http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi U.S. Department of State en U.S. Department of State 2010-11-19T16:47:26+00:002010-11-18T20:30:27+00:002010-11-03T20:48:18+00:002010-10-28T20:20:38+00:002010-10-26T17:47:35+00:002010-09-09T14:58:10+00:002010-06-30T18:35:46+00:002010-03-10T01:48:19+00:002010-03-01T22:15:10+00:002010-01-01T17:36:49+00:00 About the Author: Melanne Verveer serves as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues.

As a result of Secretary Clinton's recent travel to the East Asia and Pacific region, the United States is embarking on a new initiative -- in collaboration with the World Bank Group and the governments of Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea -- to strengthen women's empowerment in this part of the world. Our emphasis on boosting women's progress is not about treating women as a special interest, but rather it is linked to the broader aims of encouraging development and good governance in the Pacific Islands. This new collaboration will also afford an opportunity to deepen ties between the United States and the Pacific region.

During the Secretary's stop in Port Moresby, the women of Papua New Guinea welcomed her with open arms and expressed their appreciation for her solidarity and support. Their enthusiasm was emblematic of the aspirations women in so many parts of the developing world harbor but seldom are able to realize. In the Pacific Islands, women have terrible hurdles to overcome. For example, some studies indicate that rape and police brutality are endemic in Papua New Guinea, and just 53 percent of women there are literate.

This joint venture between our countries and the World Bank Group will bring attention and opportunity to women who have too often been neglected and marginalized. It will serve as a step toward leveling the playing field so that more women can participate in the social, economic, and political sectors of society and play meaningful roles in advancing progress in Pacific region. In partnership with our Australian, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea counterparts, we will be bringing together senior government officials, private sector leaders, entrepreneurs and civil society stakeholders from across the Pacific to expand opportunities for women and unleash the talent of an underutilized, yet vital resource.

To launch this endeavor, we will be holding a series of policy dialogues in all four partner countries to cover a range of issues -- from identifying best practices for mitigating gender-based violence, to expanding women's economic opportunity and supporting their political activism and leadership. We will also be stepping up efforts on health issues, such as improving maternal mortality and reducing HIV/AIDS. Our engagement with the Pacific region will produce action and government commitments, bringing about concrete results to ensure that women gain access to the tools and resources they need to compete and succeed, and are granted the opportunities to be agents of positive change in their own societies.

As Secretary Clinton has so often said, “Investing in the potential of the world's women and girls is one of the surest ways to achieve global economic progress, political stability, and greater prosperity for women -- and men -- the world over." Empowering women in this region to achieve, to innovate, to lead, and to work together to defend their rights will produce a new energy and a ripple effect that will benefit not only women, but also their families, and societies at large. ]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/pics_australia_womens_empowerment/ 2010-11-19T16:47:26+00:00 About the Author: Irene Marr serves in the Office of Global Women's Issues.

Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer testified today before the Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law on The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In her testimony, Ambassador Verveer said:

"...This hearing could not come at a more critical time for the world's women. Gender inequality and oppression of women is rampant across the globe. The scale and savagery of human rights violations committed against women and girls is nothing short of a humanitarian tragedy. Today, violence against women is a global pandemic. In some parts of the world, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burma, and Sudan, women are attacked as part of a deliberate and coordinated strategy of armed conflict where rape is used as a tool of war. In others, like Afghanistan, girls are attacked with acid and disfigured simply because they dare attend school. Girl infanticide and neglect has contributed to the absence from school of an estimated 100 million girls worldwide. In places where girls are not as valued and there is a strong preference for sons, practices ranging from female genital mutilation, to child marriage, to so-called 'honor killings,' to the trafficking of women and girls into modern-day slavery highlight the low status of females around the globe.

"In far too many places, women's participation in parliaments, village councils and peace negotiations is circumscribed or prevented altogether. Policies instructing that 'women need not apply' continue to limit employment opportunities and pay. The majority of the world's illiterate are women and, according to the World Bank, girls constitute 55 percent of all out-of-school children. This has devastating consequences on the health and well-being of families and communities. And today, the HIV-AIDS pandemic has a woman's face, with the number of infections rising at alarming rates among adolescent girls in many places who face the threat of violence, including sexual violence, in their lives.

