Tag: Clinton

She Spoke: 14 Women Who Raised Their Voices and Changed the World

The question is asked, ‘What does it mean to raise your voice’ in the Introduction to She Spoke: a history of women who did make a massive difference by speaking out, having an opinion and truly believing in what they believed.

Women were largely discouraged from having an opinion of just about anything, or speaking out, which is well documented in the pages of history, with many women who did dare to be different, to state what they believed in ignored, or in some cases put to death, because they were different.

The most recent case of a woman, she was a girl at the time, Malala Yousafzai, who challenged the Taliban, a religious sect who demolished all the girl’s schools in the area known as the Swat Valley where she lived, because they believed women should not be educated.

She gave her first public speech, unheard of from a young Muslim girl, at the age of eleven. In 2009 she set up a blog for the BBC under a pen name and in 2012 a Taliban shooter trapped her on the school bus, shooting her through the head! Thankfully she did not die and is today still speaking out for women’s education and their right to be free to choose.

But before that there were many, many more women who voiced their opinion, which led to massive changes in society, the law and politics. The women of the suffragette movement campaigned and stood up for what they believed in, getting the vote for women; the first country to recognise this political freedom for women was New Zealand in 1893.

Each of the women who have been selected for this book are just a few of the many: Dr Jane Goodall travels the world campaigning for better protection of the environment, bought about from her ground-breaking work as a Primatologist, living in the rainforest of Tanzania’s Gombe Stream Reserve and observing chimpanzees and their lifestyle.

Hillary Rodham Clinton was the first woman to run for President of the United States of America and has been a fearless campaigner for women’s and human rights.

Each of the sections of this well-presented book offer the basic story behind the fourteen women who feature, a ‘voice’ and the opportunity to be able to ‘speak-up’, which presents what they considered was important enough to ‘speak out’ and by making, or helping to make change, have definitely made a difference. You can hear each of the women speak briefly in a very natty little voice recording placed at the side of the book.

The back cover carries the slogan ‘The World Needs Your Voice.’ It most certainly does!

March 31, 2019
Quotes for Nasty Women: Empowering Wisdom from Women Who Break the Rules

Donald Trump, when calling Hillary Clinton ‘such a nasty woman’ inadvertently did more for women that he would have ever considered. He gave women more than a voice, he gave them outrage. Perhaps, inadvertently he was responsible for the birth of this book?

Hillary Clinton did no more or less than any other politician on the campaign trail, but because she was a woman she was considered ‘nasty’. It does make you wonder, in this so called enlightened age, exactly where women stand. How is it that they are still labelled because they dared to stand up for themselves in so many ways and in so many walks of life.

This wonderfully empowering collection of quotes by women from all walks of life and history, who have stood up for themselves over many generations, some paying dearly with their lives, others going on to make a difference and many, many more simply being the very best in whatever it is that they have chosen to undertake, is long overdue and in some ways very liberating.

The Quotes are funny, irreverent, hard hitting and all have more than a kernel of truth embedded in the words. This is wonderful book to either have on your desk, for those moments when you need reassurance that even though you are coping the flack, others have been before you, and those other times when you need a fast comeback or a bit of a laugh.

There are some amazing, empowering one-liners, larger pieces to reassure, and others that resonate down through the ages. Beyoncé is quoted as saying, ‘At the end of the day, it’s not about equal rights, it’s about how we think. We have to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves.’ so very true.

But you could say that Robin Tunney has it completely right when she says ‘I really wanted to be nasty and mean and bad. It’s so much easier than being a good girl.’ One would have to agree.

Queen Victoria summed it up very succinctly when she stated that ‘We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat; they do not exist’. Maybe this should be maxim that all modern women, who are labelled as ‘nasty’ for believing in their truth carry forward, as they make a difference in today’s world!

February 13, 2018
Hillary Rising: The Politics, persona and policies of a new American dynasty

With the race to see who is going to be the next President of the United States in the final dash to the finish, there has perhaps never been a more interesting time in American politics.

Already Hillary Clinton has made history becoming the first woman endorsed to run for President in the United States and to date doing a fine job combating her opponents more eccentric statements.

That she is, by her track record within American Politics, undoubtedly the best person for the job should go without saying, as right from a young woman growing up in a strict household, she has campaigned and worked tirelessly for her beliefs in the Democratic rights of not just the American people but by default the people of the world.

She came to world attention as the wife of Bill Clinton, the 42^nd President of the United States and with extreme courage faced the public backlash when the Lewinski affair exploded onto the world stage. No matter what you read on Hillary Clinton the one thing that comes through time and time again that she is a fearless and loyal person, who when she believes in what she does, carries out her mandate with integrity and intelligence.

Her career to date is stellar and based on hard work; she is a woman with a list of firsts to her name that are outstanding: she is the first woman to deliver a commencement speech at Wellesley College, to be on the Walmart board of directors, to have an office in the West Wing of the White House, the First Lady to seek and win elected office, to visit more than 100 countries in her role as Secretary of State and now, the first woman to challenge for the second time, for the presidency of the United States. Time magazine has had her on the cover more than any other woman in history.

That she is ambitious, intelligent and an achiever is there on the record; that this somehow, in the world of two second fame, does not seem to be enough is beyond comprehension. Should she win the office she will without a doubt be the most highly qualified person, in political terms, to hold this office.

James D. Boys has done a remarkable work with this look at the life and times of this dedicated and talented woman. Many biography style works can often become booged down in detail, but in the summation Boys has cleverly given detail based on fact which makes interesting and comprehensive reading. At the end of each chapter he has added a summation making the work easy to reference or if you are in a hurry, a quick read.

A most enjoyable work on a woman who has already helped to make changes in the world of politics and no, as a candidate to the presidency, may well become the first President to the United States.

If you want a no frills, well presented look a woman who is known and respected in world politics you could do far worse than read this well researched, non-partisan, well presented look at Hillary Rodham Clinton, billed as ‘ the champion of everyday Americans’ and perhaps the woman who may yet still make history once again!

September 4, 2016