Vice President Kamala Harris gave her first speech at the UN Tuesday highlighting the importance of women in a democracy and empowering women.
She also name-checked another former First Lady: Eleanor Roosevelt and said "Eleanor Roosevelt, who shaped the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, once said, 'Without equality, there can be no democracy.' In other words, the status of women is the status of democracy," as reported in a CNN story.
"In considering the status of women, especially as it pertains to the participation of women in decision making, we must also consider the status of democracy," she says.
Her speech was pre-recorded since she is out in public advocating for people to get the COVID-19 vaccinations in California and Nevada and elsewhere. Harris made history when she became the first female Vice President and the first Vice President of color. She also made history as the first female VP to address the UN too.
Harris' appearance was part of the 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
"When women face obstacles to obtaining quality healthcare; when women face food insecurity, when women are more likely to live in poverty, and therefore disproportionately impacted by climate change, more vulnerable to gender-based violence, and therefore disproportionately impacted by conflict, well it's harder for women to fully participate in decision-making," Harris said in a CBS story.
During her speech she also mentioned how the U.S. will rejoin the Human Rights Council.
"As we confront a global health crisis and an economic crisis, it is critical that we continue to defend democracy. To that end, the United States is strengthening our engagement with the United Nations. We are also rejoining the Human Rights Council," she said in a tweet from Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.