At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, then First Lady Hillary Clinton had famously proclaimed, 'Women's rights are human rights,' reports Huffington Post.
Now, nearly two decades after that historical speech and eight years after her unsuccessful 2008 campaign, (during which she had dealt with women's issues separately) Clinton is all set to incorporate women's rights and issues integrally into her campaign.
She is set to launch a two-week initiative, "Women for Hillary'' to garner support from female voters. The program will include house parties, organizing events and trips by the candidate and her surrogates to early voting states, Clinton's campaign officials told USA Today.
"The fact that it didn't happen last time is indicative of everything that went wrong. Now, she's being more true to herself, doing what she's always done and always believed," said a longtime Clinton ally, reports The Hill.
"Hillary Clinton believes that equal opportunity and success for women and girls builds a better future for all, and that's why she led efforts to study and improve education opportunities for girls so they have a chance for a brighter future," said Adrienne Elrod, the communications director for Correct the Record, the pro-Hillary super-PAC, according to The Hill.
But it's not going to be an easy task, getting American women to vote for her.
"Some of these women may have defected because of the effect of very negative media coverage'' referring to her email use, said Dianne Bystrom, director of a women and politics program at Iowa State University, according to USA Today. "White women voters are harder on women candidates and hold them to higher expectations than male candidates. We don't want the first woman president to be a failure,'' said Bystrom.
But team Clinton is positive that this time around, things will work out differently. Tracy Sefl, a senior adviser to Ready for Hillary who worked on the 2008 campaign, said that, "at every turn Hillary Clinton demonstrates that the advancement of the rights and opportunities for women and girls is central to who she is. This isn't a side issue, this isn't a one-off. As she says, this is 'our great unfinished business,'" reports The Hill.
