Hillary Clinton's Global Agenda

As many observed, Hillary Clinton's Africa trip flew mostly under the radar, emerging only with a gotcha moment when she snapped at someone asking about Bill (or they weren't asking about Bill, or they were asking about Bill after all, depending on which report you believe -- I've now typed his name three times as much as hers thus far, gosh, why does that happen?).

Clinton is doing something important, and new: placing women's concerns at the forefront of U.S. policy toward the world -- not just as "development," but as a formal part of economic and security policy.

NYT Magazine: Women's Rights and Human Rights

The Times Magazine had a complete issue on the question of women's rights this past weekend, anchored by the work of Nicholas Kristof, and reflecting themes he has followed in his column for some time: sex trafficking, micro-finance for the developing world, and maternal mortality. Today's Reading links to the audio slideshow overview.

I'll be mining this issue for blog entries this week. Let's start small and personal: money -- "stewardship" as we say in the Christian biz. "The Power of the Purse" talks about patterns of giving in women's philanthropy, written by Lisa Belkin whose focus is, as usual, the fabulous among us (note obligatory photo featuring handbags).