The 11 women who received the 2023 International Women of Courage Award on March 8 fight for different causes but have one thing in common: They refuse to be intimidated. The award, given annually by the U.S. secretary of state, honors women around the world advocating for human rights, rule of law and gender equality, often at great personal risk. This ... Read More»

The United States condemns in the strongest terms the Taliban’s indefensible decision to ban women from universities, keep secondary schools closed to girls, and continue to impose other restrictions on the ability of women and girls in Afghanistan to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms. Education is a human right. It is also essential ... Read More»

I'm glad to be at this event today, particularly honored to be on this distinguished panel and to meet, although some virtually, the organizers and participants in this ambitious and original project, RECOV-EW.  And I’d like to acknowledge the virtual presence of my good friend and colleague, Kat Fotovat, our senior official in the Secretary’s office of Global Women’s Issues.  Her presence here ... Read More»

During a visit to an orphanage in Kenya in 2008, Celeste Mergens, a humanitarian aid worker from Washington state, learned that girls were sitting on cardboard for several days each month, often going without food unless someone would bring it to them. That is when Mergens said she first learned that many women and girls ... Read More»

Although climate change is a threat to us all, research shows women are more vulnerable than men to its consequences. Women and children are 14 times more likely than men to die from climate disasters such as droughts and floods. And because they make up the majority of the world’s poor, women are the first to feel ... Read More»