Stressing on the need for national institutions to respond to the continuing scourge of sexual assault, Clinton said gays and transgenders should be embraced as colleagues and friends and not "fired from good jobs because of who they love and who they are."

She said the fight for equal rights for women was not a struggle just for women.

"These have to be America's fights and the world's fights. We have to take them on and win them together," she said.

"We have to have leaders who recognise that the time has come. Yet there are those who offer themselves as leaders who take a very different view, who offer themselves as leaders who see nothing wrong with denying women equal pay," she said.

Clinton added that there has "never been a better time in history to be born a female" as she noted the tremendous progress made over the years across nations to end domestic violence, close the gender gap in primary school and improving maternal health.

She, however, said that despite all the progress made, "we are just not there yet."

"That is the dream we share, that is the fight we must wage. We are so close, closer than we have ever been," she said adding that strong women make strong families, which in turn make countries strong.
Read Also:
10 Companies That Are On A Hiring Spree This April
IIT Researchers Turn Farmers To Change Agriculture