Obama's mother, Hillary Clinton shared a belief

[Metric System]

I came across this interesting article this evening and thought I'd share it:

Obama's mother, Hillary Clinton shared a belief

BY ELIZABETH MOORE
10:36 PM EST, December 27, 2008

From July 1993 to the end of 1994, Barack Obama's mother was hard at work in New York City convening experts, compiling surveys and drafting papers for a major United Nations conference in Beijing, where she hoped to show how much good can be done by lending small sums to poor women.

As Ann Dunham-Soetoro's colleagues brainstormed, they agreed that one advocate would electrify their panel: then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Dunham-Soetoro never made it to Beijing. By the time of the 1995 conference, she was in Hawaii, suffering the painful last stages of cancer that would soon claim her life.

But Clinton did speak at the panel co-sponsored by the International Coalition on Women and Credit that Dunham-Soetoro had brought together at the U.N.'s initiative. Two years later, Clinton helped launch a campaign to extend microfinance to 100 million families, a goal the coalition pushed at Beijing -- and attained two years ago.

...Those who worked with Dunham-Soetoro in New York call her a pioneer who did seminal field research and developed the standards that guided the program's rapid expansion. At that time, development agencies tended to cast poor women as passive victims, so lending money to them was still an emerging idea, and the banks doing it viewed themselves as competitors.

There's more at the link:

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-usclinton1228,0,7695564.story

In addition to revealing her connection to Hillary's famous Beijing speech on women's rights as human rights, the article provides a fascinating look at Ann Dunham-Soetoro and the important work she did prior to her passing.

[FrenchieCat]

1. Isn't that something!

or, what a small world!

[murielm99]

2. I remember reading about microloans in Hillary Rodham

Clinton's book "Living History."

It is a great way to lift women and children out of poverty.

It is interesting that these two women shared that idea.

[firedupdem]

3. Very Nice Article....Obama's mom sounds like she was a great lady! n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

4. I wouldn't say "belief" since ...

... they both did work that made their support for microfinancing a reality.

I would say they shared a "cause."

Great article, thank you for posting.

(BTW, I know you didn't come up with the title, you just copied/pasted it from the site.)

[Kdillard]

5. kick

[Undercurrent]

6. Just goes to show

that good ideas draw good people to nurture it, and bring it to fruition.

These micro loans have changed the lives of countless woman, and their families.





(Of course we all know, thanks to Barbie of the North wisin' us up, that these community organizin' type doin's are worthless/bad. )

[biopowertoday]

7. Women wording for and with women to get things done that

will benefit their families. Very lovely.

[DevonRex]

8. Wow. Thank you! That is fascinating. I wonder why this didn't

come up before, especially since the RWers painted her as a kind of weird do-nothing. Well, she really did a LOT of things, didn't she? Just wow. And I'm not surprised at all that she wanted Hillary to be their advocate. It's sad that Ann didn't see how much Hillary accomplished for hte cause.

I also wonder if this is part of the reason Obama likes Hillary so much. You can tell when they're together that they have a lot of respect for each other and that they really care about each other, too.

This is some wonderful insight you have given us. Thank you.

[sundog]

9. interesting article

thanks for posting

[Mass]

10. Many anonymous women shared this belief and worked toward it. Let's recognize them right here.

Ann Dunham-Soetoro was one of them.

[Beacool]

11. Very interesting read!!!

It's a small world after all. When Hillary insisted on going to Beijing, many in the Clinton administration objected to her trip. She prevailed and to this day women around the world remember her speech. Furthermore, it is considered one of America's best 100 speeches, ranking at #35.

;)