Hillary, Asked About Women’s Rights, Goes on Rant Blaming Sexists for Her 2016 Loss; ‘Refusal to Accept the Equality of Women’
Hillary Clinton is leaving no grudge unvoiced.
The former First Lady and secretary of state appeared Monday at a Georgetown University awards ceremony named in her honor, which are given to “individuals advancing women’s role in creating a more peaceful and secure world.”
Clinton used the ceremony as an opportunity to once again blame sexism in America for her 2016 loss to President Trump.
At the end of the ceremony, Clinton was asked if she had any parting thoughts about "this backlash against women's rights."
Clinton began by talking about how technology, globalization, and artificial intelligence is creating a sense of insecurity and anxiety, but then pivoted to her book and the 2016 race.
"Any of you who have read my book about what happened know that I think misogyny and sexism was part of that campaign," Clinton said. "It was one of the contributing factors and some of it was old-fashioned sexism and a refusal to accept the equality of women and some of it as an outgrowth of all this anxiety and security that is playing on people and leaving them a scapegoat."
"We’ve got to leave that here at home and that comes through the ballot box in an election year 2018 in the United States," she continued. "There’s a lot that can be done to say wait a minute, we are not going backwards when it comes to race and religion and sex and and all the rest of it. We are going to keep forward moving because we want an inclusive tolerant society and that includes everybody. Not just some of us, but all of us."
"Certainly, voting remains the principal way that every individual can express an opinion and anyone who chooses not to vote basically sees that opinion to others who perhaps don’t hold your values," she added. "There’s a lot of work to be done, but I ended being very confident enough to mistake because we are not going back and women’s voices are not shutting up.”
Clinton said that in order to end sexism, "everyone has to purge themselves of prejudicial thoughts."
"Being born into a minority is hard," she said. [Video] "It’s hard everywhere and if you find yourself in a role where you can speak out and speak up and not go along with either remaining silent or even chiming in about derogatory remarks, about women and girls, and also minorities, but the focus on women and girls, you know be that person, be that man, who you know, doesn’t let it go on, who stands up for speaks out and use your voting power as a citizen in a democracy to also register your feelings about these issues."
Clinton also discussed climate change, and said the issue disproportionately impacts women and children, and called on students to rally the Trump administration to re-join the Paris Climate Accord.
This year’s Hillary Clinton Awards went to Nadia Murad, a former ISIS captive, and Wai Wai Nu, a Rohingya activist and former political prisoner from Myanmar, according to the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, of which Clinton is the honorary founding chair.