Institute of Global Politics just six months ago. In that time, i would say weve done more than some institute lets do in years. And though, of course, thats not surprising, given who our leader is as secretary clinton herself likes to say, if you want something done, a a busg y woman to do it. And i have from our very first conversations were aligned on a. We wanted to launch the institute, then turn to one of the most important and most overlooked topics there is the full and equal participation nation of women. We were determined to approach this not as an afterthought, but rather as a core focus of igp. Now, when i became dean of cpr, we identified five five pressing Global Challenge ges, each of these challenges is a womens issue. When women are includeth a agree more likely to be reached and to last geopolitical stability is a womens issue from the talibans efforts to end Girls Education in afghanistan to abortion bans, theorld around the world and in states across the United States attack on womens rights are often early indicators of democratic backsliding. Democratic resilience is a womens issue. Women and girls are more likely to depend on the Natural Resources and less likely to survive when Natural Disaster strikes. And at the same time, women are leading efforts to adapt and take action. Climate is a womens issue. S estimate that if we close the Global Gender Gap in workforce participaon, we could grow gdp by 28 trillions dollars. Inclusive prosperity is a womens issue. 85 of women and girls around the world have experienced online harassed, payment and abuse to technology is a womens issue. Every Global Challenge is a womens issue, and addressing these challe issue and addressig these challenges through that lens is an urgent imperative. nl launching igps Womens Initiative to do just that. The Womens Initiative will produce policy proposals around four pillars. Womens economics opportunities, womens health, womens safety and security and democracy and human rights. All in the service of advancing womens full and equal participation. Because these issues affect not just women all of humanity, it is not enough to think domestically or internationally. We need to leverage the same local to global approach in because of the complex challenges, we are leveraging the power that we have here today to bring together great minds to solve problems and share ideas. And because it is not enough to produce scholarships that get talked about, we need to ensure data and evidence are translated into policy and practice. As you can imagine, launching an effort this ambitious takes a village. I want to thank a few members. First, for believing and supporting what igp could become from the very beginning. And fony women to positions of leadership at the university, including myself. And it is special to launch this initiative at this moment at columbia now that the university is led by first female president , who is a wonderful friend to igp. Thank you to the trustees of columbia university. Some of you are here today. Whose guidance and support have been so valuable and meaningful to me and to us. And to the Advisory Board members who are here today, your leadership and partnership is so critical to our success. A very special thank you to who has been at the forefront in the effort to support women and womens issues at columbia for the better part ofes. We are so proud to have her as a founding donor of this initiative. Thank you, and i know you i am also proud to announce something very cool. We have a newip. The Womens Initiative is joining forces to fuel innovative research, education d aimed at advancing opportunities for women worldwide and across different sectors. So stayinformation later in the program. But let me just thank them for being such a fierce believer in the power of wom it is a great partnership. Lastly, when you look at the room and incredible lineup wehae have been working aroundtheclock to make this happen. Our incrediblechristina, lauren, rachel, susan, marie anna, caroline, eduardo and many others who havethank you. You really deserve a big round of applause. [applause] now, if there is one person who embodies what it means to advocate for womens full and equal participation, it is Hillary Rodham clinton. In beijing in 1995, she turned the worlds attention to the status of women and girls and sent a powerful message that has echoed across the decades. Womens rights are human rights. Hillary, on behalf of all of the women who are here today, and countless more who ar not, thank you this not even begin to cover it. It is an honor of a lifetime to do this work alongside with you and to call you a friend, coteacher, a partner and me ing hillary clinton. [applause] ms. Clinton thank you very much, keren, and thank you to all of you for being here for this launce. It is launch. It is a very exciting day here at igp and columbia. We really believe we are starting something that can have a Lasting Impact far beyond the university. Let me start by saying very clearly that simply embracing the concept of womens rights, let alone enshrining those rights and laws and constitutions, is not the same as achieving full equality. Rights are important but they are nothing without the power to claim them. Again and again, especially in recent times, we have seen anger, hostility, sexism and misogyny directed at women have the audacity to seek power. Deepseated biases are even harder to change the discriminatory laws. Incidents that while we have made it is no coincidence that we have made progress in areas associated with women, including health care and education, we have struggled to mesh that progress in the economy, politics and national security. I admit i find thist frustrating because when i was in beijing, as keren has and declared that womens rights are human rights, my daughter was 15 years old. I ry much wanted to raise her in a world where women were