew of learned there were whispers server mars that she might be married off, she would come to her school friends and say please come and help me. better stay another year. she's only 14. she's only 13. we saw this being talked about is how you try to change the attitude. the most important thing for a couple people who said that if the culture of that area. that's the culture and we said no, don't use that word. it's not culture and human rights are not western rice with a different culture elsewhere. human rights are rights for everyone. early child marriage is a harmful traditional practice. it's a traditional practice

harmful because it denies girls and children all of their human rights. the right to the children, the right not to marry before they're ready, the right to education. ..

>> i feel i am beginning to give a lecture. [laughter] and nobody is coming up to the microphone. one more. the boys are much, much older. sometimes you have the 14 year old man -- 40 year-old man or the 80 year-old even. i did speak to one girl in one of the villages in ethiopia because they could speak in more detail and she was 16 and was buried one year and her husband was 30. and i asked her because i wanted to be kind, tell me

about your wedding day and she looked at me with the saddest eyes and said i had to drop out of school. then her parents said tomorrow you will be buried and go into the home and that was it. that the men are older and the boys don't very quiet as young's. >> you are a hero. but my question is the office of president was ceremonial. >> but not to denigrate. >> now it is obviously much different.

so today had is the office of president be so much more important politically? >> when there are issues that are moral issues in the initial reaction is fair to say that the president says not much and there may be some tension involved there to not get involved with the political but it is a good pick.

a and a very oblique moral sickness and to do with very carefully to not get involved in the political. i did think about this deeply knowing in 1992 i would be shaking there hands. that would be very difficult but it was so important to bring that community out of isolation. isolation they did not want to be a part of the bridge and was paying attention because of the violence. [applause] but it was difficult.

>> with gender equality i am curious you said it is difficult to get political leaders to buy into the ideas with the short-term nature of political cycles but what would you say to future generations of leaders? what way should they be looking and how can they best meet the challenges? >> that is a great question i am glad somebody like you of your generation is thinking seriously of intergenerational. people to understand it more but the process of describing should help us because there is a commitment to a climate agreement to keep the world below 2 degrees of warming

and we are not on course. then going up to 4 degrees but the ministry of the united states say it is a great security issue. and following the rio conference last june the government is committed to replacing the millennium development goals and the national support with sustainable development goals for all countries. but they have to operate within the sustainable world so if we have climate agreement dialog we know what it means. it will change behavior and we know about that.

a wonderful 10 yen woman who won the peace prize for her work for planting trees linking peace and environmental and she would say with a smile people would talk about the nep is not just for governments but for everybody, a private sector, a community, individuals. there is one thing we can all do do, reuse, reduce, recycle to get people to think so continue to think about it. it would be hard to get real leadership because it is not short term. it is entered generational. >> you are an inspiration to us a later work for is the ankle to work with scientists to do research on a daily basis with it is becoming more interesting to

develop research capacity in developing countries have only for diagnostic treatment by research for support issues in developing countries. have you seen the evolution in that area with the latitude with the true building of capacity to do research in their own country? >> i very much agree. therein is a network that you are up part of that. but it is global trying to build up the research capacity but also the search capacity and the value and

indigenous knowledge to build on that with the climate context in fact, it is wise in ways to understand better. i do agree with you. >> you are definitely the last. [laughter] >> thank you very a much. i am the professor here at the cooper union and thinking about your extraordinary range of political understanding understanding, could you speak to the entanglement of the syrian question from the points of view you have experienced? >> as an elder, i do think on a daily basis what has happened with syria because one elder is charged with a terrible responsibility on syria and his heart is

broken. he talks about what he has seen on visits and a devastated country, wounded country, wounded, and shattered comet and families and 1 million families and at least 50,000 have a high commission. it is a government that allows that to happen and is also the failure of the security council of the united nations. is a moment to say not a failure of the united nations but of the government of the security council to come together those including russia with the resolutions they don't like the way it has

supported russia and with too early of an emphasis and was that premature? yes you was doing terrible things but i don't know. that is the failure of the political level. it is devastating and the real problem we have not learned how to insure at the very least we don't allow the slaughter of people in the 21st century. i hope there will be some kind of agreement and we will move closer to its but the damage done to the people of syria and their neighbors, jordan is overwhelmed, so is levantine , it is abolished file region anyway and this is just terrible what is happening but other than we

know what is not working is the elders of the united nations that should be giving leadership is not able to agree and that is not acceptable. it should follow the criticism and not just russia and china but to say why could you not agree? how hard did you really try? i don't know in full detail but it is such a travesty and it is time it ended. the people of syria were allowed to breathe again. they are terrified and it is awful. they know it is happening but they don't seem to care enough. thank you for the question it is a difficult human-rights issue. thank you very much.

