Any nation that does not take advantage of
more than half the brainpower, half the courage,
half the initiative in their country cannot
sustain and be competitive in the world.
Very excited to be here in Charleston, South Carolina
today with former Vice President Joe Biden.
If you were to tell women who are watching this,
what are the three things that you've
accomplished for women that you're proudest of?
What would they be?
I think the proudest thing I've done is writing
the Violence Against Women Act over the objection
of an awful lot of people early on.
We have to change the culture, the way in which
women are treated in America and around the world.
The second thing I think I'm most proud of is,
I pushed very hard for women to be able
to have any role at all in the military.
There's not a single solitary thing a man can do,
a woman can't do.
The third thing is the first thing we passed in our
administration was the Lilly Ledbetter Act.
We signed that into law.
Women should be paid exactly what the man
that they are sitting next to does.
I was a single parent for a long time, for
five years, and I had a lot of help and it
was still really hard.
I can't imagine what it's like for most women.
What are the three things that you could commit
to now that you will do on behalf of women,
that women voters that are watching can hold
you accountable for?
There will be more women on the
Supreme Court, period.
I'm not going to be happy till we have more
than half the United States Congress, the
Senate, the court, important positions where
women make up half of it.
Here's one that comes up from a lot of women.
What's your top priority for furthering women's
reproductive rights once you're president?
Number one, go straight to the United States
Congress and codify Roe v. Wade as amended by Casey.
And I'd also strike down the international
laws that exist, banning the ability of us
to support institutions around the world that
are saving women's lives.
What's your favorite constitutional amendment and why?
The Ninth Amendment because it really did,
there's a reason why the founders didn't initially
want to have a Bill of Rights.
They're worried if they start naming things
that existed as rights, anything they didn't
name would be perceived to be the province
of the government.
They got to the Ninth Amendment said, by the way,
anything we haven't mentioned doesn't
mean it doesn't exist.
It's retained by the people.
What's your favorite either backstage mood
song or your favorite walkout song?
Tina Turner, You're The Best.
It reminds me of my wife.
For real, I mean, I'm one of those guys,
I know this sounds stupid.
She still walks down the stairs when
we're going somewhere and I still get
that boom boom.
Everybody knows I love her more than she loves me.
Women still make an average of 82 cents on
the dollar that a man makes.
And of course, for African-American women,
for Latinas, for the Native American women,
it's even much worse.
What as president, do you feel like you could
do to finally address this problem?
The idea that we are still in this mindset where young
women today are battling with
the notion that "I did better than that guy sitting next to me.
I'm smarter than he is.
I've worked harder."
The idea that they're getting paid less is absolutely
mindless and we have to change it.
We've got to hold corporations and major enterprises
accountable for the failure to promote and
the failure to pay.
So if you could have dinner with one living
woman who inspires you,
who would it be and why?
My two best friends, the people I go to, look
for advice from Jill, my wife, and my
sister, Valerie.
Because they're completely honest with me.
They can tell me things where I'm making mistakes.
They can tell me about my shortcomings.
It's pretty amazing actually.
So I just want to give you this last-
the last question really is what you'd like to
say to the millions of women out there who
are still figuring out who to vote for.
What's the best reason you could give them to elect Joe Biden
President of the United States?
I believe that from the very beginning I've
ever been engaged in anything, there's not
a single solitary thing nothing, nothing,
nothing that a man can do that a woman cannot do.
And everything I've done is to give my granddaughters,
my deceased daughter, my daughter that's alive,
my sister, everybody in my family an opportunity
to have the best chance to meet their responsibilities
and their potential.
Remember, women are not only a majority of
this country, we're a majority of voters, and
we have the opportunity to change the direction of everything.
So the most important thing you can do is go vote.