March was a momentous month for gender equality.  The President and the First Lady announced an initiative championing adolescent girls’ education. And the international community came together to proclaim 2030 as the expiration date for gender inequality at the 59th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).   There’s no doubt that 2030 is an ambitious deadline for full gender equality. But for me, this year’s CSW was full of reminders that this goal is within our grasp.   I was reunited with one of my favorite people, Memory Banda. A few years ago, after her sister was married at age 11, Memory became an advocate to end child marriage in Malawi. Her work illustrates the power adolescent girls have to raise their voices and make a difference for their communities—and their futures.   While in New York, CBS This Morning’s Norah O’Donnell joined us for a luncheon honoring a group of women who received the 2015 Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award. Like Memory, these women are visionaries committed to advancing the rights of others, often at great personal risk.   Nadia Sharmeen, a journalist from Bangladesh, was one of this year’s honorees. During her time here in the United States, she talked about the power of coming together: “Before coming here we were alone, but now we know we’re not alone. Together we can be a great force that can bring justice, end the violence, and change the world. So let’s get together, step forward, create a better world.”   I can’t think of a better call to action for the rest of the year. Cathy Russell U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s IssuesState Dept Image/Mar 2015

 

---

 

Top Stories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Lady Michelle Obama thanks students for sharing their inspirational stories after a “Let Girls Learn” event in Cambodia in March 2015.

A signal to the world. Recently the President and the First Lady announced Let Girls Learn. This exciting initiative will help adolescent girls around the world stay in school so they can participate more fully in their economies and countries and avoid dangers like early and forced marriage. The initiative builds on the investments we’ve made and success we’ve had so far in expanding primary school around the world.

 

Following the announcement, Mrs. Obama embarked on a five-day trip to Japan and Cambodia to kick off the effort. Her trip—like the initiative itself—is a signal to leaders and countries around the world that investing in adolescent girls is a top priority for the United States. Stay tuned for more information.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Lady Michelle Obama greets recipients of the 2015 Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award at the White House in March 2015.

 #WomenOfCourage. Every day women and girls prove they are leaders and agents of change around the world, even if their actions don’t often make the front page of the news. Each year the Secretary of State honors a group of these extraordinary women with the International Women of Courage Award. This year’s awardees are confronting some of the world’s most challenging crises, from infectious disease and extremism to gender-based violence and discrimination. Watch a video featuring this year’s awardees, and see what happened at the ceremony when Deputy Secretary Heather Higginbottom presented the award to these incredible women. 

The International Women of Courage Award is just one of many ways the Department of State celebrates International Women’s Day each year. Our embassies and consulates around the world held local programs, events, and celebrations; Secretary of State John Kerry reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to advancing the rights and freedoms of women and girls in an op-ed and a statement marking the day. “On this International Women's Day, and every day,” he wrote, “we have a responsibility to stand united and work together in the ongoing struggle for the rights of women and girls worldwide so that they may live full, healthy, and productive lives.”   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Senior officials representing the new members of the Equal Futures Partnership Steering Committee pose alongside guests at a reception celebrating the formation of the new committee in New York on March 9, 2015.

CSW59. Every March countries come together to address issues surrounding gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). This year, Ambassador Russell co-led the U.S. delegation to the 59th session of the CSW, which focused on the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. She also delivered the U.S. statement.

On the sidelines of the CSW, the United States co-hosted a reception honoring the new steering committee of the Equal Futures Partnership—congratulations to Croatia for being elected the Equal Futures Chair.  Ambassador Russell also participated in several excellent conversations on issues important to women and girls. Read about Ambassador Russell’s top seven favorite moments from this year’s CSW here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chargé d’Affaires David E. Lindwall leads a memorial ceremony at U.S. Embassy Kabul in memory of Ms. Fakhunda, an Afghan woman brutally murdered in Kabul, on March 26, 2015.

On the shoulders of Afghan women. The recent brutal murder of an Afghan woman named Farkhunda by a mob of men in Kabul is a chilling reminder of the ongoing challenges facing women in Afghanistan. The immediate response to Ms. Farkhunda’s horrific death by the Afghan government illustrates their commitment to protecting the rights of women and girls. Members of civil society have acted as well. Defying custom, a group of women served as the pallbearers carrying Ms. Farkunda’s coffin in the funeral procession—an unprecedented act in Afghanistan—and more than 1,000 attended her funeral.

 

The response from both government and civil society reinforced recent meetings in the United States with Afghan senior officials. Following on the heels of Afghanistan First Lady Rula Ghani’s trip to the United States, President Ghani’s visit underscored the joint commitment of the United States and Afghanistan to the rights and empowerment of Afghan women and girls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ambassador Russell stands with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Stuart Jones, Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy Baghdad Jonathan Cohen, other embassy staff, and several Iraqi women, including senior Iraqi government officials and past recipients of the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award, in Baghdad in March 2015. 

Where in the world is Team S/GWI? Recently Ambassador Russell traveled to Baghdad and Amman to focus on challenges facing women and girls in the region, particularly those displaced by ISIL. Stay tuned for more news on her trip.

