Investments in women are positively correlated to growth, prosperity, stability, democracy, health - and vital to our national security. We cannot write off the talent of half the world and expect to confront our challenges.
— Melanne Verveer
I hope that through Fast Forward, we can encourage women everywhere to know their power wherever they find themselves; to find their purpose; and to connect with others in order to create a better world - especially for women and girls.
Women are a dynamic economic force. We represent the largest consumer market in the world and are drivers of GDP. More and more companies recognize that when they support women as customers, employees, leaders, future investors and partners, they are adopting sound business strategies and advancing social progress.
Studies demonstrate that as gaps are being closed between men and women - in access to education, in health, even in economic participation - the most difficult gap to close is in political participation. Somehow that sharing of raw power, political power, remains very illusive.
For me, leadership is making a difference. It's using your agency to bring about change.
There is certainly a growing body of data that correlates investments in women with a country's general prosperity; a recognition that no country can get ahead if half its people are left behind.
The most important lesson I've learned is how rich and rewarding life is when one can engage in meaningful work, whether on the job or outside of work.
I believe to be a leader is to enable others to embrace a vision, initiative or assignment in a way that they feel a sense of purpose, ownership, personal engagement, and common cause. I was very affected as a child by my father's positive example as a civic leader who inspired others to share his commitment to improving our community.
The role of business in advancing women's rights is growing, particularly in the area of economic opportunity including opening access to training, mentoring, networks, markets, technology and even to capital in some circumstances.
Politics is rough and tumble everywhere, and many women recoil from that negative aspect of it - the nastiness, the charges and counter-charges.
We know that the most dangerous places in the world are more often than not the most dangerous places for women, where women are denied their rights and oppressed. These are the places that are unstable and where extremism often takes hold.
My major obligation or responsibility is to work to integrate gender issues throughout the work of the State Department.
Women can achieve power and purpose in whatever profession they pursue, position they hold or whether they are caring for their children full time.
Women in business are talented leaders who can share their skills as trainers, mentors and advocates.
I have seen businesses and government come together to provide women entrepreneurs with the training they need to better access markets, take advantage of trade agreements, and in the process grow businesses, jobs, and GDP. These are partnerships that transform lives.
Over time, I've come to recognize what others bring to the table, and I've developed a much more team-based approach. There's the saying that there is no end to what one can achieve if one doesn't have to take the credit for what was achieved.
In India, at the community level, young men are playing an absolutely essential role in changing the cultural norms and deeply held practices concerning women. They are doing this in a way that not only empowers women and girls, but really empowers the young men as well.