"Women's equality has rightly been called the moral imperative of the 21st century. Where women cannot participate fully and equally in their societies, democracy is a contradiction in terms, economic prosperity is hampered, and stability is at risk. Standing up against the appalling violations of women's human rights around the globe, and standing with the women of the world, is what ratifying the Women's Treaty is about."

In addressing why the United States should ratify CEDAW, Ambassador Verveer said, "The United States has long stood for the principles of equal justice, the rule of law, respect for women, and the defense of human dignity. We know that women around the world look to the United States as a moral leader on human rights. And yet when it comes to the Women's Treaty, which reflects the fundamental principle that women's rights are human rights, we stand with only a handful of countries that have not ratified, including Somalia, Iran, and Sudan -- countries with some of the worst human rights records in the world. We stand alone as the only industrialized democracy in the world that has not ratified the Women's Treaty. And we stand on the sidelines, unable to use the Women's Treaty to join with champions of human rights who seek to use it as a means to protect and defend women's basic human rights.

"U.S. ratification of the Women's Treaty matters because the moral leadership of our country on human rights matters. Some governments use the fact that the U.S. has not ratified the treaty as a pretext for not living up to their own obligations under it. Our failure to ratify also deprives us of a powerful tool to combat discrimination against women around the world, because as a non-party, it makes it more difficult for us to press other parties to live up to their commitments under the treaty.

"...Importantly, ratification will also advance U.S. foreign policy and national security interests. As the Obama Administration has made clear, women's equality is critical to our national security. President Obama's National Security Strategy recognizes that 'countries are more peaceful and prosperous when women are accorded full and equal rights and opportunity. When those rights and opportunities are denied, countries lag behind.' And as Secretary Clinton has stated, 'the subjugation of women is a threat to the national security of the United States. It is also a threat to the common security of our world, because the suffering and denial of the rights of women and the instability of nations go hand in hand.' Ratification of this treaty, which enshrines the rights of women in international law, is not only in the interest of oppressed women around the world -- it is in our interest as well."

A complete transcript is available here.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/verveer_cedaw/ 2010-11-18T20:30:27+00:00 About the Author: Radhika Prabhu serves in the Office of Global Women's Issues.

The day after an evening reception with Secretary Clinton, 13 of the 213 distinguished Hubert Humphrey Fellows returned to the Department of State. Sitting down for a candid roundtable discussion moderated by Diane Kelly, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Global Women's Issues, they gained a perspective on how that office works with partners around the world to promote women's empowerment, increase women's access to health, and strengthen their rights.

Sharing the vision of the future of women's advancement with the room of distinguished mid-career leaders from government, the NGO community, business and professions hailing from 11 countries, Ms. Kelly highlighted how “out of the box” thinking in government is being used to advance women's issues. For instance, mobile phone technology can be used to combat violence against women and educate the public about it. Public-private partnerships can be leveraged in an environment when dollars are increasingly scarce. And business -- not only government and NGOs -- has a large place at the table in advancing women's rights.

Although more and more people around the world are recognizing that "women's rights are human rights and human rights are women's rights," it will take a multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary effort to ensure that women around the world are able to experience that as a norm rather than an aspiration. Dialogue that brings together diverse stakeholders -- whether a young man from India working to prevent trafficking of women or the CEO of an agribusiness firm in Kyrgyzstan -- to share ideas and create links among people in government and on the ground is a prerequisite to fostering the impetus force required to make sure it happens.

Secretary Clinton's remarks to the Humphrey Fellows are available here.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/humphrey_fellows_womens_rights/ 2010-11-03T20:48:18+00:00 UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. The piece appeared in the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten and Denmark's Berlingske Tidende. Later this week, both the United States and Norway will participate in an international conference in Copenhagen focusing on women and global security issues. The editorial reads:

The Key to Sustainable Peace: Women
By Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jonas Gahr Støre

One of the most vexing problems of global security is the recurring nature of conflict: Old wars rarely die. More often, they peter out in ceasefires of exhaustion. Fragile truces bring an end to hostilities but do not address the underlying grievances that led to the wars in the first place.

And then they reignite.

