About the Author: Melanne Verveer serves as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues.

On February 6, 2013, in observance of the tenth anniversary of the International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, I had the privilege of leading a panel discussion at the State Department to help bring global attention to a harmful traditional practice that risks the lives, dignity, and well-being of women and girls in far too many places around the world. 

I was honored to be joined by such dedicated leaders and practitioners as Amina Salum Ali, Ambassador of the African Union to the United States; Dr. Nawal Nour, a Sudanese-American from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston; Bacary Tamba from Tostan, a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Senegal; and Jessie Hexpoor from Hivos, an NGO based in the Netherlands. They each have made, and are continuing to make, extraordinary contributions toward putting an end to female genital mutilation/cutting… more »

About the Author: Ann Stock serves as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

February 6 marks the 27th National Day of Women and Girls in Sports.

Today in Esteli, Nicaragua, girls from under-served areas are on the softball diamond, fielding grounders, running out base hits, and learning how sports can improve their health and their performance in the classroom.

In Donetsk, Ukraine, girls were on the basketball court, looking for the outlet pass, grabbing rebounds, and working as a team.

In Knoxville, Tennessee, 12 young, female basketball players from Senegal recently concluded a 10-day international exchange.… more »

About the Author: Melanne Verveer serves as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues.

I am happy to share some very good news. On Wednesday, President Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum (“the Memorandum”) that will help ensure that advancing the rights of women and girls remains central to U.S. diplomacy and development around the world — and that these efforts will continue to be led by public servants at the highest levels of the United States government. Secretary Clinton was proud to be at President Obama’s side as he… more »

About the Author: Robert Blake serves as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.

Rabia Mariam is a businesswoman who employs an all-women workforce to manufacture scarves and rugs from silk, cotton-silk blend, and wool in Mazar-e-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan. Working with the USAID IDEA-NEW program, she employs nearly 1,000 women — many of them widows. Many of these Afghan women raise silkworms at home and boil cocoons, and go to weaving centers to weave the scarves and other handicrafts. Rabia’s work is bringing economic opportunity and hope to Afghan women.

I had the privilege of meeting Rabia and learning about her work at the South Asia Women’s Entrepreneurship Symposium, which was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh last month. The event exemplifies several of our bureau’s highest priorities… more »

About the Author: Ann Mei Chang serves as the Senior Advisor for Women and Technology in the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues.

Over the past decade, the international development community has recognized that investing in women is the most direct and effective way to promote economic growth, peace, and prosperity. Around the world, and more recently in developing countries, we have seen the transformative impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly mobile phones and the Internet. The question remains, what might be possible when we put these two powerful forces together by investing in women and ICTs in low-to-medium income countries?

This week, the U.S. Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and UN Women are convening the first International Forum on Women, ICT, and Development (WICTAD) in Washington DC,… more »

About the Author: Dawn L. McCall serves as Coordinator of the Bureau of International Information Programs.

The Internet may be important, but it’s not everything. In rural Afghanistan, courageous and talented young women who have never heard of the Internet are using skills today often associated with social media users — initiative, resourcefulness, and social connections — to make tangible contributions to their community.

During a recent visit to the Guzara district outside Herat, near Afghanistan’s western border with Iran, I saw teenage girls training themselves in English and leading language classes for their younger peers. These women worked with the Afghan Women Educational and Professional Improvement Organization, an ambitious organization housed in a sparsely furnished three-room office. This organization provides curriculum planning resources for teachers at a nearby girls’ school, study space for that school’s students, and — as the young, aspiring English… more »

About the Author: Melanne Verveer serves as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues.

As we commemorate International Human Rights Day today, December 10, I can’t help but recall the moment 17 years ago in Beijing when then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton proclaimed, “Women’s rights are human rights and human rights are women’s rights.”

Today, for many of us, these 11 words may seem obvious, even instinctive. But in 1995, they were a revelation. I remember being among the delegates at the Fourth World Conference on Women, and feeling a current of excitement wash across the room. It was perhaps one of the first times the world had heard a person of global stature assert at a global forum in such unequivocal terms that women’s rights and human rights were one and the same.

Today, in my official travels, I still meet women all over the world who tell me how those eleven words nearly two decades ago changed their lives. They helped raise the… more »

In a recent opinion piece for The Daily Beast, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer and Ambassador Peter Westmacott, the U.K.’s Ambassador to the United States, addressed the use of sexual assault as a weapon. The text of their opinion piece, which appeared on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, appears below.

“Nearly 40,000 people have died already in Syria’s civil war, and close to 100 are still being killed each day. Homes, hospitals, water infrastructure, and sanitation systems have been destroyed. But one element of this ongoing brutality has been largely overlooked in the media: the appalling sexual violence being visited on the Syrian people by government and militia forces. Such use of sexual violence as a tactic…more »

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 27, 2012

In recognition of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and World AIDS Day, Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer announced today $3 million in small grants awarded to dozens of grassroots organizations working to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV) around the world, with a link to HIV prevention, treatment and care.

These grants are part of a joint initiative between the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to address the link between HIV infection and GBV, and will support the work of 35 organizations in 28 countries. These countries include: Barbados, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Gabon, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Guyana, Indonesia, Malawi, Mexico, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, St. Lucia, Swaziland, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Grants of up to $100,000 per organization will fund innovative programs that link to HIV prevention, treatment and care platforms, including those programs that work to engage community leaders in the fight against GBV and AIDS, strengthen legal and judicial systems to ensure the full enforcement of anti-GBV laws, enhance prevention and response efforts, and work to reduce stigma and harmful practices.

One in three women worldwide will experience GBV in their lifetime, and in some countries, 70 percent of female populations are affected. Gender-based violence increases women and girls’ overall vulnerability to HIV, with country studies indicating an up to three-fold risk of HIV infection among women who experience violence. Addressing gender inequities and norms is essential to reducing the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV infection. Through this initiative, grassroots organizations will receive support to address the structural drivers of both violence and HIV, contributing to a longer-term effort to create an AIDS-free generation and societies free of violence.

For more information, please contact SGWI_PA@state.gov.

Notice to the Press
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 23, 2012

On Tuesday, November 27^th, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will host the second meeting of the International Council on Women’s Business Leadership at the State Department in Washington, D.C. The meeting can be viewed via live webcast on the Internet by clicking here.

The Council serves the United States government in an advisory capacity on major issues in international business and economic policy, including the effective integration of business interests and women’s economic empowerment into overall foreign policy; the role and limits of international economic institutions from a gender-specific perspective; and the Department of State’s role in advancing and promoting the role of women in a competitive global economy. Cherie Blair, Founder, Cherie Blair Foundation for Women (United Kingdom) and Indra Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo, Inc. (USA) are Council Vice Chairs.

The meeting will be held in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the U.S. Department of State from 2:00-3:00 p.m. and will be open for press coverage. MORE