Staff Report
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is taking on a new role — patching fractures in President Barack Obama’s Muslim outreach policy.
Clinton’s role is highlighted by a new White House policy announced Dec. 19, which makes the roles and rights of women a central element of U.S. foreign policy. The policy is titled “The United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security.”
Clinton announced the new policy with two speeches in New York and at Georgetown University, but also advertised her growing role with several prior speeches that championed the role of women, gays and religious debate in emerging Middle Eastern democracies.
Her new role comes as she and other feminists increasingly voice their worries about the impact on Arab women of the burgeoning Islamist political movements that are religiously committed to the subordination of women.
