Introduction
Women have been contributing tremendously in the role transformation from traditional ones to the modern ones. Previously, they were known as home guardians, wives, and mothers whereby giving birth, taking care of children, and providing or their husband was their main roles. In the 21st century, several women gained consciousness and sought to improve their conditions, as well as their societal positions as far as social, political, and economic aspects of life are concerned.
Hannah Snell was one of the women born in 1723 who disguised herself as a man to serve in the British marine. She went on to fight the French in India. Many other women managed to improve their roles, but the focus of this essay is only on two women, including Condoleezza Rice and Hilary Clinton. An interview with them on the roles they have played as women will enable an understanding of Women’s roles.
Condoleezza Rice
Biographical Information
Condoleezza was born on a Sunday morning on 14 November 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama. She was the only child of the late John Rice and Angelina Ray whom both shared the same upbringing beliefs and ambitions. Both parents extremely esteemed their Christian faith and came from families that understood the heritage of oppression.
They believed that the schooling system could help their child succeed in life. It is from this that the power of education and a greater zeal to succeed arose. The family relocated to Denver when Rice 13 years of age where the father worked at the University of Denver. She developed an interest in political science and went on to acquire a degree in the same field (Bumiller, 2007). In 1981, she obtained a Ph.D. in political science and public administration from the University of Denver.
Being an expert in foreign affairs, she was given the mandate in Bush’s administration to serve as the sectary of state and an adviser on national security issues by the age of 46. She was the first woman in the United States of America to be in this position. In the year 2003, the Iraqi evenness group was formed headed by the Secretary of state.
In 2004 to 2007, she was recognized by the Time magazine as one of the most influential people in the world. After being the Secretary of state in 2009, she was approached to fill a vacant apposition as commissioner of PAC but turned it down opting to go back to the University of Stanford as a professor of political science.
Historical Status of Women at the Time
She observed that women are the mothers of the university scholars who are jobless and are not finding occupations regardless of their hard work of looking for jobs and experience into the cooperate world, but in the long run they end up to their mother homesteads, to mention the felt less. This falls squarely on the social issues in the society that affects mostly women.
In 2005, she was in Southern Sudan surrounded by women pouring their hearts out on what they were going through after they had fled genocide in Darfur after being victims of the attacks from rebels, and government officers. This openly showed they had someone to cry to seek defense. She urged the international community to make sure that the sufferings of women are addressed in the shortest time possible in case peace was to prevail in the country
Opinion
Condoleezza Rice is a very powerful woman who believed in gender equality, meaning she advocated for the rights of women. While fighting for the rights of women, she suggested that the government, as well as the society in general, has a responsibility of ensuring that peace prevails to protect their interests.
In case governments fail to offer adequate security, women and children are the most affected. Based on this, she always forced the US government to formulate a strong foreign policy towards rogue states that had the capability to destabilize normal living women.
Views on the Current Roles of Women
Rice underscored the fact the women were still responsible for carrying out their traditional roles, but she wanted a change to be initiated whereby each woman would be allowed to serve the government in any position.
Hilary Clinton
Biographical Information
Hillary was born on 26 October 1947 at Chicago, Illinois to Hugh Rodham and Dorothy Rodham. She was a sister to Hugh Jr. and a bother to Tony. From 1953 to 1957, she attended Eugene Field Elementary school, and from 1957-1961, she joined Ralph Waldo Emerson Middle School, She then joined Maine Township High School whereby she managed to score enough marks to take her to college. By 1969, she was through with college graduating with a law degree at the Yale Law School.
She married the former president Clinton in 1975 and gave birth to Chelsea Victoria Clinton in 1980 (Bernstein, 2007). She was further chosen to lead the President’s Task Force on Health Care Reform, whereby she was expected to supervise research work and monetary reports. Due to open political stands, she was mainly the target of many opposition leaders who were not satisfied with the way her husband ruled.
Being a woman of bold conscience, she declared interest to vie for the senatorial position in 1999 whereby she won by a landslide and became was the only First Lady in the history of the US to an elected leader. She served as a member of four Senate Committees dealing with eight responsibilities. Other duties include negotiating with foreign leaders on policies and accords, giving passports, and offering suggestions.
Historical Status of Women
On her part, Hilary Clinton traveled all over the world to show that women are capable of doing things that are traditionally reserved for men. Today, there are twenty women senators as compared to three twenty years ago, and a woman had never filled the position of Secretary of state. This shows that the two women have influenced the lives of women positively.
Opinion
Hillary Clinton believed in gender equality, as she always suggested that women had to be allowed to give their economic and political views. She encouraged women from the Middle East region to take over what is rightfully theirs in society instead of waiting for men to give them opportunities. Unlike Condoleezza Rice, she also advocated for the rights of the poor, irrespective of gender.
Views on the Status of women
Hilary Clinton that women were far behind and they had to fight for their rights continuously to achieve the desired results. In this case, she was pessimistic of the position of women in society since they never had any right to participate in political activities freely.
References
Bumiller, E. (2007). Condoleezza Rice: An American life: A biography. New York: Random House Publishing.
Bernstein, C. (2007). A woman in charge: the life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. New York: Knopf Publishing Group.