[applause] >> a central bankers tools are limited and cannot control everything in the economy. so writers like as it is important what they do and they shape the course of the economy and of the world but that said they do have finite powers they can say

we put more money into the economy. it is more complicated than that they think they can influence but to think everything that has gone wrong or has gone right right, alan greenspan probably got too much credit for the strong growth that we had. it is easy to blame the federal reserve for the crisis

>> "becoming a candidate" political ambition and the decision to run for office" the author is american university professor jennifer lawless. professor, why do people run for office? >> lots of reasons but because they thought about it and it has been percolating in their mind for a long time so rarely does somebody decide this seems interesting i know like mine, then i will throw in my had to. it is the evolution of the engage process. >> host: they're concerned about policy? ego? >> guest: it depends who you are talking about. of the biggest findings is the gender difference where men are far more likely to consider running for office they think they are more qualified or more likely to think they would win. so that could be ego

strength but it is about policy and the idea that entering the electoral arena is a way to make the world a better place. >> host: why is that men are convinced they would be successful and popular? >> we see that with many realms asking for is craters on a test they overestimate their performance so go back to patterns of socialization men have been told they are good at what they do especially when operating in the male-dominated environment but anchorage to have more self-deprecating and have confidence but because politics is male-dominated so the women think they have to be twice as good to catch half as

far. >> host: is there a difference with race? >> guest: there is. both sex and race are negative predictors if you're interested in running for office. any kind of minority status they would deviate from the norm that is so white heterosexual man we see variations but political recruitment can close those gaps like party leaders or elected officials encourage people to run for office they're likely to take them up on that suggestion and we see that encouragement among african-americans and white -- latinos. >> host: professor jennifer lawless what is an example of somebody who will cupboard developed an interest in policy and ran for office successfully? >> he writes in his memoir

sometime in the 16th year he decided politics was a real calling and at that point* he became cognizant for him to run and looked for opportunities so with an open congressional see the figure that is the time to throw that into the ring that it pilos there's still a good shot he would perform well enough not to ruin his career he became governor and then president. >> host: is somebody loses the first race how much of the turnoff is that? >> that is not my a major focus of research but i ran for congress the second congressional district and i lost which is why i am here but it is an amazing experience and most people

do it because they're so passionate about the interest -- issues and went to be involved in the political sphere that aulos is the unfortunate consequence of the campaign is so exhilarating it is difficult not to want to do it again. >> host: where were you? why did you run? >> i ran in the democratic primary 2006 and the rhode island's second congressional district. be incumbent was there, while and he is still in the congress. the main reason iran is because i felt he was not representing the issues that mattered most to me. he voted against the woman's right to choose. i was very pro-choice and felt that was important. also reoffer rising the

patriot backed. he was not outspoken about the war in iraq and i felt there were other issues that we were not represented adequately. rarely does the establishment have a candidate go against somebody in the primary. i felt i had to do it and i had just written my first book so i was very aware of these limitations and because i was so caught this and i think i believed i could overcome them. i had 40 percent which is better than expected but not good enough. >> host: were you a single issue candidate? >> guest: it is difficult not to win only a few issues differentiate. and in my case it was difficult because the one

issue we were the most different was a traditional women's issues so it was easy florida media to frame it with the referendum on abortion rights. so we worked very hard to demonstrate it was more than a single issue campaign and what i considered real democratic leadership. >> host: at what point* did you say i cannot believe i'm doing this? >> no. with every single day i was glad i had the opportunity. i could say even on the worst day at the end of the day it was worth it and at no point* did i think maybe it is not the right thing to do. >> host: what would you tell women who may have an interest? >> the most important thing to keep in mind is you

cannot discuss if he was qualified. it takes about two weeks to acquire the qualifications to persevere but of course, you thank you don't have them but i remember when i announced i was running by parents were supportive and said i could not run because they did not want to listen to it and that is exactly how long it takes then you are so grateful you have the opportunity and 99 percent are incredibly positive and what was surprising to me is most people had not met the candidate. they're grateful even if they get to speak with you even if they disagree

because they feel they can voice their opinion to have their preferences heard or somebody who is a part of the debate. >> host: you have a chart how many elected officials in the united states. >> well over 500,000 and we don't realize that because so many are at the local level. we think of the 535 federal elected officials the president and vice president and congress but people run for office across united states and we have an uncontested races for hundreds of thousands of local positions so people are interested they don't have to weather a congressional campaign for an invasion of privacy -- privacy most get very little attention to provide an opportunity for people to bring about positive change.