Of the 39 conflicts that have erupted in the past 10 years, only eight are entirely new. Thirty-one are recurrences of conflicts that were never fully resolved.

It is no coincidence that most of these conflicts occur in societies where women have little power and are excluded from the process of negotiating and implementing the peace.

Peace agreements typically fall apart when they fail to resolve the issues that caused the conflict in the first place -- including ethnic tensions, inequality, and injustice. But women are the ones who face these problems every day, and so they're the ones who will bring the issues to the negotiating table and make sure they have practical solutions.

Ten years ago this week, the United Nations took a historic step in this direction by recognizing that women are not merely victims of war, they are also indispensible agents of peace. Yet progress in including women in the peacemaking process has lagged. On this anniversary of the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, we must redouble our efforts to ensure that women are at last seated at the negotiating table -- and in meaningful roles.

It is indisputable that women and children suffer disproportionately from war, including as targets of rape. We must do more to protect them. But relegating them to the role of passive victims keeps them powerless. When the “victims” organize, they are potent advocates for change, as they were in Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Liberia.

Women can be effective peacemakers because they have a broad view of security. To them, it is more than the absence of armed fighters. It means their sons and daughters can go to school safely. It means they can get medical attention when they give birth, and have their children vaccinated. It means returning refugees can find land, water and jobs. Broadening our definition of security in this way helps prevent simmering grievances from recurring and escalating.

Of course, including women does not guarantee that peace talks will succeed. But recent history shows that agreements that exclude women and ignore their concerns usually fail.

In Northern Ireland, women were locked out of the political process during three decades of conflict and several attempts to develop peace agreements quickly collapsed. Then, in the mid-90s, women from both sides of the divide formed a political party, the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, and earned two seats at the negotiating table.

They insisted that the talks include the needs of victims, integrated education, a forum for civil society, women's participation, equality and human rights. Their involvement in the peace process made a crucial contribution to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. That peace still stands.

In country after country, we have seen women help push peace agreements to the finish line. Where women are excluded, too often the agreements that result are disconnected from ground-truth and less likely to be successful and enjoy popular support. Yet almost no women served in recent peace talks in Indonesia, Nepal, Somalia, Cote d'Ivoire, and Central African Republic.

And still, we hear the question: Why should women be a part of peace negotiations if they were neither combatants nor government officials?

But women are increasingly party to conflict. More and more, they are being recruited into regular armed forces and terrorist groups. In Sudan, for example, women and girls played an active role on the front lines of the two north-south civil wars -- as both combatants and peace activists. Yet they have been largely absent from formal peace negotiations.

Whether they are combatants or survivors, peace-builders or bystanders, women must play a role in the transition from war to peaceful development. And we must urge men and women to focus on changing the conditions that produced the violence in the first place.

In the coming weeks and months, our governments will be pressing to ramp up meaningful implementation of Resolution 1325. As just one part of that effort, our governments are among those participating in an important international conference in Copenhagen this week, where the focus will be on the role of women in a broad range of global security issues. If we want to make progress towards settling the world's most intractable conflicts, let's enlist women.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/1325_op-ed/ 2010-10-28T20:20:38+00:00
The Secretary said, "...here we are at the 10th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, and we're here to reaffirm the goals set forth in this historic resolution, but more than that, to put forth specific actions, as my colleague, the foreign minister of Austria, just did in such a commendable set of proposals. The only way to achieve our goals -- to reduce the number of conflicts around the world, to eliminate rape as a weapon of war, to combat the culture of impunity for sexual violence, to build sustainable peace -- is to draw on the full contributions of both women and men in every aspect of peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peace building.

"Now, women's participation in these activities is not a 'nice thing to do.' It's not as though we are doing a favor for ourselves and them by including women in the work of peace. This is a necessary global security imperative. Including women in the work of peace advances our national security interests, promotes political stability, economic growth, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Just as in the economic sphere, we cannot exclude the talents of half the population, neither when it comes to matters of life and death can we afford to ignore, marginalize, and dismiss the very direct contributions that women can and have made.

