Mrs Clinton attended an international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn
yesterday and will take part in an Organisation for Security and Cooperation
in Europe gathering in Vilnius before flying to Geneva. She will then attend
a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels and give a speech on Internet
freedom in The Hague before flying back the America on Thursday.

Article source:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/8937317/Hillary-Clinton-to-meet-Syrian-opposition-leaders-in-Geneva.html

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addresses the Women In Public Service Project at the Department of State in Washington, DC.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addresses the Women In Public Service Project at the Department of State in Washington, DC. Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

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Clinton Seeks Women Leaders to ‘Tackle Our Biggest Problems’

Ramin Talaie/Bloomberg

Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues for the U.S. State Department, speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York on Sept. 22, 2011.

Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues for the U.S. State Department, speaks at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York on Sept. 22, 2011. Photographer: Ramin Talaie/Bloomberg

Hillary Clinton would like to see
more women in government around the world.

She said she knows “how daunting it is” for women to
consider a public-service career, yet “we need women at every
level of government from executive mansions and foreign
ministries to municipal halls and planning commissions, from
negotiation international disarmament treaties to debating town
ordinances.”

To that end, Clinton yesterday initiated the Women in
Public Service Project, a program intended to increase the
number of women in leadership. This summer, for instance, 40
women from the Middle East and North Africa will go to her alma
mater, Wellesley College, to gain skills in public speaking,
coalition building, networking and mentorship.

The initiative reflects an idea that Clinton has returned
to throughout her tenure as the top U.S. diplomat — that
people, their communities and countries do better when women are
active participants in public life.

The issue isn’t just about fairness, the top U.S. diplomat
said. “It’s about expanding the pool of talented people to help
tackle our biggest problems.”

Her remarks at the State Department in Washington drew an
enthusiastic response from an audience of several hundred that
included female diplomats, Cabinet secretaries, lawmakers and
military officers, as well as alumna from women’s colleges that
will work with the State Department on the curriculum and venues
for the new program.

‘Grow Exponentially’

“This is meant to be the beginning of a long journey,”
Melanne Verveer, the State Department’s first ambassador for
Global Women’s Issues, said in a phone interview. The effort is
“going to grow exponentially,” she said, as the State
Department works with universities, non-governmental agencies
and the private sector.

Clinton stressed the crucial need for women to play a part
in government as she has in the Middle East and Afghanistan, at
development sites in Africa and in speeches about Asia’s
economic future.

“Whether it’s fighting corruption or strengthening the
rule of law or sparking economic growth, you are more likely to
succeed if you widen the circle to include a broader range of
expertise,” she said.

Clinton said that “empowering and training young women to
become public service leaders will be a focus of the State
Department’s exchange programs.

In June 2012, the State Department will start an annual
summer institute to train women leaders from around the world in
cooperation with the so-called Seven Sisters colleges, which
include Barnard in New York City, Bryn Mawr in Bryn Mawr,
Pennsylvania, and Wellesley, in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

‘Dirty Word’

Private sector help for the program will be crucial,
Clinton said. Computer maker Dell Inc. (DELL), based in Round Rock,
Texas, will provide hardware, training and other support for the
program. Ogilvy Worldwide is helping with public relations and
information support, she said.

While women in North Africa and the Middle East have played
a pivotal role in the Arab Spring, “for many of them, politics
was still kind of a dirty word” and there may be some
reluctance to stay engaged in the process of reform.

Clinton said she made the point that if these women don’t
make their own transition from taking part in “this
extraordinary historic revolution to actually doing the hard,
and yes, sometimes boring difficult work of politics, you may
not realize the gains and the hopes that you had demonstrated
for.”

‘Dare to Compete’

Clinton recalled her own hesitation about entering the race
for New York’s Senate seat. She was undecided until a pivotal
moment at an event in New York City to promote a documentary on
women in sports. The woman who introduced Clinton to the crowd
leaned over as she shook Clinton’s hand and whispered the title
of the documentary to her: “Dare to compete, Mrs. Clinton, dare
to compete.”

“It was one of the best decisions of my life,” Clinton
said.

India provides a good example of what’s possible when more
women do get involved in decision making, Clinton said. A 2003
Indian constitutional amendment mandated that one-third of all
council seats go to women.

In a very short time, those women started investing more in
public services like clean water and police responsiveness than
their male counterparts had. Soon, a majority of people
responding to surveys said that conditions had improved and that
they had to pay fewer bribes.

‘Grit Your Teeth’

Clinton and Christine Lagarde, managing director of the
International Monetary Fund and one of the speakers, spoke about
the hurdles to women that remain.

“It’s not as though there’s been this huge, cosmic
change” in attitudes, Clinton said. “It still is hard.”

Clinton mentioned a radio interview she heard while getting
dressed for work this week. A woman interviewed about Republican
presidential nominee Michele Bachmann said she wasn’t
comfortable supporting a woman for president.

“Imagine my reaction,” said Clinton, a Democratic
presidential candidate in the 2008 election. “So it’s not only
in other countries that attitudes need to be addressed. It is
even in a country like my own.”

Lagarde gave the women in the crowded auditorium two pieces
of advice. The first was to build a list of talented, skilled
women so that the next time a male employer said they were
unable to find a qualified woman for a job, they could whip out
their list. She recalled the struggle she had as French finance
minister with state-owned firms reluctant to hire women, despite
laws requiring it.

“Start building your list,” she said to applause. “Do
it, do it, do it and use it.”

Lagarde’s second tip focused on the hostility toward women
that remains in too many workplaces, however subtle: “Take the
bashing, grit your teeth and smile, because there will be others
after you,” she said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Nicole Gaouette in Washington at
ngaouette@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net