Hillary Clinton lands in Chicago, calls for equal economic rights for women

There was the smart new haircut and an apparent new energy about her.

But during the Clinton family’s trademark Clinton Global Initiative in Chicago on Thursday, the former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made no overtures toward higher office.

Instead, with her husband, the former President Bill Clinton behind her, she gave a low-key talk, speaking for about 20 minutes on Thursday that laid out the issues she will champion in her new role as a private citizen.

That included building new partnerships in “areas that are close to my heart,”

like trumpeting opportunities for women and putting more focus on early childhood development in this country.

“It won’t surprise you I want to work to make more opportunities for women and girls,” Clinton said. “It is the great unfinished business of this century. It is also something that will enhance our competitiveness and the stability of the world at large.”

Clinton noted she met with JB Pritzker last night to talk about the issue and thanking the Pritzkers for “leading the way on this issue.”

“You can’t look to government to solve all our problems,” she said. “You can’t look to the markets to solve all our problems.”

What’s needed she argued, are public-private partnerships like the foundation.