Hillary Rodham Clinton at SPF event on progress toward gender equality

To open the event, SPF President Atsushi Sunami welcomed the esteemed speakers and reiterated SPF's commitment to supporting women's empowerment through projects including training aspiring women politicians in Japan, promoting gender lens investing in Asia, as well as supporting women’s participation in peacebuilding. "I am sure that this event will be a huge inspiration to all of the women struggling in Japan to change their homes, local communities, or the world for the better despite discrimination and difficulties, and to all the men working together with them" he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida relayed a message to Secretary Clinton and the audience through Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Masako Mori, pledging to push forward efforts toward women’s empowerment during the year of Japan’s G7 presidency and to contribute to the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda as a Non-permanent Member of the UN Security Council.
 
During the lively discussion led by Ms. Nakamitsu, Secretary Clinton began by discussing the threats facing the women's empowerment movement. “Today we face more complex challenges, from cultural backlash to the advancement of women, to a rising tide of authoritarianism,” she said. This pushback, which can be seen around the world, "goes hand in hand with a political and cultural agenda to try to control women."

In the U.S., she argued that efforts to control women can be seen with the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which removed the constitutional right to an abortion. She described that decision as the “culmination of 50 years of effort to impose a certain religious belief on the entire country," and placed it within the larger struggle between democracy and autocracy in the U.S.