>> host: jennifer lawless what would a candidate off? >> dear betty says they hate negative campaigning but mark my words the moment you find yourself with the opportunity you will seize it because it you have to engage in a negative campaign and so is your opponent is a close competitive race and you need to differentiate. but for now we have completed the abortion and the person's position so to differentiate yourself on the issue to take down his or her family or run the smear campaign but negativity is actually a useful way. >> host: fund-raising?

>> guest: everybody hates it. it is miserable but for women there just is able and effective when they do a. but it is not because they are not running in the first place but they all say they wish there was more time but once you pick up the phone you will be successful. >> how many men and how many women of the officials? >> renal 18% of the congress and 90 percent of the large cities but once you get to the local offices there is not systematic attention about 45 percent of the

people are women and they're not as likely as others to have a future career in politics. have a future career in politics. >> is of stepping stone a definition of success? >> we have a lot of politics in this country so people start at the local level. the by no means a requirement. when i learned from conducting the surveys they are situated to run for office it is important you focus the political ambition on what you care most about. not necessarily the most from the local level to wait 20 years but to be around the issues of which you're the most enthusiastic. >> host: you have a case

study of a failure? >> we have a series of people we interviewed 4,000 women and men lawyers, educators, political activists and then we follow up at links with 300 of them and there are some examples of those who said they thought they wanted to run for office, they weren't sure where to channel their emission so those activist encourage them to run and their heart just wasn't in it. so it wasn't clear they wanted the position in a the first place. they're having candidates that we realize this is what

they want to do. >> host: who is we? >> political scientist bottle so voters. there is nothing more appealing than the candidates whose heart is not in it but looked at the 2012 house and senate race the most competitive car when the candidates spend their time campaigning and explaining why their vision is right. is not a coincidence those of a competitive races because those to people who want nothing else to win and without that spirit and drive politics is boring. >> host: you said we called and conducted the survey is. >> guest: and the research is based on three waves of

interviews starting 2001. sold the professor at marymount university. >> host: did your last name have a negative effect of your campaign? >> it was memorable. not a negative effect but it made people think about a. is she law listen enough? the answer was no but when you try to get name recognition in everything helps. if there is a plan regarding the name, i will take it. >> what about the role of the media in 2012? >> in the haze that george washington university did a thorough assessment of congressional races in 2010 because there is conventional wisdom that women are not covered the same way as men and that they focus more on the

ability, integrity, the parents but mint seem to be more confident. so different coverage and base a male and experience i did not feel that way but i had a fair amount of coverage or more than i deserve but i am also felt it was not gender negative all. we under to the analysis reading and coding and systematically looking at the newspaper articles and found no gender differences whatsoever. the bad news is not that women and men are cover the same way but the overall amount has gotten more superficial. so now men are covered regarding their appearance. look no further than chris christie to talk some of

their exercise regime or their weight to level the playing field it is not just women now. may be at the expense of more substantive coverage. >> host: what advice you have to reach out to the media? >> guest: when they call, always talk to them because if they approach you there is no reason not to take them up on the opportunity. don't waste their time and send out a press release every day announcing something that is not important. wait for something that is newsworthy because if you can get them to come to those events they will continue to cover you. >> host: what do you teach your? >> women and political leadership has lot as a seminar on contemporary politics but last semester

we followed the congressional and presidential elections in detail and i am also teach women and politics and public opinion. >> host: water to conclusions you have of the 2012 election? a terrible general question. >> guest: the two big things that are relevant is primaries matter and even though ms. romney got to the republican primary unscathed he did not weigh in to the debates that cost the other candidates the nomination. he still had the results of the debate so he came into the general election looking a lot less moderate than he would have liked. even if you don't move to the right in the primary or on the left chances are you

will still be stamped with what the primary looks like. and women better. this is one more election with a substantial gender gap. have that in every election since 1980 and all congressional elections since 1986 no here is an example the president cannot win without the womenfolk and he won the vote and could keep their support for four years earlier. >> host: will you run for office again? >> i would love to but i have no plans. it was the best experience i ever had. >> host: in "becoming a candidate" political ambition and the decision to run for office" cambridge university press, american university professor jennifer lawless is the author.

