Year Three of Executive Order 14020: The Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues’ 2023 Accomplishments

March 2024 marked the three-year anniversary of President Biden’s signing of Executive Order 14020 , which established the first-ever White House Gender Policy Council and reaffirmed that promoting the rights and empowerment of all women and girls is both a moral and strategic imperative at home and abroad.  In the past year, the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues (S/GWI), has supported this imperative through U.S. foreign policy, assistance, and public diplomacy.

Specifically, the office has continued to advance three longstanding priorities, which have constituted the basis of the Office’s focus since its establishment in 2009: (1) Promoting Women’s Economic Security; (2) Preventing and Responding to Gender-based Violence; and (3) Advancing Women, Peace, and Security.  As crises and threats emerge, the office also focuses efforts on cross-cutting issues – such as climate change, the empowerment of girls and young women, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

Promoting Women’s Economic Security

Following the launch of the first-ever U.S. Strategy on Global Women’s Economic Security in January 2023, S/GWI has promoted implementation of the Strategy through a number of bilateral engagements, including the U.S.-United Arab Emirates Economic Policy Dialogue, as well as in multilateral fora including the G20 and G7.  In August, the United States hosted the 13th annual APEC Women and the Economy Forum, with more than 300 government, private sector, and civil society participants.  As highlighted in the WEF Chair statement , the U.S. elevated four core themes: (1) Advancing Women’s Leadership in the Gender-Climate Nexus; (2) Increasing Equity and Equality in Global Value Chains; (3) Expanding Digital and STEM Inclusion and Innovation; and (4) Strengthening Care Infrastructure.  One of the major outcomes of the WEF was Vice President Harris’ launch of the Women in Sustainable Economy Initiative , which has already mobilized over $1.4 billion from governments, private sector, civil society to bolster women’s economic participation in sectors such as clean energy, fisheries, recycling, forest management, and environmental conservation.

The elevation of the care economy has been a key feature not just of the WEF, but of the full year. Ambassador Rao Gupta recorded a video message  to mark the first-ever International Day of Care and Support in October 2023.

Engagement with partners beyond governments has also been a key focus. S/GWI and the Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs co-manage three public private partnerships education in countries across South Asia–the U.S.-India Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment, the Alliance for Afghan Women’s Economic Resilience, and the U.S.-Pakistan Women’s Council–that advance women’s entrepreneurship, employment and access to education throughout the year.  For example, the U.S. Pakistan Women’s Council (USPWC), a public-private partnership between the State Department and Texas A&M University, partnered with Paklaunch to hold an accelerator program for 15 Pakistani women entrepreneurs.  All 15 finalists were awarded a $5,000 credit by Amazon Web Services and will receive one-on-one mentorship from Paklaunch and Amazon Web Services.  These programs are having positive ripple effects.  As Finalist Sara Amjad, Founder of Agventure, a company that sources vegetables and fruit from farms and delivers them to businesses, put it, she is challenging the standard rules of the game in her local business environment by “setting an example as a successful female entrepreneur, hoping to inspire and pave the way for others to follow suit.”

Preventing and Responding to Gender-based Violence

In 2023, S/GWI prioritized implementation of the updated U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence Globally released in 2022.  Over the past year, the office has increasingly dedicated efforts on the growing threat – to women’s political participation, to women’s leadership, and to women’s basic safety- posed by technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV).  In 2023, S/GWI took over U.S. leadership of the Global Partnership on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse  and was pleased to welcome France, Mexico, and Spain to the Partnership, bringing the total country members to 14.  Secretary Blinken launched the 2023 Roadmap for the Global Partnership at “The Status of Women is the Status of Democracy” event during the President’s 2nd Summit for Democracy. This event highlighted U.S. government progress  in the Year of Action since the 1st Summit – including over $7 million in Department foreign assistance programs to prevent and respond to TFGBV.  The U.S. also proudly led and worked closely with partners to secure strong language on TFGBV and the gender digital divide in the 67th Commission on the Status of Women Agreed Conclusions.

With the highest number of active conflicts since World War II, and more than one in 73 people worldwide forcibly displaced — the pervasiveness of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has only grown.  Recognizing that CRSV deepens and prolongs conflict, and the critical role of accountability to prevention, in 2023, the U.S. government designated individuals and entities connected to acts of CRSV in the Central African Republic , Democratic Republic of Congo , Haiti , Iraq, South Sudan , Sudan , and Syria  – the first time that a dedicated focus on CRSV has contributed to the imposition of U.S. sanctions.  S/GWI will continue to advance the Presidential Memorandum on Promoting Accountability for CRSV , and advocate for survivor-centered and trauma-informed services and documentation.

