She cautioned that their roles in public life should not extend into equality in the home. Some women, such as educator Catharine Beecher, argued that women deserved rights because of their morality-as they were uniquely positioned to edify and enlighten men-not their humanity. As women pushed for their rights to vote, access educational opportunities, and own property, male abolitionists like Theodore Weld urged them to wait, arguing that they should first fight for the abolition of slavery as a matter of human rights. During the infancy of the American feminist movement of the 1830s, abolitionists and women’s rights advocates tussled over whether it was more important to seek freedom for enslaved people or equality for women. Women’s rights advocates have long argued that gender equality should be a human right-but were thwarted for years by those who claimed their rights were subordinate to those of men. But the excitement and energy that Clinton’s speech generated at the Fourth World Conference on Women helped elevate the idea to one that fuels modern feminism and international efforts to achieve gender parity. Twenty-five years later, a single phrase from Clinton’s speech has entered mainstream parlance: “Women’s rights are human rights.” The concept wasn’t new. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues when Clinton became secretary of state. “Nobody knew what to expect,” recalls Melanne Verveer, the then first lady’s chief of staff, who later served as the first U.S. Only a few people had read the speech, which was a well-guarded secret even to high-ranking members of the president’s cabinet. When Hillary Rodham Clinton approached the podium at a United Nations conference on women in September 1995 in Beijing, she faced an uncertain audience.
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