Hillary Clinton: Empower girls and women - CNN.com

Hillary Clinton: Empower girls and women - CNN.com
Give women equal rights and entire nations are more stable and secure.
"Let women work and they drive economic growth across all sectors. Send a girl to school even just for one year and her income dramatically increases for life, and her children are more likely to survive and her family more likely to be healthier for years to come. Give women equal rights and entire nations are more stable and secure. Deny women equal rights and the instability of nations is almost certain."
Clinton said the goal of empowering women and girls is a "central tenet" of American foreign policy. "Women's equality is not just a moral issue, it's not just a humanitarian issue, it is not just a fairness issue," she said, "It is a security issue, it is a prosperity issue, and it is a peace issue.
"We need to reach out to faith leaders and community leaders to change the perception and treatment of girls, and to persuade men and boys to value their sisters and their daughters, their talents and their intrinsic worth."
Washington (CNN) -- Toward the end of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's surprise appearance at the TED Women conference Wednesday, she told the story of a girl and her father in a developing country.
"This teenage girl's father expected to force her into early marriage, but she had been to school and she received a cow, perhaps through the Heifer project, to encourage her to stay in school. When her father demanded she drop out of school and get married, she said no. When he insisted, she insisted right back.
"And finally she pulled out her trump card: 'If I leave and get married, I'm taking my cow, that cow belongs to me.' So guess what. She stayed in school, she was spared an early marriage, all because her father couldn't bear to part with the cow."