Speeches & Texts
100 Years International Women’s Day: Integration and Equal Opportunity in the U.S. and Germany
Berlin, March 8, 2011
Ambassador Philip D. Murphy
Vielen Dank,, Mark Donfried, (Direktor, Institute for Cultural Diplomacy / ICD)
Frau Wehler-Schöck, (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Berlin)
Frau Zeynelabidin, (Kommunikationsmanagerin, Berlin)
Frau Schuster-Craig, (Doktorandin, Frauenstudien, Duke University)
Frau Dr. Schondelmayer, (Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin, Arbeitsbereich Interkulturelle Erziehungswissenschaft, FU Berlin)
Frau Jordan, (Grundschullehrerin, Berlin)
meine Damen – und auch meine Herren,
ich freue mich, mit Ihnen den 100. Jahrestag des Internationalen Frauentags zu feiern. MC Josh und Jacky Rose: Das war eine tolle Eröffnung dieser Feier und des Workshops. Vielen Dank.
In den vergangenen 100 Jahren ist der Internationale Frauentag weltweit zu einem Tag geworden, an dem die politischen, wirtschaftlichen, sozialen und kulturellen Errungenschaften von Frauen gefeiert werden. Hier in Ihrem Land und auch in meiner Heimat haben Frauen Dinge erreicht, von denen ihre Mütter und Großmütter vielleicht nicht einmal zu träumen wagten. Heute können junge Mädchen ohne zu zögern ihre Vorstellungen von ihrer Zukunft äußern. „Ich möchte Tierärztin, Sängerin, Architektin, Ärztin, Richterin oder Anwältin werden. Oder vielleicht sogar: Ich möchte Bundeskanzlerin oder Präsidentin der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika werden.“
Ladies and also gentlemen, it is a pleasure to celebrate with you the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. MC Josh und Jacky Rose, what a great start to this celebration and to this workshop. Thank you!
Over the past 100 years, International Women’s Day has become a global day of celebration of the political, economic, social and cultural achievements of women. Today, here in your country and in mine, women have reached heights their mothers and grandmothers might only have imagined. Today, young girls can list off their future aspirations without hesitation. “I want to be a veterinarian, a singer, an architect, a doctor, a judge or a lawyer. Or even, I want to be Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany or President of the United States of America.”
The fact that girls today feel any of these careers are within their reach is a testament to the work of the women who traveled the sometimes lonely roads to be the first judges and lawyers in courtrooms, the first doctors in hospitals, or the first football – or as I say soccer – players in World Cup stadiums. Look at your Chancellor, Angela Merkel. Look at America’s Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Look at the first female Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. Madeleine Albright was appointed Secretary of State in 1997. Her 7 year old granddaughter asked her mother, “What's the big deal about Grandma Maddie? What’s so special? The Secretary of State is always a girl.” Well, it was’t always that way. Madeleine Albright marked a path for Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton – and for countless other women in government around the world. She marked a path because she believed and she proved that societies are better off when women are politically and economically empowered.
In the United States, we think that the stories of these path-making women are so important that the entire month of March is devoted to women. Not just one day! During March, Women's History Month, we honor all those women who refused to listen to those who would say that they couldn’t or shouldn’t pursue their dreams.
But despite all the progress that has been made, there are still many opportunities that are beyond reach for women. In the United States, women comprise over 50 percent of the population but hold fewer than 17 percent of our congressional seats. More than half of American college students are female, yet when they graduate, their male classmates still receive higher pay on average for the same work. Women also hold fewer science and engineering jobs than men. And so, during the month of March, we also need to spend the month talking not just about the past, but also about the future. And I hope this is what you will be talking about today.
I hope you talk about why you should be studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
I hope you talk about how each and every one of you needs to take responsibility for your achievements at school, at college and then wherever life takes you. I hope you talk about your rights under law to be free from discrimination and how your school and your government can help you to do and be your very best. Government cannot guarantee success, but it can help to ensure that everybody – girls and boys, women and men – can achieve it. In the United States, President Obama is working to fulfill this promise with initiatives such as the White House Council on Women and Girls.
International Women’s Day and Women's History Month offer plenty of role models that you can emulate. Through the course of the month, I am going to be talking about some of the women that I think are special on Facebook. Check it out but I hope that today you will talk about the role models that mean something to you. I won’t be able to stay with you for the rest of your conference so I am counting on you to give me some virtual feedback. The point here is that excellence is not some far-off notion, but it is ever close at hand.
There is one more thing that I hope you will be talking about today. Women’s rights are important around the world. On the whole, people in our two countries are pretty lucky to live where we do. Empowering women around the globe is also important. It is not simply the right thing or the good thing to do; it is also the smart thing to do, in terms of foreign policy. It is a fact that countries are more peaceful and prosperous when their female citizens enjoy equal rights, equal voices, and equal opportunities. Our commitment to women's rights must not end at our own borders. Both the United States and Germany are working with the United Nations and other international institutions to support women's equality and to curtail violence against women and girls, especially in situations of war and conflict.
And one final thing that I hope will be on your agenda today. It is up to you to write the next chapter of women's history. It is up to you to carry forward the work of the women who came before you. There is no obstacle too high for you. Challenge assumptions –and challenge yourself.
I am going to leave you with one final piece of advice and it is not from me. It is from America’s first female Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, Grandma Maddie as her grand-daughter calls her. This is the advice, "I believe that old women and young women have to interrupt," she said. "I have sat in many meetings and thought that I might say something and then I think, 'Oops, too stupid, I don't think I'll say that.' Then some man says it; everybody thinks it's brilliant."
So speak out today – and every day. Have a great conference. I wish I could stay with you longer but I leave you in very good hands.
Vielen Dank für Ihre Aufmerksamkeit.
As prepared for delivery.