Increasing Economic Opportunities for Women: The Right Thing to Do, and the Smart Thing to Do

By HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, who has served as U.S. secretary of state, senator, and first lady.

I have always believed that women are not victims. We are agents of change, we are drivers of progress, and we are makers of peace. All we need is a fighting chance. That firm faith in the untapped potential of women at home and around the world has been at the heart of my work my entire life—from college and law school, to Arkansas, to the White House, to the Senate, and most recently to the State Department.

Everything I have done and learned in my work over the years has convinced me that improving the rights and the status of women is not simply a matter of human dignity. It is also essential to our security and our prosperity. When we liberate the economic potential of women, we elevate the economic performance of communities, nations, and the world. That’s why we put women at the heart of our foreign policy priorities at the State Department.

I was proud to be at the historic 2011 signing of the San Francisco Declaration, when the United States, Canada, Peru, Chile, Mexico, and the rest of the 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum all made commitments to lower barriers and increase economic opportunities for women. I said then what I said all over the world as secretary of state: This isn’t just the morally right thing to do—it is the smart thing to do. No country can achieve its full economic potential when women are left out or left behind.

As information transcends borders and creates opportunities for farmers to do their banking on mobile phones and children in distant villages to learn remotely, I believe that here, at the beginning of the 21st century, we are entering the participation age. This is the age where every individual, regardless of gender or other characteristics, is poised to be a contributing and valued member of the global marketplace.

The increasing numbers of women in the economy and the rising productivity gains from improving the distribution of their talents and skills has undoubtedly helped fuel significant growth everywhere. A rising tide of women in an economy raises the fortunes of families and nations.

Data show that investing in women’s employment, health, and education drives better outcomes for entire societies. Economists tell us that when more women participate in the economy, there is a ripple effect: Businesses have more consumers, families both spend and save more, farmers produce and sell more food, education improves, and so does political stability.

We’re seeing this all over the world. Latin America and the Caribbean have steadily increased women’s participation in the labor market since the 1990s, and now women account for more than half of all workers in the region. The World Bank estimates that extreme poverty in the region has decreased by 30 percent as a result. Furthermore, The Economist points out that the increase in employment of women in developed countries during the past decade has added more to global growth than China has—and that’s a lot.

But let’s focus on the United States. Traveling the globe as secretary of state for four years reaffirmed and deepened my pride in our country and the ideals we represent. But it also challenged me to think about who we are and the values we are supposed to be living here at home, in order for me to effectively represent us abroad. After all, our global leadership for peace and prosperity, for freedom and equality, is not a birthright. It must be earned by every generation.

Some signs are good. A 2011 McKinsey study found that between 1970 and 2009, American women went from holding 37 percent of all jobs to almost 50 percent. In sheer value terms, these women have punched well above their weight. The productivity gains attributable to this increase in women’s overall share of the labor market account for approximately one-quarter of this country’s current gross domestic product, or GDP—more than $3.5 trillion, which is more than the GDP of Germany and more than half the GDPs of China and Japan.

Yes, it’s true that we now have American women at high levels of business, academia, government—you name it. But as we’ve seen recently, women still find themselves asking age-old questions about how they can make their way in male-dominated fields and how they can balance the demands of work and family. The Economist recently published a “glass-ceiling index,” ranking countries based on factors such as opportunities for women in the workplace and equal pay. The United States didn’t even make it into the top 10.

That’s not the way it’s supposed to be. I think of the extraordinary sacrifices my mother made to survive her own difficult childhood, to give me not only life but also opportunity, along with love and inspiration. I’m very proud of my own daughter, and I look at all these young women I’ve been privileged to work with or know through Chelsea, and it’s hard to imagine turning the clock back on them. But in places throughout America large and small, the clock is turning back.

Recent studies have found that, on average, women live shorter lives in the United States than in any other major industrialized country. Think about that for a minute. We are the richest and most powerful country in the world, yet many American women today, especially those with the least education, have a shorter lifespan than their mothers had.

There is no single explanation for why this is happening. Prescription-drug overdoses, obesity, and smoking are all factors—but there is also intractable poverty and a lack of health insurance. The fact is that for too many American women, the dream of upward mobility and opportunity—the American Dream itself—remains elusive.

So we have work to do. Renewing America’s vitality at home and strengthening our leadership abroad will take the energy and talents of all our people, women and men. If America is going to lead, we need to empower women here at home to participate fully in our economy and our society. In these tough economic times, no country can afford to perpetuate the barriers facing women in the workforce. The United States needs to make equal pay a reality. We need to extend paid family and medical leave benefits to more workers. We need to encourage more women and girls to pursue careers in math and science.

I’m amazed that too many otherwise-thoughtful people continue to see the fortunes of women and girls as somehow separate from society at large. They nod, they smile, and then they relegate these issues once again to the sidelines. I have seen it over and over again. I have been kidded about it, I have been ribbed, I have been challenged in boardrooms and official offices across the world.

But fighting to give women and girls a fighting chance isn’t just a nice thing to do. It isn’t some luxury that we only get to when we have time on our hands. This is a core imperative for every human being in every society. If we do not continue the campaign for women’s rights and opportunities, the world we want to live in—and the country we all love and cherish—will not be what it should be.

So let’s learn from the wisdom of all the mothers and fathers all over the world who teach their daughters that there is no limit on how big they can dream and how much they can achieve.

One sure way to maximize the chance for our country to do even better is to be sure we give girls and women the chance to compete and to demonstrate what they can contribute to us all. We need to invest in all our people so they can live up to their own God-given potential. That is how America will lead in the world.¹

Jeannie James hangs laundry with her granddaughter outside of their home in Winslow, Arizona. {JAN SONNENMAIR}