Empowering Women: Remarks by Mrs. Laura Bush at the Groundbreaking of the George W. Bush Presidential Center

Thank you all. Thank you so much, and thank you, George. Thanks to everyone here for joining us today. George and I are thrilled to share this moment with so many good friends, so many Cabinet members and White House staff. Vice President Cheney, thank you so much for joining us. Dr. Rice, thank you very much for being here. I also want to recognize President Uribe from Colombia. Thank you so much for joining us as well. Ambassador Langdale and Gerald Turner, Ambassador Jim Glassman, who will be the Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute, thank you all very much.

You have just heard about some of the Bush Institute’s goals, from fostering economic opportunity to improving access to healthcare and education and to expanding freedom around the world. The reason we have included a Women’s Initiative at the Institute is clear. The success of each of these important goals will depend upon the contributions of women. Vibrant economies rely on the creativity of women entrepreneurs. Free political systems require the insights of women in government, journalism and the law. Healthy nations depend upon wives and mothers to make informed decisions that will keep themselves and their families safe. And every successful society depends upon women who can read. Mothers are our first teachers, which means that educating women yields rewards for generations to come. As the great Egyptian poet Hafiz Ibrahim said, “When you educate a woman, you create a nation.” 

Over the past decade I have been inspired by the examples of strong women that I have met across the world. In Africa I met HIV-positive women who educate other women so that their babies will be born HIV-free. In Saudi Arabia, where cancer carries a stigma, Dr. Samia Alamoudi works with the Komen Global Initiative to raise awareness about breast cancer. In the remote jungles of Thailand, Dr. Cynthia Maung runs a clinic to care for her fellow refugees who are fleeing the oppression of Burma’s military dictatorship. And as the Ambassador for the U.N.’s Literacy Decade, I have met women around the world who are helping other women lead healthier, more prosperous and more fulfilling lives by giving them access to basic quality education.

This past March George and I hosted a conference on the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council here at SMU. The Council’s work is a powerful example of the strides that have been made by women in Afghanistan. Under the rule of the Taliban, women were routinely subjected to unspeakable degradation and torment and shut out completely from their society. Today Afghan women now lead as provincial governors and as elected members of the National Assembly. They work as entrepreneurs, as lawyers and community health workers. Many also serve in a profession that is close to my heart, teaching. These inspiring leaders remind us that investments in women are always worthwhile, and they remind us that laws and customs that deny women their basic rights and that deny societies of women’s contributions are never acceptable.

This is a message we need to spread. This past summer, Americans were horrified by the Time Magazine cover featuring Bibi Aisha, the Afghan teenager mutilated by her Taliban husband. Last year the murder of an Iranian music student and peaceful protester, Neda Soltan, who was gunned down on the streets of Tehran during protests, showed that other women often pay the ultimate price in pursuit of freedom worldwide.

And for most of the last two decades, the leader of Burma’s democracy movement and Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, was a prisoner in her own home. The free world rejoiced this week at her release, but it came only after she was banned from participating in Burma’s recent elections. And she has been released before only to be placed back under house arrest by the military regime. This time we hope that Aung San Suu Kyi is freed without condition and that she is allowed to continue her peaceful work until the day when all of Burma’s citizens live in freedom. 

Around the world, all of us who live in freedom have the obligation to condemn barbaric acts against women because an electorate that shuts out women is not a democracy, and a population that denies the rights of women is not a free society. 

The goal of our Women’s Initiative is to stand with the women who, despite these challenges, are determined to carry on their courageous work. To promote democracy and freedom in the Middle East, we will join with political and civic leaders, faith-based organizations, corporations and foundations to help women become more engaged and better educated and to be participants in government, business and civil society. 

Through a partnership among African nations, Western nations and NGOs the Institute will lead an effort to deliver integrated health services to expectant mothers, helping to protect their own health at a critical time and to keep their babies safe from HIV and malaria.

Today nearly 800 million adults are illiterate, and two-thirds of them are women. If we want women to be the bedrock of stable democratic societies, they must be able to read. Here at the Bush Institute, the Women’s Initiative will champion literacy and will keep working to improve the education that girls and boys receive in school, both here at home and around the world.

At the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council meeting held here at the Bush Institute, one of the participants was an Afghan woman, Sakena Yacoobi. During the Taliban years, Dr. Yacoobi operated underground literacy centers at great risk to her own life. Today she runs more than 40 women centers across Afghanistan, teaching hundreds of thousands of women to read. At the conference Dr. Yacoobi asked participants to invest in the future of Afghanistan and to support the ongoing progress of women. “Yes, it’s difficult,” she said. “But be patient with us. Don’t be sorry for us. Be with us.” Through the Women’s Initiative, the Bush Institute will stand with Dr. Yacoobi and all who are working to guarantee equal rights for women. 

Thank you all very much for your support of the Bush Institute, and thank you for joining us here today.