Clinton swears in women’s issues ambassador

Melanne Verveer, thumbnail from Vital Voices Global Partnership Back in early March, Secretary Clinton and President Obama jointly announced the creation of a new position: ambassador at large for global women’s issues. The move “reflects the elevated importance of global women’s issues to the president and his entire administration,” the White House said in a ...

584912_090615_MelanneVerveer2.jpg
584912_090615_MelanneVerveer2.jpg

Back in early March, Secretary Clinton and President Obama jointly announced the creation of a new position: ambassador at large for global women's issues.

Melanne Verveer, thumbnail from Vital Voices Global Partnership

Melanne Verveer, thumbnail from Vital Voices Global Partnership
Back in early March, Secretary Clinton and President Obama jointly announced the creation of a new position: ambassador at large for global women’s issues.

The move “reflects the elevated importance of global women’s issues to the president and his entire administration,” the White House said in a statement at the time.

Well last Friday, Clinton swore in the first-ever U.S. ambassador at large for global women’s issues: Melanne Verveer.

Verveer is a cofounder and former chief of Vital Voices Global Partnership, the organization that gave Clinton its Global Trailblazer award in late March. She also served as chief of staff to Clinton when she was first lady. (Both links show how interconnected everything in the Beltway is, for better or for worse).

In her remarks at the swearing-in, Clinton said Verveer is famous for the more than 6,000 names in her Rolodex, which includes the names of the women leaders, entrepreneurs, and activists she has met in the more than 80 countries she has visited. Clinton also said:

Melanne is most famous for the unwavering passion she brings to her causes. And for the last 15 years, that cause has been women and girls; their rights, their opportunities, their central importan[ce] to the future of our world’s progress and prosperity.

It’s high time for the State Department to have such a position, given the second-class status of so many women worldwide.

Photo: Thumbnail from Vital Voices Global Partnership

Preeti Aroon was copy chief at Foreign Policy from 2009 to 2016 and was an FP assistant editor from 2007 to 2009. Twitter: @pjaroonFP

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