THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
March 27, 1995
Remarks by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton
at Lahore University of Management Sciences
Lahore, Pakistan
Thank you very much. Administrators and faculty, students,
distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, and my many gracious
hosts here in Pakistan.
It is with an great sense of honor that I join you today. I
would especially like to thank Prime Minister Bhutto and all the
people of this wonderful country for her and your generous
hospitality. I know that all Americans share my desire to extend
the same warm welcome to the Prime Minister when she visits us in
Washington next month.
Let me also say that, saddened as we all are by the violence
afflicting your people in Karachi and the tragic deaths of our
two American diplomats there recently, on behalf of all
Americans, I join your Prime Minister in condemning violence and
terrorism across the globe where ever it occurs.
I have come to Pakistan to continue the long standing
friendship between our countries and to deepen the dialogue
between our citizens. I have come to learn not only about
policies and programs, but about people. The men, women,
children and families in Islamabad, Lahore and throughout
Pakistan and other countries in this region have much to teach me
and my country. For that reason, I find it particularly fitting
that my journey has brought me to Lahore, celebrated for it's
history as a center of education and scholarship.
Since the birth of this institution a decade ago, Americans
have been proud to be associated with Lahore University of
Management Sciences. We are glad that we had a chance to
contribute aid to help in the building of this university. We
believe that it is a good investment for America as well as for
your country. And to care for the continuous exchange of faculty
and students. Your university here has worked because
government, corporations, philanthropic organizations, business
leaders like the Co-Chancellor and private organizations from
both of our countries believe in the potential of the next
generation. Not just to acquire the skills needed to run
businesses, but to gain the wisdom and experience to help guide
your country and indeed both of our communities to the new
challenges posed by these often confusing times.
LUMS is not only teaching its students the science of
business and management, but also the art of building
communities. The world needs business leadership now that
understands how strong communities are critical to the long term
functioning of markets and sustainable development. Such
leadership has always been important, but never more than today.
We are at the dawn of a century that promises new
opportunities but also threatens greater competition for scarce
resources in the midst of civil and ethnic strife, fueled by the
lethal combination of ancient hatred and economic degradation.
Today I would like to talk to you about this world of change
we share, and the importance of investing in people like
yourselves at this university, and especially the importance of
investing in women to help shape that change to the mutual
benefit of all our people. For as the poet Allama wrote,
"To remain static is not allowed by the law of nature.
The only permanent value in life is change."
This moment in history holds great possibility, opportunity,
excitement and growth-- and yet if there is one constant we know
from generation to generation, century to century and millennium
to millennium, it is that change engenders fear. The bounds of
terrorism, the ugly face of bigotry, and the ignorance that
breeds intolerance rose towards those of a different ethnic or
religious background are all exacerbated by the fear of change.
And no nation is immune.
We are all struggling to adapt to new challenges without
giving up a sense of who we are and where we belong. People are
fond of saying that the world is growing small, and in many ways
it is smaller, when we all have real hard access to information
and ideas and each other, to the media and computers. But that
experience of immediacy can also be unsettling, creating within
and around us a stressful state of rapid transition, dissolution
and (inaudible), over which we have little control.
A friend recently told me a story I am sure many of you
know, about an old man who goes to market in a large town and is
deeply troubled because he has never been among so many people
before. "I cannot sleep," he said, "for if I were to awake, how
would I find myself?"
One of those nearby suggests that the old man tie a string
to his toe so that when he wakes up he will see the string and
know who he is. The old man takes the advice and ties a string
to his toe and falls into a deep sleep. While he is sleeping,
the fellow who suggested the idea takes the string off of the old
man's toe and ties it to the toe of a man sleeping nearby. The
old man wakes up and is astonished not to find the string on his
toe. When he notices it on the toe of the man next to him, he
shakes him awake and says,
"It is clear from the string on your toe that you are me.
Who then am I?"
Life (inaudible) man. We are all struggling to find our
bearings and to find a new balance in our lives, our families and
our societies. As we decide which traditions and beliefs to
reject or reinforce, what changes and challenges to be embraced
or discarded. We know that the answers to the best in problems
facing human civilization today-- poverty, starvation,
illiteracy, violence, alienation, the exploitation of the weakest
and most vulnerable groups in society, are found not only in
theory or formulas or fixed rules. They are also found in
examples-- case studies if you will, of the human experience.