"President Obama's National Security Strategy recognizes that 'countries are more peaceful and prosperous when women are accorded full and equal rights and opportunity. When those rights and opportunities are denied, countries lag behind.' Well, it is also true when it comes to issues of human security -- accountability for sexual violence, trafficking of women and girls, and all of the other characteristics of stable, thriving societies that provide maternal and child healthcare, education, and so much else.

"Now, in defense, diplomacy, and development, which we consider the three pillars of our foreign policy, we are putting women front and center, not merely as beneficiaries of our efforts but as agents of peace, reconciliation, economic growth, and stability.

"...Looking ahead, I am pleased to announce two important steps the U.S. is taking to advance the goals of Resolution 1325. First, the United States will commit nearly $44 million to a set of initiatives designed to empower women. The largest portion, about 17 million, will support civil society groups that focus on women in Afghanistan. The women in Afghanistan are rightly worried that in the very legitimate search for peace their rights will be sacrificed. And I have personally stated, and I state again here in the Security Council, none of us can permit that to happen. No peace that sacrifices women's rights is a peace we can afford to support.

"Fourteen million dollars will also go to nongovernmental organizations working to make clean water more available in conflict zones, because in these areas, when women and girls go looking for water they are at higher risk of being attacked. Similarly, I had the honor of announcing the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves last month -- another initiative that by our support can protect women who will not have to go out seeking firewood or other forms of fuel if we can revolutionize the way they're able to cook food for their families.

"Another 1.7 million will help fund UN activities, including Special Representative Wallstrom's office, and 11 million will help expand literacy, job training, and maternal health services for refugee women and girls.

"In addition to this new funding, our second step will be to develop our own National Action Plan to accelerate the implementation of Resolution 1325 across our government and with our partners in civil society. And to measure progress on our plan, we will adopt the indicators laid out in the Secretary General's report. We will measure whether women are effectively represented in the full range of peace-building and reconstruction efforts; whether they are protected against sexual violence; and whether they are the focus of conflict prevention, relief and reconciliation efforts. Measuring our progress will help ourselves be held accountable and identify those areas where we need to do more.

"Now, the National Action Plan and the new funding I've announced are two important steps, and we will pursue them with total commitment. But as several have already said: Action plans and funding are only steps toward a larger goal.

"The Presidential statement that we hope will be adopted calls for another stock-taking in five years. But we better have more to report and we better have accomplished more between now and then, otherwise, there will be those who will lose faith in our international capacity to respond to such an overwhelming need -- because, ultimately, we measure our progress by the improvements in the daily lives of people around the world. That must be our cause and empowering women to contribute all their talents to this cause is our calling."

You can read the Secretary's full remarks here. A fact sheet about UNSCR 1325 is available here.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/clinton_unscr1325/ 2010-10-26T17:47:35+00:00 About the Author: Melanne Verveer serves as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues.

In just a few weeks, the leaders of the world will gather at the UN to assess the progress that has been made on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and to chart the way forward. In advance of that meeting, I spoke to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C. on Tuesday to discuss how women and girls are at the center of our foreign policy and international development agenda, and how gender equality is the key to progress and sustainable development.

The United States fully embraces the MDGs. As President Obama has said, “the Millennium Development Goals are America's goals.” We are firmly committed to working with our many partners in this common cause towards meeting the Goals by 2015, and helping to ensure that the gains are sustained long into the future.

The ten-year anniversary of the adoption of the MDGs coincides with the 15 years since the Fourth UN Conference on Women took place in Beijing. Not so coincidentally, the two sets of goals intersect: MDG 3 -- the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women -- is the prerequisite for achieving all the other MDGs. If we are to realize the MDGs, women and girls must be at the core of our development strategies. For that reason, we are pursuing a number of initiatives and programs that focus on women and girls and that will help the world reach its MDG targets.

The first is the Global Health Initiative, a $63 billion program to improve health and strengthen health systems worldwide. We are scaling up our work in maternal and child health, family planning and nutrition. We are committed to promoting sustainability, by focusing on strengthening existing health systems and by building on them to help countries develop their own capacity to improve the health of their people. We are also developing innovative strategies to improve health through mobile technology to deliver health information -- for example -- to pregnant women and new mothers. Further, we are linking our health programs with successful efforts to remove the economic, cultural, social, and legal barriers that create obstacles to obtaining care for women and girls, including gender-based violence, harmful traditional practices -- such as early marriage and female genital mutilation -- a lack of education, and a lack of economic opportunity.

