Women World Leaders SE & NE

New Trend in Women World Leaders?

Britains Theresa May recently took office as the first woman prime minister since
Margaret Thatcher. This week, Hillary Clinton will become the first American woman to
receive the Democratic Partys nomination for president.
These examples, along with others around the world, seem to indicate that women are
making solid progress in global politics. But the most recent United Nations report on
global women leaders concluded that much can be improved.
There are currently 16 women who head governments around the world, according to the
UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). While a
few have stayed in office for a long time, many others only served a short time.
Julie Ballington is a policy adviser on political participation for UN Women. She says
although the number of women in elected positions has doubled over the past 20 years,
much more can be done to keep the trend moving. Overall the message is that progress
is being made, but its very slow.
She says cultural and social norms, including gender discrimination, are holding women
back from top leadership positions.
CLINTON:
Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you so much. Hello, Charlotte.
(APPLAUSE)
It is so great to be back in North Carolina with so many friends.
(APPLAUSE)
This, my friends, is a president who knows how to keep us safe and strong. Compare that
to Donald Trump.
(BOOING)
Can you imagine him sitting in the Oval Office
AUDIENCE: No!

CLINTON: the next time America faces a crisis? The world hangs on every word our
president says. And Donald Trump is simply unqualified and temperamentally unfit to be
our president and commander in chief.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: So here in North Carolina, this election is our chance to say our country is
better than this. In America, we dont tear each other down, we lift each other up. We
build bridges, not walls.
(APPLAUSE)
We dont call the country we love a disaster or a laughing stock. We know America
already is the greatest country on Earth.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, nobody who looked like Barack Obama or me would have been included back then,
but were here today because the story of America is the story of hard fought, hard won
progress.
(APPLAUSE)
So, I want you to remember that for 240 years, our history has moved in that direction,
slowly at times, but unmistakably. As the president has reminded us, the arc of the moral
universe is long, but it bends towards justice.
So if you believe, along with me and with the president, that our best days of the nation
are still ahead of us, please join this campaign. Take out your phone right now. Take out
your phone and text join to 47246 or go to hillaryclinton.com. We are hiring organizers
right here in North Carolina.
(APPLAUSE)
Were going to fight for every vote in this state, and with your help, were going to win it.
(APPLAUSE)
So I dont know about you, but we are fired up and ready to go. Ready to win this
election.
Please join me in welcoming the president of the United States, Barack Obama.
(APPLAUSE) OBAMA: Hillary. Hillary. Hillary. Hillary. Hillary. Hillary. Hillary. Oh
(ph).

(APPLAUSE)
How ya doin Charlotte?
Another major one is the candidate selection process of political parties and the political
machinery itself, Ballington said. Women typically have less access to resources than
men, and they are less connected in the circles where the fundraising takes place, and that
certainly has an impact.
According to the UN Women report, the percentage of women appointed to government
cabinets is lower than women elected. The report also noted that more women rise to
power in parliamentary systems than in direct presidential elections.
THERESA MAY:
So, on behalf of everybody here today, thank you.
2,000 miles away, in towns and cities across Syria, eleven million men, women and
children have been forced from their homes. More than four million have become
refugees. And nearly a quarter of a million have been killed.
More than 600,000 Syrians are taking refuge in Jordan, a country that before the conflict
had a population of little more than six million. There are more than one million finding
respite in Lebanon, which previously had a population of just over four million. By the
end of the year, the United Nations believes there will be a further 1.7 million Syrian
refugees in Turkey.
These people are fleeing a civil war that exceeds even the other conflicts of the Middle
East in its barbarism, brutality and bloodshed - ethnic cleansing, mass murder of enemy
soldiers, systematized rape and sexual violence, kidnappings and murder.
We have a proud history of relieving the distressed and helping the vulnerable whether
its through our military, our diplomacy, our humanitarian work or our support for
refugees, let us continue this tradition. Let Britain stand up for the displaced, the
persecuted and the oppressed. For the people who need our help and protection the most,
let Britain be a beacon of hope.