Yesterday Miriam and I were chatting about some of the awesome women Obama has appointed to his cabinet -- namely Hilda Solis and Hillary Clinton. These women have been strong voices in Congress on issues like reproductive rights and violence against women. But, we wondered, are they going to have the same amount of power to enact positive change on these issues once they're part of the cabinet?

I think the answer is that their roles will change, obviously, but I'm pretty sure we can expect great things from Solis as Labor secretary and Clinton as secretary of State. At her confirmation hearings this week, Hillary Clinton said the following when Barbara Boxer asked her about slavery and trafficking of girls and women:

CLINTON: ...I want to pledge to you that as secretary of state I view these issues as central to our foreign policy, not as adjunct or auxiliary or in any way lesser than all of the other issues that we have to confront.

I, too, have followed the stories that are exemplified by the pictures that you held up. I mean, it is heartbreaking beyond works that, you know, young girls are attacked on their way to school by Taliban sympathizers and members who do not want young women to be educated. It's not complicated: They want to maintain an attitude that keeps women, as I said in my testimony, unhealthy, unfed, uneducated.

And this is something that results all too often in violence against these young women, both within their families and from the outside. This is not culture. This is not custom. This is criminal. And it will be my hope to persuade more governments, as I have attempted to do since I spoke at Beijing on these issues, you know, 13 and some years ago, that we cannot have a free, prosperous, peaceful, progressive world if women are treated in such a discriminatory and violent way.

Will we miss her advocacy in Congress on behalf of reproductive rights, equal pay, and other issues? Absolutely. But I'm excited to see how her views translate to her role at State. Same goes for Solis at Labor.

2 Comments

January 16, 2009 9:49 AM

[0+]  Cecilieaux said:

Solis and Clinton will not get the same treatment.

Clinton, whom I would have voted for almost as easily as for Obama, got fawned over by the press. However, Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post ran an incredible hatchet job (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011302283.html?sub=AR) on Solis in the op-ed page: Solis was singled out, among the typically nonsubstantive, nonresponsive comments of all the nominees. (And I have followed the confirmation hearings.)

One guy (Geithner) failed inexcusably to pay taxes and he's up for the boss of the IRS's boss and everybody's sweet on him.

Why the difference? Because to Marcus and her bosses Solis is just a "spic" they can push around.

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January 16, 2009 8:40 PM

[0+]  Rosie said:

My favourite bit is "This is not culture. This is not custom. This is criminal." That is a very powerful statement to make. I haven't seen video of this (if it exists), but I imagine when she said it you could feel the ground and air tremble just a tiny bit. I would not be surprised if Clinton receives death threats for making it.

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