Another commitment to women and girls is the President's Feed the Future Initiative, which was developed under Secretary Clinton's leadership. It is a $3.5 billion promise to strengthen the world's food supply, focusing on sustainably reducing hunger through greater agriculture productivity. It also recognizes that most of the world's food is grown, harvested, stored, and prepared by women, and that women farmers have specific needs for training, access to financial services, markets and decision-making if they are to become more agriculturally productive. In some regions, women produce 70 percent of the food, earn 10 percent of the income, and own only 1 percent of the land. The reform of land tenure and property rights, as well as inheritance laws, can help advance women in farming and help to secure the world's food supply.

A third area for action is women's role in addressing climate change. As the majority of the world's farmers, women in developing nations are the hardest hit by ecological fluctuation and disaster, whether by tsunamis or droughts. They are also key problem-solvers who can play a significant role in safeguarding their families and communities from environmental hazards and promoting sustainable solutions to climate change. To this end, Secretary Clinton will soon announce a major new initiative: a public-private partnership that will, among other things, promote women's role in safeguarding the environment.

Fourth, to alleviate poverty, economic growth is essential. Today there is an abundance of research that demonstrates that investments in women and girls correlate positively with poverty alleviation and a country's general prosperity. Small and medium-size businesses run by women are proven drivers of GDP. Women are a reliable investment because the money they borrow is not only likely to be repaid; women also have a multiplier effect because their resources are used to benefit their families and communities.

In conjunction with the recent AGOA Ministerial (African Growth and Opportunity Act), we created the African Women's Entrepreneurship Program to provide women with the tools and skills they need to more successfully access AGOA and its benefits for building businesses and markets.

We are working with APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) countries to put a first-ever focus on women as drivers of economic growth. Half the APEC countries have developing economies. It is calculated that the Asia-Pacific region is shortchanged in excess of $40 billion a year in GDP because of the untapped potential of women.

Fifth, another key indicator for MDG 3 -- gender equality -- is women's political participation. Women are still significantly outnumbered in the parliaments, provincial councils and peace processes of the world, even though we know that they are far more likely to invest in the public good than their male counterparts and that higher rates of female participation in government are associated with lower levels of corruption. Women's influence on the village and city councils in India -- the panchayats -- is a well-documented example of the difference they're making in investing in safe drinking water, education and other community needs.

Where women are oppressed and marginalized, societies are more dangerous and extremism is more likely to take hold. As Secretary Clinton has stressed, the subjugation of women is a threat to our national security and the common security of the world because the suffering and denial of the rights of women and the instability of nations go hand in hand. The United States has been working within our own government, bilaterally and multilaterally to accelerate implementation of the UN Security Council Resolutions that link women to peace and security.

The only way we can hope to meet the fundamental challenges of our time is to incorporate the needs, and draw upon the talents and potential, of women and girls around the world. It is with this message and in this spirit, that we join hands with our partners to accelerate progress towards meeting the MDGs, and to create a better world for us all.

A video of Ambassador Verveer's remarks to the Center for Strategic and International Studies is available here, and you can read the transcript here.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/mdg_summit_women_and_girls/ 2010-09-09T14:58:10+00:00 About the Author: Lizzie O'Rourke (on the far left of the above photo) is a Foreign Service Officer who recently completed a short assignment with the Office of Global Women's Issues.

I didn't plan to get involved with the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues (S/GWI) -- I was just lucky. As a new Foreign Service Officer, I was assigned to a period of training following my swearing-in. For many new FSOs there are some extra days between the completion of initial training and departure for post. When that happens, our Career Development Office assigns us to offices at the State Department for on-the-job training (OJT) -- short-term stints that let us learn about the domestic workings of the Department before heading overseas. I received my OJT assignment prior to wrapping up my initial training, and started at S/GWI right after my training finished.

