Joe Biden

Remarks by the Vice President at an Event for the Council on Women and Girls

January 22, 2014

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Folks, let me start off by telling you why I've never had a doubt about joining this man on the ticket and why I'm so proud of Valerie Jarrett and all that she does.

One of the first things the President did when we took office was set up the Council on Women and Girls because he believes with every fiber in his being, as I do, that his daughters and my granddaughters are entitled to every single, solitary opportunity my grandson and sons are entitled to -- without a single exception.

And he established the Council on Women and Girls, and I appreciate the way Valerie and the council have embraced this mission. And I'm so proud to be working with you, Valerie. You've done an incredible job.

You've strengthened the Office of Violence Against Women, Mr. President, at the Department of the Justice. And I especially want to thank the President for appointing the first-ever Advisor on Violence Against Women working directly with me in the White House, inside this building.

He knows what I know: Freedom from sexual assault is a basic human right. No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman for any reason -- any reason -- other than self-defense. He knows that a nation's decency is in large part measured by how it responds to violence against women. He knows that our daughters, our sisters, our wives, our mothers, our grandmothers have every single right to expect to be free from violence and sexual abuse. No matter what she's wearing, no matter whether she's in a bar, in a dormitory, in the back seat of a car, on a street, drunk or sober, no man has a right to go beyond the word "No". And if she can't consent, it also means no. That too makes it a crime.

The President also knows that we have to stop blaming victims for these crimes. No one ever asks the person who got robbed at gunpoint in the street -- why were you there, what were you doing, what were you wearing? What did you say? Did you offend someone? We encourage people to come forward. We don't have to explain why someone took our money.

My father used to say that the greatest abuse of all was the abuse of power, and the cardinal sin among the abuse of power avenues that can be taken is for a man to raise his hand to a woman. That's the cardinal sin. There's no justification in addition for us not intervening. Men have to step up to the bar here. Men have to take more responsibility. Men have to intervene. The measure of manhood is willingness to speak up and speak out, and begin to change the culture.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to now introduce to the man who more than anyone I know -- anyone I know -- is wanting to change the environment for his daughters, my granddaughters, women and girls all across the United States of America. Like I said, it's stamped in his DNA, it's in his bloodstream, and we're lucky to have him leading us now -- ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States, Barack Obama. (Applause.)

Joseph R. Biden, Remarks by the Vice President at an Event for the Council on Women and Girls Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/321026

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