Living Women’s History: Female Power and Leadership in Living History

Abstract

In 1995, Hillary Clinton gave her famous speech at the United Nations Fourth World Confer- ence on Women in Beijing, and stated that “women’s rights are human rights” and that the status of women is of great significance for the democratic development of one country in the coming new millennium. In 2003, her autobiography Living History was published and sold more than one million copies, inspiring millions of women around the world. In 2016, Hillary Clinton has become the first woman in American history to be the nominated Democratic candidate for the presidential elections and moves one step closer to break the highest glass ceiling. Influenced by Hillary Clinton and many other female political leaders, this essay will deal with the manifestation and exemplification of female leadership in autobiographies writ- ten by American female politicians.

Autobiographies written by female politicians present the female perspective on how female leaders improve the political status of themselves and women in general, and how they strive for political leadership and become role models. The present paper is focused on the development and achievement of female political leadership in Hillary Clinton’s autobiography Living History. This essay will focus on Living History as document about the empowerment of women and the political leadership, explaining how Clinton has become “a lightning rod for political and ideological battles waged over America’s future and a magnet for feelings, good and bad, about women’s choices and roles” (Clinton vi).