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Susan Tiefenbrun, the Cultural, Political, and Legal Climate Behind

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Susan Tiefenbrun, the Cultural, Political, and Legal Climate Behind +(,121/,1( Citation: 12 Cardozo J.L. & Gender 855 2005-2006 Provided by: Sponsored By: Thomas Jefferson School of Law Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline Thu Dec 8 14:16:30 2016 -- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at http://heinonline.org/HOL/License -- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text. -- To obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your HeinOnline license, please use: Copyright Information THE CULTURAL, POLITICAL, AND LEGAL CLIMATE BEHIND THE FIGHT TO STOP TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN: WILLIAM J. CLINTON'S LEGACY TO WOMEN'S RIGHTS SUSAN TIEFENBRUN* "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."1 -Margaret Mead INTRODUCTION Trafficking in women for the purpose of enslaving them in sex work is one of the oldest and most heinous violations of women's rights. Trafficking had never effectively been addressed until the Clinton Administration focused world-wide attention on this international crime. The Clinton Administration left a legacy to the valorization of women and to the enhancement of women's rights by adopting a multi-pronged cultural, political, and judicial approach that has had a direct impact in the United States and an indirect effect abroad. The culmination of that effort was the enactment of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, which the Bush Administration fully supports and re-authorized in 2003 and 2005. This Article will examine the cultural context that enabled the passage of this important trafficking legislation and which has resulted in a profound effect on women in society. Each year an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people-mostly women and young girls-are trafficked across international borders, and millions more are trafficked within the borders of countries. Despite the overwhelming difficulty to eradicate the complex and lucrative crime of human trafficking, in the past four years, twice as many people in the United States have been prosecuted and convicted for trafficking than in the prior four years. Internationally, more than 3,000 traffickers were convicted in 2005-an increase from previous years. The increased investigations, prosecutions and convictions of traffickers in the United * Special thanks to my Research Assistant, Nicole L. Schuman, for her extraordinary efforts at compiling much of the documentation reserved for this study. I THE MARGARET MEAD CENTENNIAL 2001, available at http://www.mead2001.org/Biography.htm (last visited Mar. 4, 2006). 856 CARDOZO JOURNAL OF LAW & GENDER [Vol. 12:855 States and abroad indicate the impact that U.S. trafficking legislation has had both 2 domestically and internationally. There is a good reason why William Jefferson Clinton's election in 1992 was referred to as "The Year of the Woman." 3 More women came into Congress in 1992 than in any other year in the history of the United States. In that year, female representation in Congress increased from 5.8% to 9.9%,4 and forty-seven women were elected to the House of Representatives. 5 In the Senate, six of its one hundred seats were held by women. 6 But the question one must ask is whether the presence of more women in Congress after 1992 had an impact on the legal, political, and 7 social rights of the average woman in America. Did the newly-elected President William Jefferson Clinton stay true to his campaign promise 8 to further the rights and roles of women? Did the Clinton 2 Rep. Smith's Trafficking Victims Protection Act to be Signed By President Bush, U.S. FED. NEWS, Jan. 9, 2006, available at www.lexis.com/research/retrieve. 3 Media pundits and others dubbed the election the "Year of the Woman" because of the large number of women who ran for elective office and the resulting number of successful female candidates. See National Women's History and the Anniversary of the Women's Rights Movement, Women's Rural Advocacy Programs, available at http://www.letswrap.com/LetsWRAP/Spring98/natlhist.htm (citing information obtained through the National Women's History Project, http://www.legacy98.org/move hist.html) (last visited Mar. 4, 2006). See also Victoria Schiller, The Year of The Woman, THE LAUGHING MEDUSA, Geo. Wash. Univ., at http://www.gwu.edu/-medusa/womenyear.html (last visited Mar. 4, 2006). In the 1992 Congressional election, there were 11 women candidates for U.S. Senate and 106 women candidates for the House. See The Year of the Woman (Senate Oct. 29, 1992), Library of Congress, at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi- bin/query/z?r102:S29OC2-371: (last visited Mar. 4, 2006). For another interesting but perhaps countering perspective on why the 1992 election was known as "The Year of the Woman," see Barbara Palmer, PhD and Dennis Simon, PhD, The PoliticalGlass