This week, we took two major steps in empowering women and girls both here in the United States and abroad.
On Monday, we announced Equal Futures, a partnership between the U.S. and other nations to advance the rights and opportunities of women and girls.
At last year’s UN General Assembly, President Obama challenged member nations to “break down economic and political barriers that stand in the way of women and girls.”
To answer the call, on Monday, I joined Secretary Clinton and leaders from around the world to launch the Equal Futures Partnership.
Founding members, including the United States and 12 other countries, each shared new national commitments to further women’s political and economic participation. For the United States, our Equal Futures commitments will:
- Expand opportunity for women and girls in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields
- Expand economic security for domestic violence victims
- Support women entrepreneurs
- Promote civic and public leadership for girls
In each of these areas, we are working to strengthen government policies and programs and partner with private and non-profit sectors to achieve our objectives. For more information on our commitments, read here.
The second major step to empower women and girls took place yesterday, when the President spoke on human trafficking at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting.
Human trafficking is a fundamental human rights issue, and according to the UN, the overwhelming majority of victims are women and girls.
Fonte: White House