>> where is the predictability? what are the assurances that this committee and the senate has where you will be given in the background and the history? >> as a teenager in my early twenties was a socialist party seems to indicate fundamental instability because as churchill i said -- i think said any man who is not a socialist before he is 40 has no heart and afterwards has no head. that evolution is very common in people. [laughter] >> those two characters that you saw coming into trains passing in the night. the toughest hardest senator to lobby for anything but work on either hand was the

brilliant and was smaller then ran question know lots of ways. and he taught antitrust law and wrote the book at yale. here are these guys are meeting but passing and never came together on anything. >> host: where we should begin is to talk a little bit about your biography. as much as this is about hillary clinton and her time as secretary of state is also about your experience

from beirut to cover the secretary of state around the world. so start by talking about where you came from. >> guest: first, thinking very much i am delighted by your first question because the biggest star is hillary clinton herself that this is not just a biography of a historic woman but also a different take with the whole issue of american power. as you mentioned i came from bay ridge, i grew up there in the middle of the civil war, 1977. my whole life and in lebanon the first 13 years end war than people though beirut is not as stable city and lebanon is not a stable country. i had ups and downs that i've lived through all of them and it gives an interesting take on the world and america's position

on the global stage and the first sentence of my book is i grew up in beirut and my father always said if america wanted a conflict it would be over tomorrow. it frames the whole discussion about what is america. what can it do, how much power does a really have and to find the balance between the solution of how much power america actually has and what is really happening on the ground. that frames the discussion but i lived in beirut my whole life and living to the war drove me to become a journalist i was keen to understand the chaos and why had to live through what i was living alongside the other for a million lebanese who were there. recover the middle east extensively and syria going through its own conflict at the moment, iraq, saudi arabia then i applied for

and a job to cover the state department. was already there corresponded and fighting for others but more and more for the bbc and applied for the state department job that i thought was an amazing opportunity to see another perspective on what i had been covering. i knew a lot about the west's i had been here on holiday and have an american brother but it gives a from rosy to the other side of the story. >> host: your the only non-american foreign correspondent for the traveling press corps? >> guest: correct. of my colleagues may want to point* out they are not american but i was the non-western. for all intents and purposes i am an arab woman i lived there my whole life and that is what i bring to the table although i do have a western

perspective because of my background my mother's nationality and i spent traveling in the west. i was the only non-western and the first non british western for the bbc. >> host: one of the most interesting parts of the book is the process of being secretary of state going country to country. take tests as you let her travel around the world. when the book opens in the first chapter and you are with the traveling press corps and hillary clinton comes in for the first time you mention the press was star struck. does that affect the coverage she was such a big figure that they were trying to pull back? >> i don't think so there is a moment when someone with

her celebrity status walks into a room. it applies to world leaders as well. not just the journalists to reassure the viewers there was no clapping. there was when she walked into the building for her first day on the job. there was an instant of being starstruck because she is hillary clinton and we have not all met her in the past so there was that moment of wow, hillary clinton is there but then followed by what are the tough questions we want to ask? we did not shy away from her tenure. and then to further the a understanding because to

have a great relationship. but how does this work? was a political personality where every, matters and it is about nuances. because you also brought with her when she was at the white house. one day in islamabad but there seems like little time to digest what you just did and where you're going next with one instance planning a

trip to latin america and is it good to be this fast-paced? is in this town mistakes are made? >> let me first tell you what it was like. yes. it is the nature that we live in we don't have the nature to sit back to press pious to digest syria before i turn to pakistan. that is why i wanted to write a book i am a journalist whether or in washington but to take a step back everything i had seen or learned i learned a lot with the front row seat to diplomacy watching the different events unfold and

watching the book was a maturing experience as well from what i have seen and come to the conclusions but with the secretary of state and people around her, what i found striking is her ability to stay focused and fall times as much as possible on what is happening. she doesn't get distracted by the details if they are not important but she has the ability to stay focused on the vague picture out is afghanistan impacting the middle east? added impact asia? she had a good sense of the strategy and of course, she is surrounded by people who are helping her but she has staff and that allows her to stay focused on what

matters. she doesn't have to worry about lunch said it will arrive while she thinks of the bigger picture but mistakes do happen but it is important to a knowledge that. for those around the road that have the impression there is the all knowing power to handle a fact with the foolproof plan that is run by fallible human beings to try to do the best they can and sometimes it does not work out. >> that is the question of america's role in the world. >> but maybe some of the examples there is no better way to start an beirut.

