Via Feminist Majority comes the news that Senator Barbara Boxer of California will chair a Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Global Women’s Issues. According to FM, “This is the first time in history where women’s issues will be a specific focus of a foreign relations subcommittee.”
Senator Boxer was vocal about the treatment of women around the world during confirmation hearings for Hillary Clinton’s appointment as Secretary of State. In response, then-Senator Clinton promised to make women’s rights a focal point of her platform in dealing with foreign countries.
In a statement, Senator Boxer thanked Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for the opportunity to chair the subcommittee. She also had this to say:
This new subcommittee assignment offers a tremendous opportunity to shine the light of day on a very overlooked issue. Too often, we turn our eyes away as women are persecuted, abused and treated as second-class citizens. But even the most conservative historians have noted that when women are given the freedom to live up to their full potential, society as a whole flourishes. I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Congress and with Secretary Clinton to stamp out violence against women in the world.
