Like many feminist activists, we at the WMC have been excited by Secretary of State Clinton’s visit to Africa. From her trip to eastern Congo to illustrate rape as a weapon of war, to her meeting today with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Clinton’s mission is clearly highlighting womens’ struggles for human rights across that continent. To read more about rape in Kenya, and why Clinton’s trip is so vitally important, see today’s exclusive by public health nurse Barbara Glickstein, “‘Imani’ for Rape Survivors in Kenya”

However, the media coverage of Clinton’s trip has been less than substantial, focusing on her appearance, “performance” and highlighting comments about her husband and our elections at home rather the work she is doing on the ground in Africa. The WMC is dedicated to fighting sexism in the media, and so was delighted to see the always terrific Judith Warner post a must-read column last night on the New York Times’ site, “Hillary Fights a Tide of Trivialization.” Key quote:

“As she circles the globe in coming years, making the case for women’s empowerment, starting with their basic right to be taken seriously, Clinton really has her work cut out for her. And it isn’t just because the situation of women around the world is so dire, and the ocean of problems confronting them — maternal mortality, sex trafficking, domestic abuse, malnourishment, lack of education, lack of adequate medical care, just for starters — is so wide and so deep. And it isn’t just that her historic mandate — to equally empower the other half of the world’s population, to chip away at the forces “devaluing women,” in the words of Melanne Verveer, the State Department’s new ambassador at large for global women’s issues — is so huge and vague and seemingly overwhelming. It’s also because the tide of trivialization that washes over all things “Hillary” is just so powerful. That tide threatens to drown out anything of substance Clinton might attempt for a population whose problems have long been obscured in the androcentric world of diplomacy. And that’s a huge pity.”

Warner goes on to mention the “Mad Bitch” Hillary Clinton Washington Post controversy that the WMC helped address last week.

Jezebel has done a great job of covering this story this week as well, from yesterday’s “What’s More Important: Rape in Congo or Hillary’s Bad Hair Day” to today’s “Tina Brown-Style ‘Tide of Trivialization’ Threatens to Swamp Clinton Trip.”

We will continue to monitor media coverage of Secretary Clinton’s trip. Please let us know what are you seeing & reading, as well.