what was that like returning as part of the delegation? usage used to watching and not be annoyed when you were growing up? what was that like? >> it was unsettling. writing that chapter was the first time i really said very much about it and put into words how i thought about being there. yes, a growing up in bay brooch there were mixed feelings about the united states. for me or others in lebanon i gripped in the environment where we did look to the rat -- west for support or help or others who look at the

west the way my family does but coming with sharp elbows and motorcades that can be grating on the local population. it was interesting or revealing to be on the other side all of a sudden. it is to look at the issues of my own country and i am in the convoy sitting there and a few cars ahead of me is another car surrounded by security escorts, the secretary of state and now secretary of state and now who used to be ambassador to lew beirut but his convoy used to annoy the people and he used to annoy me when i

was stuck at the intersection waiting for him to drive through. it is always worth remembering you have to look at other people's perspective to understand what they're going through. as the lebanese to understand their perspective or four americans to say what does it look like or what does it feel like? it was also emotional talk about how i of and did in beirut she said what does that mean for us? what is the plan as if it was just dropped on the table. then the moment the first time the secretary goes and has never been to my country

before. she knows i am lebanese and she mentions that in public. if you can imagine my people would have been thinking maybe people cheering we are so proud of her thinking not exactly a badge of honor so those conflicting emotions finding yourself on the other side. >> host: did you get calls from people on the other side questioning are you traveling with the delegation? >> actually there was a security issue. beirut has a heavy history and i go into some details about that. an american passenger was killed, the embassy was

bombed, the marine barracks pohai were bombed in that is why they are wary of their security. we were under one negative under directions not to talk about our arrival to compromise security. i could notto compromise security. i could not tell anybody i was coming but the minute i landed my a parents were out of the country. my sister was there and clinton only spent four hours a in beirut but i stayed behind everybody comes up to me i would have lunch and breakfast and dinner as a very social environment it is about eating out with people they ask whether they thinking about? what does it mean? what will she do?

that is what i used to ask myself and it is fascinating to answer those questions with whoever it is i did know. >> host: any issue usually at the end in the palestinian arab conflict conflict, president obama as first call was to the head of the palestinian authority. it seems like it becomes the front burner issue but these years went to the back burner. what happened? >> guest: several things and not for the lack of trying. you can summon up by saying expectations were raised way too high by the in administration.

the belief there was a window of opportunity used to an advance the talks but it was misleading about the change on the ground and reach of the players was, and netanyahu and there is a sense if you are the american president you can make anything move then it is not enough to be the president of change there is a reality but sometimes the personality can help things move along but those that have their own agenda or considerations, fears, conce rns, but they can give up on then the moment where clinton shows her loyalty to

the president. with a revealing too much she shows loyalty and emphasizes the statement the president has made that the players on the ground feel they are stacked in a certain position and have to unblock that and they think we will not be more british than the british the wait for the americans to deliver what they said they would. >> host: we're talking about the settlements and the administration's position of freezing settlements which was beyond what the palestinians were calling for at the time. >> guest: and what they were willing to give. >> host: right but then that was an example.

it was where you said hillary clinton disagreed she did not voice that disagreement and picked up on the of five and is all about showing netanyahu was the boss. because herb a husband was president went that don young who was president and there was frustration there. but hillary clinton not in the policy-making aspect back in the '90s but she remembers what interactions were like. robert emmanuel was back. certainly in advisor now there with obama it informs the mood to be foolish and

be strong when it comes to dealing with netanyahu because people have been there before benjamin netanyahu thinks he can wait this out and no relief but we will be here longer than him so we could try to move the ball forward and tell he is said to out because that is the nature of politics but he has just been reelected. but what i would like to remind people of this is for those to say america did this wrong and did not deliver there is truth to that but it is important for people like me to come to

grips with their own responsibility with what they can do it must be difficult for the palestinians to feel they have the hipper and because they're not the strongest party at the des negotiating table. but it doesn't help to lay that is ingrained into a lot of people's thinking. >> host: it is just a jumping off point* with the president and hillary clinton how to approach these were their lots of disagreements. >> where she shaping policy were basically implemented policies that came from the

white house but the disagreement about the approach that was taken it was in the first year all she wanted was to show loyalty. that is my reading of what was happening. she made about this is not the right way but did not study that very forcefully. i am not sure there was an open disagreement and even an interesting aspect but as secretary of state, i thought with the bigger picture i thought she day carry a lot of weight that was an influence your and implement your and was one of the heavyweights at the

table and have a lot of experience and was a big player on the global stage. bauman knew when he was elected but it will be busy with the economies iraq one of the many reasons you chose her because you knew she could do that for you. she would reach to him an accurate reading of what she could deliver to move forward to the agreement. for him to make a decision and she lost some battles the influenced a lot of decisions and asia definitely. >> i find that was an

interesting scenario but one last question i river in 2010 when hillary clinton spoke she mentioned something i that was interesting a far-flung destinations that issue come up and it struck me as an unlikely other than europe that people would focus on this and once we saw with key leaks they wanted to talk about iran, did you get a sense maybe beyond the immediate neighbors or europe that was one of the top issues of discussion people wanted to talk about? >> it comes up beyond those reasons but if you are