Quite a few heroic examples are here today. I'm sure they would be the first to confirm that women have also borne the brunt of the hardships and setbacks that have accompanied these great changes. Deputy Prime Minister Matviyenko and President Vike-Freiberga have given us a vivid and compelling sense of how they and their colleagues are grappling with this problem in their homelands. That problem is pervasive in the post-communist world. Women held 14 million of the approximately 25 million jobs lost in those countries since the dissolution of the Soviet system.
Women are also disproportionately the victims of the rise in crime and the fall in health care.
We must find new and better ways to support them and others who are fighting the good fight in their parliaments, city councils, and societies. It will also require partnerships between the public and private interests, between governments and NGOs. In short, it will require exactly the sort of collaboration we see around this hall today. The United States is committed to being part of this effort. That commitment is part of Secretary Albright's determination to make advancing women's interests, women's rights, and women's roles an integral objective of U.S. foreign policy.