free and equal. Now, she is grown up with a daughter and sons of her own. She is doing her own very important work to fight for justice and equality, and i still find myself reminding people that womens rights are human rights. Id hoped that that would be old news by now. I still see women and girls bearing a disproportionate burden in almost every global crisis. And when the internet and social media gave us new ways to connect, they also gave rise to new ways to harass and threaten women. But when i find myself in moments of frustration or weariness, i like to look to women like the ones you will hear from today. And to be reminded of what we are fighting for, and the power we have to make change. Women are not just victims of violence and inequality. We are agents of peace and progress and the women we would hear from today are just a few of the remarkable women working across this university, this country and across the liberate themselves, lift up their communities and find new ways to build momentum toward equality. As we can see at this institute, there was never a question that we would not integrate womens perspectives and everything we were doing. There was to be no siloing of womens issues. Womens issues, as keren j reminded us, are world issues. Why do we need another project on wens equality . Keren gave you some insight into what we believe will make igp;s initiative different. The worldclass scholarship that will produce impactful policy recommendations, the competing of smartsi women to move us forward, the training of the next generation of Women Leaders and, yes, men who believe in too. But the real answer is we need this igp Womens Initiative because women are not free or yet. So, we welcome you i am particularly pleased the princess is here. She has been a great leader globally in womens inclusive economic prospity. We want this to be a global outreach, to learn what we can learn from anywhere and anybody across the world. So, to get started, please welcome Stacey Abrams chair for race and black politics at howard university. The former georgia candidate for governor and igp carnegie distinguished fellow. Secretary gina raimondo, the 40th secretary of the Commerce Department and a staunch advocate on behalf of women and econic moderator, a professor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg professor of law, Columbia Law School and igp affiliated faculty. These are just three of the Extraordinary People we will hear from this afternoon. Please welcome them. [applause] welcome, everybody. This panel is■c ; entitled women empowering women through the economy. We have already queued up issues. Economic gaps and the role of women in various powerful positions. Shaping Public Policy in a way that addresses those gaps. I am a lawyer. What i think of the most is courts and legislation. You will see a through this panel about another part of law and policy, thinking about the ways in which you can have federal policy, state and local policy be shaped in a way that actually advances equality. I will say very little. I will turn it over to the panelists to talk about some of the promising iaityou will see. We will start with what happens at the federal level and and lol level. We can take some of these initiatives and supplement them and think about them in new ways. I will start with the secretary. Since the beginning of the administration, there has been a lo programs and new money being poured into the economy. Through things like the infrasuc act, the chips and science act we will explain some of these acronyms as we go along. The inflation reduction act. One challenge is how do you make those and shape those in a way that works for women and people of color . An idea around federal programs that shape the economy, you have been tryin disrupt this in various ways. I wondered if you could say how these programs for women and people of color . Ms. Raimondo thank you. Hello, everyone. It is fantastic to be here. As we were waitingoue energy in. This is winter by favorite topics. My view is if you put women in ge, everything will be better. I am excited to be here with my pal, stacey. Let me say thisbidens leadershg short of extraordinary. Because of that we have about 1 trillion we are in the process of investing in america in the economy and communities which will create hundreds of thousands, if not one millionplus good paying jobs. I am investing money to stimulate Semi Conductor manufacturingited states. The infrastructure act. You see it everywhere you go. New roads, bridges, broadband, etit will level the playing fie. Provide opportunity for all americans. It onlyjm works if we make sure everybody benefits equally. I will give you one example. Process of putting money out the door for the chips facilities, i have said, if you are going to get taxpayer money, xyz big company, tell me what your childcare plan is. I want to know. Right . If you are going to get 1 billion of taxpayer mone i want to make sure women have an opportunity to get a job in those facilities. That will not happen if you do not have a childcare plan. That, a lot of republicans in congress said, secretary, you are introducing social politics in security program. I said i do not agree with that. This is hardnosed economics. There is a labor shortage. These Companies Need to be competitive. The need the best workers and that means women. You will not get them if you do not think about childcare. You talked about the buildings. Right now, the percent of women in the Building Trades is the same as it was 50 years ago. Depending on the trade, it is somewhere between 2 and 7 . Why does that matter . Why does it matter that we do not have enough women who are farmers,because they pay 60, 0 an hour with benefits. That there are one million women in construction in the country. I said lets double it. Very scientific. [laughter] lets double it. Once again, we are working with labor, we