At first, I didn't know much about S/GWI's mission, and my lack of previous involvement with women's studies or gender issues made me wonder if I would be at a disadvantage. I soon realized, however, that this was not the case: the fast-moving pace of this office carried me with it, and I was quickly immersed in variety of projects. Part of that was due to the timing of my assignment, which could not have been better: I was assigned to the office in March, which is Women's History Month. March 8th is International Women's Day, a holiday our office celebrates with the International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards.

Preparations for the IWOC Awards program required some unexpected tasks -- most memorably, the chance to meet briefly with the First Lady -- and long hours. Yet nothing prepared me for the moment when the ten awardees shared their stories at a S/GWI-sponsored public forum, where they spoke frankly of their past struggles, which for some included imprisonment and torture. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend some time with them throughout the events; any language barriers were quickly broken by smiles, and eventually, hugs.

After the IWOC awards, two delegations of women leaders from Iraq and Afghanistan came to Washington on training programs coordinated in part by our office. The second delegation was composed of ten female diplomats in Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry. I learned at a lunch organized by S/GWI and Executive Women at State that these young Afghan women face many of the same challenges that women here at State do. After we discussed her passion for cricket, one new diplomat asked a 27-year veteran of the Foreign Service how American women handle their nomadic careers while simultaneously maintaining relationships and families. This is a question that is evidently very familiar to women in both diplomatic services.

It is easier to become conversant with women's issues when the evidence supporting this cause is so clear. When aid is distributed to women, their children, families, and neighbors benefit. I have learned that it is not enough to have a gender angle or bullet point when formulating foreign and assistance policy; incorporating women at every level is a strategic necessity. This seems obvious to me now; it didn't before this OJT assignment.

S/GWI's work is fundamental in nature: women's issues are human rights issues; and, as Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Verveer have said before, no nation can get ahead if half its population is left behind. It has been an incredible privilege to spend some time here, and I look forward to carrying the momentum of S/GWI's mission to my first post, in Accra, Ghana.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/seven_weeks_sgwi/ 2010-06-30T18:35:46+00:00 About the Authors: Elizabeth Timberlake serves as Political Officer on the Afghanistan Desk and covers women's issues and human rights. Saba Ghori serves as South and Central Asia Specialist and Violence Against Women Advisor for the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues, and covers the countries of South and Central Asia, including Afghanistan.

Women are essential to progress and stability in Afghanistan. This is a critical point that is addressed in depth by the U.S. government's revised Afghanistan and Pakistan Regional Stabilization Strategy. This strategy incorporates women into every aspect of our programs and engagement. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 23, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer underscored this, saying "women and girls represent one of the most powerful -- but underused -- forces that we have to advance security, stability, and development in Afghanistan. Ambassador Verveer also stated that "our Afghanistan and Pakistan Regional Stabilization Strategy recognizes women as agents of positive change" and key to "our efforts to strengthen Afghan communities' capacity to withstand the threat posed by extremism. It establishes women's empowerment as critical to unleashing the full economic potential of the Afghan people."

The women's plan focuses on sustaining and expanding critical gains in women's rights by focusing on women's security and peace-building; women's leadership in the public and private sector; women's access to judicial institutions, education, and health services; and women's ability to take advantage of economic opportunities, especially in the agricultural sector. For example, U.S. government programs partner with the Afghan government to expand women's role in animal husbandry and commercial agriculture; thanks to these types of initiatives, chicken egg production is now a sustainable enterprise for a number of Afghan women.

Senator Barbara Boxer expressed concerns about Afghan-led reintegration of the Taliban into Afghanistan society and government and asked for reassurance that the laws designed to protect women would be enforced and that women would have a seat at the table -- whether in the Peace Jirga or in other discussions and deliberations -- in charting the future of Afghanistan. Dr. Sima Samar, Chair of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, and Rachel Reid, Afghan Researcher at Human Rights Watch, also testified before the committee, emphasizing the need to consult with women as this process moves forward.

These voices from the Hill, the NGO community and directly from Afghan women are a reminder that reintegration initiatives must recognize the right of Afghan women to have a voice in policy processes that impact their daily lives. President Obama emphasized in his 2010 State of the Union Address that our policies in Afghanistan reflect our national values and "support the rights of all Afghans -- men and women alike." Safeguarding women's rights, while also ensuring women have a voice in critical discussions about Afghanistan's future, is a top U.S. priority. We will not compromise our values on this issue. Afghanistan cannot prosper if half its citizens are left behind.

