A Conversation with Melanne Verveer
Ambassador Verveer is the Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security. She previously served as the first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, a position to which she was nominated by President Obama in 2009. She coordinated foreign policy issues and activities relating to the political, economic, and social advancement of women, traveling to nearly sixty countries. She worked to ensure that women’s participation and rights are fully integrated into U.S. foreign policy, and she played a leadership role in the Administration’s development of the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. Former U.S. President Obama also appointed her to serve as the U.S. Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
In an interview with Susan Tehrani, Vice President of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States, Ambassador Verveer draws from her years of experience working with women around the world to talk about the current state of the role of women on the global stage. She admits that progress for women is an ongoing journey. “As a general statement progress has been uneven, there are some areas where we have had greater success and others which are still lagging considerably,” she says.
Ambassador Melanne Verveer. Photo Credit: ©Sharon Farmer | Profile Photo Credit: Jin Lee/Bloomberg News
However, she reiterates that ultimately while “progress for women is about women, it’s also progress for society.” “When women succeed all of society succeeds and no country is going to get ahead if it leaves half of its population behind, so we can’t see this as a zero-sum game,” adds the Ambassador.
A recent op-ed in the Washington Post titled The world must demand the Taliban stop restricting girls’ education, co-authored by Ambassador Verveer reads: “Persuading the Taliban to reverse its decision is essential to regional and international security because girls’ education is not only about literacy and professional skills, but also about mobility, tolerance, conflict resolution and basic human rights — the nucleus of a peaceful society — and preventing the normalization of extremism and terrorism.”
During the Clinton administration, Ambassador Verveer served as Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady. As an American with Ukrainian roots she contributed greatly to the promotion of US-Ukrainian relations. She talks about the outpouring of the Ukrainian civil society in unity and the refugee crisis due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also the role grassroots women’s organizations are playing in Europe today.
As someone who led the effort to establish the President’s Interagency Council on Women, and was instrumental in the adoption of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, she raises concern about the threat of human trafficking on Ukraine’s borders. Melanee Verveer is also the co-author of Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose, which through personal stories of women around the world, shows every woman how to know her power, find her purpose, and connect with others to achieve her life’s goals.