have apprenticeship initiatives for women, working with these companies, attracting and recruiting women. Ounow as a welder and i needed a harness, chances are there are only five extralarge or large harnesses on the job. That is dangerous. There is not a womens bathroom, there is one portathis is straie 1950s. I will stop there but you could tell i have passion on the that is why it matters who is making policy and putting money out the door. I have all this money to invest and i will be dammed if half the jobs dont go to women. [applause] ■m i think it is important to think about this as if the money is going out the door, it should be justified. If you do not do that through affirmative policy, it does not get done. I want to follow up on what something looks like for change to happen in this direction. I want to ask about the childcare piece. Ng you left with was the Building Trades, it has been a longstanding problem tryingon race and ethnicity. Some of the lowest participation rates. Even for the workers who are slightly over represented, latino workers, tend to be some of the most unsafe, non unionized jobs. This is on women and the economy. What are your thoughts in terms of the construction trades and how do we actually make progress on that given the recent report that shows what the big gap is . Ms. ■iabrams i will link it to something you said at the getting of the question. An affirmative action, perhaps. What we are talking about is how we have the lived experience of diversity, equity and inclusion. It has become a bit of a pejorative. To point to the secretary who just said this is an economic issue. Since the inception of this country, we have haa series of movements designed to guarantee that we diversify who gets access to the American Dream and that they can included in participation. When we think about construction, civil rights movement, womens suffrage, the womensin rights movement, disability movement, name a movement in the United States and it haseen abt, do you get access to the American Dream . Getting that access, how do we make certain we diversify participation . I want us to reclaim the right like the secretary said we have the right to ha the econ participation fully in this economy and that includes the Building Trades. When i was in the state with a run defending access to those jobs being created. One of the many jobs it is f different jobs in lots of different spaces but one is with an Organization Called rewiring america. We have 858 billion moving through the economy to electrify residential spaces. Basically that means stoves, heat pump water heaters, heat pump hvacs. Someone has to install them. 121 million households that will need this equipment. Right now we are missing 1. 4 Million People in the workforce to install this equipment. 700,000 should be women. We live in those houses. Wewe are the ones using the equipment. Why should be be the ones installing it . We ensure not only that the money gets to the household but the people installing the equipment look like the people in the households . They are women, people of color. That means providing access to training. Access to how the dollars ac one of the things we know is strong independent women and people of color entering different parts of thethey wantl do the work, they just do not know the secret knock,can find w where the building is. Part of the opportunity is having a secretary saying i will hold the person of the pursestrings accountable for welcome you in but we also have the responsibility when hiring someone to duly funded our ny funded heat pump asked do they have women working with you . Part of our opportunity is to ask the question of who is providing a service. Most of the time we get so wrapped up in trying to get it done ft that we forget we are also the purveyors of this opportunity. I think about it always in this way where is the money coming from . O . And who does it touch along the way . As we think about the Building Trades, everyone of those buildings will likely house a family or business. Which businesses are going in . Who is doing construction . O is doing the Financial Services . Managing the loans . At each of the structures, we need to look at who gets to touch the dollar. If we do that, that is dei in practice. We are not saying you cannot touch it, we are saying lets make sure the different hands engaged look like the people who live in this country. [applause] from what you are saying, it seems like part of this is about funding. Part of it might be gathering data. It sounds l were also maybe alluding to the partnership, Funding Partnership to help with things like training. Before asking a different question of the secretary, i wanted to ask more about the childcare piece, given there are programs like chips that are now requiring that. Is there space and localities in that . What does it look like to you . It is a hazard of my [laughter] ms. Raimondo requirements are a part of every dollar the come from the public space. There isot aar without a requirement. As the secretary point not ms. Abrams we only have a question about the dollar when it affects someone other than who we expect. When she said she was looking at childcare as a social program we put requirements on public dollars every single day. The question is, why do we value less the requirements that do the most . When it comes to childcare at the state level, is absolutely an issue. That is where people are making the toughest decisions. I live in a state where the official minimum wage is still 5. 15 an hour. Before people said the federal wage coverst, it does not cover a certain agricultural worker. I live in a state with a lot of Agricultural Workers and a lot of healthcare workers. A lot of people not entitled to the federal mineral wage. It matters that companies have policies that require the childcare be provided. Those childcare providers have access. I want to