Read the full strategy here.]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/commitment_afghan_women/ 2010-03-10T01:48:19+00:00
The awardees are: Shukria Asil (Afghanistan), Col. Shafiqa Quraishi (Afghanistan), Androula Henriques (Cyprus), Sonia Pierre (Dominican Republic), Shadi Sadr (Iran), Ann Njogu (Kenya), Dr. Lee Ae-ran (Republic of Korea), Jansila Majeed (Sri Lanka), Sister Marie Claude Naddaf (Syria), and Jestina Mukoko (Zimbabwe).

The annual International Women of Courage Award was started in March 2007 to recognize women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women's rights and advancement. This is the only award within the Department of State that pays tribute to outstanding women leaders worldwide. It recognizes the courage and leadership shown as they struggle for social justice and human rights.

“These ten women have overcome personal adversity, threats, arrest, and assault to dedicate themselves to activism for human rights,” said Melanne Verveer, the State Department's first ever Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. “From striving to give more voice to politically underrepresented women in Afghanistan to documenting human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, these heroic individuals have made it their life's work to increase freedom and equality in the world.”

Biographies of the awardees are available on the Office of Global Women's Issues website.

Award recipients will be in Washington and available for interviews from March 7-12. Media contact for scheduling is Ruth Bennett, 202-647-7282 or 202-279-0380 (cell).]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/clinton_2010_iwoc_awards/ 2010-03-01T22:15:10+00:00 Follow S/GWI on Facebook and Twitter.

About the Author: Ruth Bennett serves as the Public Affairs Advisor for the Secretary's Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI).

Like many offices in the State Department, we use the last two weeks of the year to review where we’ve been and map out where we’re heading. This year, it’s an easy assessment to make. January 2009, we didn’t exist. December 2009, so many people are talking – and, yes, sometimes arguing, but at least talking about and carefully thinking over – women’s role in foreign policy.

Here are just a few of our highlights:

• April 3, 2009: S/GWI is created, and Melanne Verveer is confirmed as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues.

• May 13, 2009: Amb. Verveer testifies before the U.S. Senate Subcommittees on African Affairs and Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women’s Issues about rape and sexual violence in conflict zones.

• October 1, 2009: Amb. Verveer testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the global costs and consequences of violence against women.

• October 21, 2009: Amb. Verveer testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight about the incidence of violence against women, and about possible solutions.

Ambassador Verveer also traveled to most regions of the world and met with women from all walks of life and spoke with their governments about the barriers that still remain to women’s equality. Among many other places, these travels took her to Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and India. We saw major media take up the cause of women’s empowerment. Soon we’ll be launching a Women’s Leadership Fund to channel public/private partnership money to the places where it’s most urgently needed. And did we mention that you can track all these developments on our website as well as Facebook and Twitter?

We’re happy with this start, but, really, we’re focused on what comes next.

Next September marks the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women – the venue at which, in 1995, then-First Lady Clinton famously declared that “…human rights are women’s rights…And women’s rights are human rights, for once and for all.”

The Platform for Action that 189 countries agreed to at that conference in 1995 – the “Beijing Agenda” – outlined 12 areas in which action was critically needed to achieve women’s economic, political, and social equality. We’ve made progress on many of those issues, which ranged from women’s equal access to education, healthcare, jobs, and credit, to freedom from gender-based violence, and more, but the Beijing Agenda remains, clearly, an unfinished one.

As S/GWI looks ahead to 2010, we’re putting at the top of our action list all these remaining challenges to women’s equality. We’re also going to focus on two fundamental issues in particular: promoting women’s economic opportunities (from which other rights and freedoms often follow), and working to ensure that women around the world are safe from gender-based violence (without which safety other rights and freedoms are often impossible).

It’s a tall order. But the sense of momentum – from within government, from the private sector, from all of you – is undeniable, and we’re looking forward to reporting back to you our activities and our progress over the next few months. Happy holidays and happy new year to everyone!]]> http://blogs.state.gov/sgwi/index.php/entires/global_womens_issues_looking_back_looking_forward/ 2010-01-01T17:36:49+00:00