Off the Sidelines: on Foreign Policy


1995: Inspired by women's rights as human rights

On September 5, 1995, at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. Hillary said her line about women's rights being human rights, a line I've repeated almost once a week for the past ten years. Her words were so simple, brave, and powerful, and when I heard them, something woke up in me. I cared about China. I'd majored in Asian studies, and spent a semester there in college, devastated by the poverty and pollution but inspired by the culture and the strength of its people. I even spoke passable Mandarin. With her words, Hillary put me back in touch with my childhood dream. I needed to alter the course of my life and get involved in politics. That was who I was and who I had always wanted to be. It was time to embrace what mattered to me most and overcome my fear that others would disapprove of my ambition or view me as presumptuous or entitled.
Source: Off the Sidelines, by Kirsten Gillibrand, p. 28 Sep 9, 2014

  • The above quotations are from Off the Sidelines
    Raise Your Voice, Change the World
    by Kirsten Gillibrand    .
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