Ceiling: Gender, Strategy and Incumbency in U.S. House Elections, 1978-1998, Institute For Women's Policy Research, IWPR PUBLICATION #1907, Feb. 2001. Here, the authors indicate that "The 'Year of the Woman' has been attributed to a number of factors, but two are important for this analysis. First, a House banking scandal caused an unusually large number of incumbents to retire, and second, 1992 was the first election after reapportionment based on the 1990 Census. All of this created strategic opportunities for women (and men) candidates. Newly open seats were available, and in some instances incumbents had to run in districts with substantially redrawn lines. These incumbents were perceived as more vulnerable than usual, which may have induced more candidates to enter these races." Id. at 2. 4 Susan J. Carroll, The Politics of Difference: Women Public Officials as Agents of Change, 5 STAN. L. & POL'Y REV. 11, 1 (1994). 5 See Women Candidatesfor Congress 1974-2004: Party and Seat Summary for Major Nominees, Center for Women and Politics, available at http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/Facts/CanHistory/canwincong-histsum.pdf (last visited Mar. 4, 2006). This number does not include delegates for the District of Columbia or other US territories. See id. 6 See Carroll, supra note 4, at 11. In June 2003, however, the number of female Senators increased to seven with the special election of Texan Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, filling the seat vacated by Lloyd Bentsen who had resigned from the Senate after his Clinton Administration appointment as Secretary of the Treasury. 7 See Carroll, supra note 4, at 11, for a good general discussion about the role of, and impact on, women public officials in the Clinton Administration or any other specific administration. 8 Presidential Candidate William Jefferson Clinton, Acceptance Speech at the Democratic National Convention (July 1992), available at http://www.4president.org/speeches/billclintonl992acceptance.htm (last visited Mar. 4, 2006). Bill Clinton's campaign themes included women's rights issues as early as his nomination as the Democratic Party candidate in July 1992. For example, during his acceptance speech before the Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton declared "I'll fight to make sure women in this country receive respect and dignity, whether they work in the home, out of the home, or both." 2006] CLIMATE BEHIND THE FIGHT TO STOP TRAFFICKING 857 Administration accomplish its goal of eradicating the horrific crime of trafficking of women in the United States and all over the world; a crime tantamount to a contemporary form of slavery? This Article will demonstrate that during Clinton's eight years as President, he supported legislation that would fulfill his promises to advance women's rights and to enhance women's image and role in society. But to do so, he had to use a multi-pronged approach to change the culture of a society that has, for so many years, underestimated and devalued women. This Article explores the role of the Clinton Administration's establishment of a focus on the furtherance of women's rights in the United States, especially in the areas of women's rights in the family, domestic violence, and sexual slavery of trafficked women. Clinton made significant contributions to aid women in the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government. This Article will demonstrate that the Clinton Administration left an extensive and unprecedented legacy to the furtherance of women's rights. Part I of this Article discusses the Clinton Administration's successful appointment of women to positions in high office of government and on the judicial bench, despite great resistance by the Senate during the process of nominee confirmation. Part II examines the domestic legislation promulgated under the Clinton Administration that impacts women's roles and legal rights as mothers, partners, employees, and most importantly, as human beings. Part III examines more specifically three major sources of women's rights legislation enacted under the Clinton Administration in the areas of family medical leave, violence toward women, and trafficking of women. These laws have been selected for in-depth examination because of their significant impact and precedential value in the furtherance of women's rights. I. THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S APPOINTMENT OF WOMEN TO POSITIONS IN HIGH OFFICE AND ON THE BENCH OF THE JUDICIARY Placing women in positions of power and authority in the government and judiciary is a method Clinton used to focus attention on women and place a positive value on their role in society. The valorization of women set the stage for the enactment of laws that would protect women's rights to freedom from enslavement by severely punishing violators who engage in trafficking. Additionally, these new laws helped to recategorize victims of trafficking so they are no longer treated as criminals.
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