“I just knew that if we didn’t focus on peace and security and the role that women can and should play, we would be missing opportunities that would make a big difference to ending conflict, saving lives and creating more peaceful situations that would be good for the United States.”
Author: Melanne Verveer
Melanne Verveer is the Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security and currently serves as the Special Representative on Gender Issues for the OSCE Chairmanship. In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated her as the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, a position in which she coordinated foreign policy issues and activities relating to the political, economic and social advancement of women—traveling to nearly 60 countries and developing the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. President Obama also appointed her to serve as the U.S. Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Seeking Peace: Kristen Bell Opens Up About Her New Off-Screen Role as an Advocate for Women Worldwide
“We have irrefutable evidence that when women are included, it accelerates peace-building, it improves humanitarian response and it helps the economies of these countries that have been in conflict recover faster. But despite this, less than one percent of international aid to countries in crisis is given to women’s organizations—and I just, I find that kind of unacceptable. I think women are more than one percent of the solution.”