Interview with Bill Clinton

September 25, 2009

360° Interview: Bill Clinton

Posted: 05:28 PM ET

Program Note: Tune in tonight for more of Anderson’s interview with Former President Bill Clinton. AC360° 10 p.m. ET.

Anderson Cooper | BIO
AC360° Anchor

Anderson Cooper: You are focusing this year on women and girls and you are saying it’s not only a social issues but it’s also a business issue.

Bill Clinton: Absolutely, if you look in developing countries, there is a huge disconnect between work women do and the money they earn and the wealth they have. In general, women do two thirds of the work, earn ten percent of the income and own one percent of the property.

Bill Clinton: The more you put the girls of the world in school and give the young women access to the labor market, and then involve them in the business and political life of the country, the more stable the society is going to be, the more prosperous the society is going to be. And the less human trafficking you are going to have. So what we are trying to do is to address these issues in a way that people can see everyone benefits.

Bill Clinton: Last night, the president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, talked about how in the last ten years after the genocide, fourteen or fifteen years now but in the last ten years they have almost quadrupled their per capita income.

Anderson Cooper: Their whole parliament is women.

Bill Clinton: Well it’s a majority, it’s the first country in the world to have the majority of the parliament as women, half the governors are women, half the mayors are women.

Anderson Cooper: But you are saying it also makes sense for business because these are future customers.

Bill Clinton: Absolutely, it’s half of the talent pool of the country at least, and they cut them out like crazy. So you see Kagame who was in exile, the leader of a military insurrection in the bush you know not the sort of guy who you think is out there promoting women’s rights, you know.

Bill Clinton: And he made the practical argument and I think that we want to see that. Now I’m working in Haiti now with the UN, I had a meeting the other day with the leaders of women’s organizations there, including business organizations.

Bill Clinton: And it’s obvious if we are going to try to reconstruct the education system of the country we have got to get the girls as well as the boys in there. There is a historically a system called the “restavec” system in Haiti.