09 March,2009 05:31 AM IST | | AFP
US President Barack Obama honored International Women's Day, reaffirming a commitment to women's rights but calling for the "full and active participation" of women.
"Women are vital to the solutions" to global challenges such as climate change, poverty and conflict, Obama said yesterday, as women worldwide rallied to demand equal rights and protest domestic violence.
"We will not sow the seeds for a brighter future or reap the benefits of the change we need without the full and active participation of women around the world.
"The United States stands with people around the globe to reaffirm our commitment to the equality, freedom, achievements and advancement of women," he added. Earlier, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton celebrated untapped potential but lamented that "no nation in the world has yet achieved full equality for women."
The international community has little hope of combating the complex slew of challenges in the 21st century without the full participation of women, said Clinton, Obama's former rival for the presidency who would have become the first female US president if elected.
Clinton noted that women still constitute most of the world's poor, unfed and unschooled.