S/GWI staff also had a busy travel schedule. Caryn Morrow, senior policy advisor for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, traveled to Bangkok to co-chair the Lower Mekong Initiative Regional Working Group cross-cutting discussion on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Director of Global Programs Natika Washington and Program Analyst Chase Ballinger traveled to Rwanda to test the newly developed Alliance for Artisan Enterprise value chain prototype with three women’s artisan groups, while Greta Schettler, our senior economic policy advisor, traveled to the Philippines to explore economic opportunities for artisans. Regina Smedinghoff, our policy advisor for Western Hemisphere Affairs, joined 150 entrepreneurs and the private sector for the first-ever WEConnect International Regional Forum in Bogota, Colombia. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ambassador Russell tweets about how to invest in African women and girls during a Twitter chat with the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network on March 18, 2015.

 

#YALICHAT. A month after our first social media campaign, Ambassador Russell took part in our first Twitter chat. She joined members of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network to discuss the challenges facing women and girls in Africa. The chat ended with Ambassador Russell taking the #Africa4Her pledge to invest in women and girls. See a recap of the chat here.  

 

---

 

#StartTheSpark. The White House announced that the United States will partner with the Government of Kenya to host the sixth annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit—and that President Obama will attend. The GES agenda will focus on connecting entrepreneurs to investors and opportunities. And for the second year in a row, women and youth will be a special focus of the summit. Learn more here.   Taking stock. We’re pleased to announce that we just released an overview of the past year’s work to advance women, peace, and security, and we’re looking more broadly at our efforts over the past three years. In January, the Department of State, along with USAID and the Department of Defense, launched a review of the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. This is the 15th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, so it is a good opportunity to assess our progress, engage with civil society, and explore new areas for expanding women’s participation in preventing and resolving conflict. Our work affirms that including women in decision making isn’t a nice thing to do; it’s the strategic thing to do.   Mujeres empresarias. The Department of State brought together 100 Bolivian women entrepreneurs and local and international technology experts for a WEAmericas TechCamp in the third in a four-part regional series. Technologists from Bolivia, Colombia, Guatemala, Spain, and the United States trained the businesswomen on how to apply low-cost, easy-to-implement online and mobile technology tools to professionalize their branding, amplify their marketing, and increase efficiency within their businesses. Learn more about what happened at this WEAmericas TechCamp here.   Speaking of entrepreneurship... The first of several planned women’s entrepreneurship centers—called WECREATE centers—launched in Islamabad in February. Already the center has hosted an event with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, a training for freelancers, and information sessions on applying for a start-up program. More centers are being developed in Cambodia, Kenya, Vietnam, West Africa, and Zambia.   A second Beijing moment. This year’s intergovernmental negotiations on thePost-2015 Development Agenda offer an opportunity for another “Beijing moment”—one where the world comes together to advance women and girls. The negotiations picked back up again in January—and the United States is working to make sure gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls continue to be top priorities, both as part of the overall agenda and as part of the parallel Financing for Development conference coming up in Addis this July. Read more here.   Chalein saath saath. In January Ambassador Russell accompanied Secretary Kerry on a trip to India, where the delegation promoted the U.S.-India economic relationship. Secretary Kerry and Ambassador Russell met with women, business, and civil society leaders to identify opportunities for unleashing women’s tremendous economic potential in India. A month later, President Obama made his own trip to India, where he emphasized the importance of gender equality to India’s future during a public address in New Delhi. Catch the highlights of the President’s trip here.   They did it. Months after meeting with Secretary Kerry and Ambassador Russell about their dream to climb the highest mountains on all seven continents, a team of Nepalese women achieved their goal by scaling Antarctica’s Mount Vinson in January. The feat secured the Seven Summits Women as the first all-female team to climb the highest mountain on each continent.

 

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Representatives from the worlds of business, politics, and media gather for a special Winfield House Dialogue to mark International Women’s Day in London on March 11, 2015.

We tip our hats to every U.S. embassy and consulate that celebrated International Women’s Day. Around the world U.S. posts marked the day by putting issues that matter to women and girls in a local context.

As part of U.S. Embassy London’s high-level Winfield House Dialogue on women’s leadership, Ambassador Matthew Barzun and his wife Brooke Brown Barzun brought together a diverse group of 40 leaders from private sector, public policy, and other fields where women are typically underrepresented. The group’s open and frank discussion focused on both the barriers women face and the opportunities to promote and empower women to lead. 

In Rwanda U.S. Embassy Kigali held its own version of the International Women of Courage Award ceremony by inviting Facebook fans to nominate Rwandan women of courage. Ambassador Erica Barks-Ruggles presented the awards in front of an audience of women leaders from Rwanda’s government, business, and civil society sectors.

These are just two examples of the many excellent ways U.S. diplomats engaged local communities around the globe to celebrate women and girls and promote gender equality in March. 

---

 

 

 

“That’s our message to the world—let girls learn.”

- President Obama, speaking at the launch of the Let Girls Learn initiative on March 3, 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

• This week Ambassador Russell travels to Panama City for the Summit of the Americas and then to Mexico City for meetings on women’s economic opportunity and gender-based violence.

• The United States marks National Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. April 12 – 18 is International Anti-Street Harassment Week.

• Stay tuned for the UN Security Council Open Debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict, scheduled for April 15.

• Also this month, a U.S. delegation will travel to China to provide training on domestic violence services, as part of three U.S.-China exchanges resulting from the 2014 U.S.-China Consultation on People-to-People Exchange.   

Subscribe | Follow us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter