Cherie Blair in Beijing: “Never praise a woman, it will only encourage her”

Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is currently in China with her family for a little sightseeing and a visit to the Expo in Shanghai. Last night, she gave a talk at the Bookworm about her career, autobiography, and efforts to aid women around the world. As Mrs. Blair is a long-time advocate of women’s rights in the workplace, her discussion focused mainly on the challenges women face breaking into traditionally male-centric fields like law.

Ever the optimist, Mrs. Blair cheerfully related stories about how far women have come in the last few decades. Smiling guiltily, she admitted there are a lot of “Mrs. Insert-Famous-Husband’s-Names” running for political office or having powerful careers, but Mrs. Blair (ahem) still thinks a lot of progress has been made in the political arena and in general attitudes. As an example, she mentioned Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president of an African nation. It’s women like these, Mrs. Blair proudly claimed, that are eliminating stereotypes about what women can or cannot do.

While much of her talk did not focus on China, a lot of her points were applicable to women’s experiences in Beijing – a city progressing in leaps and bounds with rising education levels. Like many Chinese women in today’s China, Mrs. Blair comes from a working-class family, and was the first woman in her family to go to college. She related how she struggled to overcome traditional expectations of choosing between a career and family, emphasizing that women can do both. Mrs. Blair is an incredibly successful lawyer, one of very few women to ever be appointed a Queen’s Counsel, and the mother of four children – all achieved without a stay-at-home husband.

Cherie Blair’s talk was an amusing mix of a motivational speech and high-level name dropping. She grinned slyly as she shared a quote from a dinner with Vladimir Putin: “Never praise a woman, because it will only encourage her.”