Melanne Verveer

State Department Ambassador-at- Large for Global Women's Issues (since April 2009)

(Vital Voices)

Why She Matters

Verveer is one of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's closest associates, so it make sense that she would take on the topic nearest to Clinton's heart - women's issues.

Verveer was appointed ambassador-at-large for global women's issues in April 2009, a post that is housed at the State Department. In the new position, she will lobby for women's political, economic and social advancement throughout the world. "Women are critical to U.S. foreign policy," Verveer said in an interview with WhoRunsGov. "They must be part of our [the U.S.'s] policies because they are critical to success."

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Faith Outreach Coordinator, Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 Presidential Campaign (2006 to 2008); CEO, Vital Voices Global Partnership, (2000 to 2009)
Birthday: 1944
Hometown: Pottsville, Pa.

Alma Mater: Georgetown University, B.S., 1966; Georgetown University, M.A., 1969
Spouse: Philip Verveer
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Path to Power

Verveer was born in Pottsville, Pa., in 1944. She earned her B.S. in languages at Georgetown in 1966 and returned to the university to study Russian and earn a Master's degree in 1969.

After graduating, she worked in government and in a slew of non-governmental organizations. She coordinated the Civil Rights and Urban Affairs for the U.S. Catholic Conference's national office, became field manager of Common Cause and worked in the U.S. Senate as legislative director and special assistant to Sen. George McGovern (D-S.D.).

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In 1987, Verveer was named executive vice president of People for the American Way, a civil-rights and constitutional- liberties group. There, she led the organizations efforts to pass several civil-rights bills. She took a break from that position to help with Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.

Clinton White House

Verveer joined Clinton's team in 1995 as deputy assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff to the first lady. "No first lady's staff has ever had a political operative of the caliber and experience of Melanne Verveer," the National Catholic Reporter wrote at the time.

Verveer helped plan Clinton's famous 1995 speech at the U.N. World Conference on Women in Beijing, in which she told listeners that women's rights are not separate from human rights. President Bill Clinton's staff considered the subject politically risky. "They gave us lots of flak," Verveer told New York magazine. But in the end, the speech was a wild success.

While at the White House, Verveer helped found the Interagency Council on Women in 1995. She created the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative in 1997 with Hillary Clinton and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The organization, which focused on helping women leaders network globally, was so popular that in June 2000, Verveer launched the Vital Voices Global Partnership, a non-profit that works to advance women's economic, political and social status around the world. "I think private organizations have an important role to play in women's issues," Verveer said in an interview with WhoRunsGov.com. "The government can't do everything we need allies."

The global partnership provides women with networking opportunities, skills training and advocacy efforts designed to increase their political participation in Latin America and entrepreneurship in the Middle East.

Verveer worked with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on several initiatives related to human rights and Middle East outreach.

Verveer joined Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign in 2006, coordinating faith outreach and serving as a forceful surrogate who could speak to Clinton's experience as first lady. When Clinton was abroad, "it wasn't photo ops and fancy dinners," she told McClatchy Newspapers. "It was going to villages, to cities, looking at the tough challenges facing people. ... That gave her a very broad perspective and a sophisticated vision of America's place in the world."

Now, she'll be working with Clinton again in the State Department as the ambassador at large for women's issues.

The Issues

Verveer thinks a lot of the problems facing women can be addressed by investing in women and training them to be community leaders. She helped strengthen women's role in the developing world by training and mentoring more than 5,000 women leaders from 150 developing countries. "Democratic institutions cannot thrive and survive without their participation. Economies cannot grow and prosper without their inclusion," she said at her 2009 confirmation hearing. "And it remains a simple fact that no country can get ahead if half of its citizens are left behind."

In her new position, Verveer will focus on addressing specific women's rights issues and also coordinating efforts on women's issues between departments. "We are hoping to share the expertise of the American government, no matter where it comes from," she said in an interview with WhoRunsGov.com.

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Among the most important issues, Verveer hopes to help women in Iraq and Afghanistan find a voice in their fledgling governments; to improve the quality of maternal health; and to work on preventing the use of rape as a tool of war.

Women's Rights as Human Rights

One of Verveer's core beliefs is that women's rights should not be considered as separate from human rights. At her 2009 confirmation hearing, she said "the position to which I have been nominated has to do with women, but these issues should not be considered solely or uniquely women's issues, for if women's potential is developed and they participate fully in their societies, it is our world that will prosper."

Human Trafficking

Verveer has called human trafficking, which disproportionately affects women, one of the most important women's issues she will address. "We need to elevate the race against human trafficking to the Grand Prix level, with Formula One-quality vehicles, sponsors and fuel. We simply can't stay in the slow lane for another ten years," she said in a 2007 interview.

She has long been an advocate of protecting women from trafficking. While working in the Clinton White House, she heard stories of networks that took women from their homes and "sunk them into a nightmare." These stories inspired her to push for the 2000 Trafficking in Persons Act, which demanded an annual report on the state of human trafficking around the world.

As ambassador, Verveer will work with the Department's Trafficking in Persons Office to address trafficking in three ways: prevention, protection, and prosecution, all of which must be worked on together to be successful.. She has also called on the U.S. to work more closely with NGOs, international-law organizations and the business community to address the underlying problems that give rise to trafficking, including lack of opportunity and worker exploitation.

Abortion Rights

Like Secretary Clinton, Verveer believes that abortion should be safe, legal and rare. In her position as ambassador-at-large, she will work to decrease the maternal mortality rate in the developing world.

Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, director and senior fellow of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute, wrote in a press release that Verveer's nomination "guarantees that the President's pro-abortion agenda will be carried to the far corners of the world."However, abortion rights are not part of the new office's mandate. Instead, the emphasis is on family planning more broadly.

Responding to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), at her 2009 confirmation hearing, Verveer said that the U.S. puts a "premium on reducing abortions" through family planning and that she would not, in her position of ambassador-at-large, advocate for the use of abortion. "The position of ambassador-at-large for women's global issues needs to represent all Americans, both pro-life and pro-choice," Wicker said. "I hope that in her testimony Ms. Verveer can assuage any concerns by effectively assuring the committee that she would not use her position to promote abortion internationally, should she be confirmed.

The Network

Verveer's husband, Philip, also works at the State Department as deputy assistant secretary for International Communications and Information Policy and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy.

Verveer attended Georgetown University with President Bill Clinton, and eventually became close to Hillary Rodham Clinton as well. As a member of "Hillaryland," she has ties to Maggie Williams, Clinton's first White House chief of staff; Huma Abedin, Clinton's personal aide; Cheryl Mills, former deputy White House counsel and State Department chief of staff; Neera Tanden, at Obama's HHS; and Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton's former campaign manager. "It's concentric circles," Verveer said of Clinton's network in 2007.

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