Stories that both our hearts and minds and compel us to make a
case for why we do what we do and how we do it.
Terms like capital and infrastructure and productivity which
you use every day here at LUMS in your case studies, must also
be applied when we think about the world's greatest resource--
it's people. Investing in human capital, building the human
infrastructure and enhancing human productivity ought to be our
collective concern.
I can't tell you how many times in my travels around my own
country and overseas, I have looked into the eyes of a child and
seen so much promise and hope. And then felt my heart sink,
knowing that child may have little chance of fulfilling his or
her promise because of the very great obstacles of limited access
to education, or health services, or jobs, that you and I have.
This is not the fault of one nation or another, it is the
fault of all nations. Every nation must reward their own people
and especially their children. The boys and girls that represent
the future of humanity, and to the extent possible, nations that
can help people in other nations should do so, because enhancing
the human potential anywhere in today's interconnected world
enhances it everywhere.
I cannot overstate the role women must play in this global
enterprise. We are noticing the unprecedented rise of women to
form partnerships throughout society. In Pakistan and elsewhere
we see evidence of the special gift that women can bring to
families, communities, business, government. Girls and women are
vital to the economic, social and political life of every
country. But even though women comprise 52% of the world's
population, are primary caretakers for children and the aged and
are a significant presence in the work force both inside of the
home and outside of the home, they continue to be marginalized
and abused in many societies. We must strive for a world where
women everywhere are protected and their rights are protected.
In my own country, I have seen single mothers who are raising
children alone while holding down several jobs. I have seen
women professionals bumping up against the glass ceiling, unable
to fulfill their own potential in their professions. I have
seen women around the world planting crops, plowing fields,
taking goods to market, running health clinics and schools,
caring for orphans and neglected children along with their own,
managing businesses, dispensing justice and doing the hard work
for bleeding nations. Investing in the health and education of
women and girls is essential to improving global prosperity.
We have seen in parts of Asia and South America that the
education of girls can help lift whole nations out of poverty.
We have also seen that the education of women enhances their role
as mothers and increases their participation in civic life. And
in countries where governments and NGO's have made voluntary,
safe and effective family planning available and have provided
related health services we seen an improvement not only in the
lives of individuals but in the economic well being of their
countries.
If women don't thrive, the world won't thrive. Your Prime
Minister understands this truth and I applaud her. I also
applaud LUMS, for opening up academic and professional
opportunities for women, who comprise nearly 1/3 of your students
and about 1/5 of your permanent faculty-- higher ratios than
you'd find in many institutions of higher learning in many parts
of my country.
Both of our governments and people realize the importance of
insuring that women are full participants in their societies and
economies. I am pleased that my government will begin, in coming
weeks, to implement an assistance program here in Pakistan to
NGOs to strengthen family planning and child providal services
and to expand educational opportunities for girls. We want to
remain engaged with your country in addressing these key issues
for your continuing development.
A few weeks ago, I met with a group of Pakistani-Americans
in Washington who wanted to make a concrete contribution to
promote the education of girls in this, their homeland. They
have decided to endow a scholarship at the Lahore University of
Management Sciences. They have secured the funding for the first
year of the scholarship and are in the process of establishing an
endowment to ensure that every year a woman student, whose family
does not have the resources to finance an education here at LUMS,
will have access to the management training and skills that
Pakistan will need in the 21st century.
30 years ago, the study of business and management was
relatively narrow, but today, whatever our vocations, we must
take a larger view. To know about business, or law, or any other
field, one must know about the world. And to know about the
world, one must know about peoples' deepest yearnings and
desires. And only then can one know what it is really like to
live and work in a global marketplace and a global community.
As the ancient Sufi prayer says:
We who know and, do not know that we know:
Let us become one, whole.
Let us be transformed.
We who have known, but do not know:
Let us once more see
The beginning of all.
We who do not wish to know,
But still say that we want to know:
Let us be guided
To safety and light.
I have enjoyed greatly my days here in Pakistan and only
wish my visit were longer. On behalf of all Americans, let me
thank you here for building the strength, the partnership that
our nations have enjoyed for so many years. I hope with all my
heart that the many values and hopes that we share will draw us
even closer together in the future as we work to move both of our
countries, with confidence and strength, into the 21st Century.
Thank you for permitting me to be here with you.
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