To commemorate the annual 16 Days of Activism Against GBV, S/GWI led a Department-wide media campaign and released several videos  highlighting our work around the world to address this human rights abuse.

Empowering Girls and Young Women

Aligned with the commitments under the U.S. Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls   S/GWI strengthened its support to promote the rights of all girls and young women to live safe, healthy, and empowered lives.   In October, S/GWI commemorated the International Day of the Girl with a series of events focused on girls’ mental health , PEPFAR’s commitment to women and girls, and global girls’ civic and political participation, where Ambassador Rao Gupta announced the launch of the first-ever U.S. Strategy on Global Girls’ Civic and Political Participation  and the first-ever U.S. contribution to the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to End Child Marriage . The U.S. government continued its annual $5 million investment to the UNICEF-UNFPA Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM in 2023, and S/GWI remained an active member of the program’s Steering Committee throughout the year. Along with other members of the Steering Committee, we have been working tirelessly to ensure the protection and rights of girls and young women are upheld.  On her first international trip as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, Ambassador Rao Gupta visited a Joint Programme site in Kenya, where she met with women and girls who have given up the practice of female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) and are supporting their families through a devastating long drought with the help of the Joint Programme.   As Gambian parliamentarians debate repealing their 2015 law banning FGM/C, Fatou Baldeh, a survivor of FGM/C and fierce advocate for women and girls, was awarded the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award for her work to defend critical protections that can mean life or death. We were honored to have her provide keynote remarks at the White House award ceremony in March 2024 and to uplift her efforts to end FGM/C in The Gambia.

Supporting Women and Girls’ Leadership in Efforts to Address the Climate Crisis

Ambassador Rao Gupta highlighted the Department’s strategies, initiatives, and programs to address the disproportionate impacts of the effects of climate change on women and girls – and empower them as climate leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai.  The Ambassador also launched Global Girls Creating Change (G2C2), a new S/GWI $3 million program to foster and elevate a diverse movement of girl-centered action to lead, shape, and inform equitable, inclusive climate policies and actions.  To further address one of the biggest threats to women and girls globally, S/GWI led the development of the first-ever U.S. Strategy to Respond to the Effects of Climate Change on Women in August 2023 (read more in this DipNote blog written by our in-house climate and gender expert.), and other initiatives throughout the past year.

Advancing Women, Peace, and Security

Per the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Act of 2017, S/GWI led the interagency process to develop and draft the updated the updated U.S. Strategy and National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security , which Secretary Blinken launched on the 23rd Anniversary of UNSCR 1325 on October 31, 2023.  The updated Strategy, the first of the Biden-Harris Administration, builds upon prior U.S. commitments to advance women’s safety, protection, and meaningful and equal participation at all levels in peace, political, and security processes around the world.  The launch of the Strategy and National Action Plan has created momentum around WPS engagement and implementation with the interagency, our partners, civil society, and the Hill, including as S/GWI now turns its focus to drafting the Department of State implementation plan.

However, implementation – including of the Strategy’s line of effort on partnerships – is well on its way already. The United States was proud to co-chair the UN Women WPS Focal Points Network with Romania throughout 2023.  This effort included a week-long Capital Level Conference in D.C. to discuss bridging the gap between WPS policy and practice in June 2023, which convened nearly 300 representatives from within and outside of the Network, including civil society, legislators, private sector, and academia; a robust series of regional workshops focused on WPS implementation with Network members; and a three-day conference in Romania in November 2023.

Additionally, Secretary Blinken and Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu participated in the WPS-Focal Points Network Ministerial side event during the UN General Assembly High-Level Week, which focused on WPS as an avenue for partnerships.  During the UNGA side event, Secretary Blinken announced the United States’ first-of-its-kind WPS Centers of Excellence project with the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS).  The project supports host government-driven initiatives by strengthening partnerships with civil society, academia, and local leaders to develop strategies, approaches and solutions to implementing WPS principles in practice. In February 2024, Ambassador Rao Gupta signed the first Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Colombia on their regional WPS Center of Excellence.   As Ambassador Rao Gupta stated in her remarks, “this WPS Center MOU signing is not just a moment for Colombia and the United States, but indeed for the WPS Agenda globally.”  S/GWI signed a similar MOU with the government of Kosovo in April 2024.

Supporting the Rights of Afghan Women and Girls

In the last two years, the human rights situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated severely.  The Taliban have systemically targeted Afghan women and girls with more than 50 discriminatory edicts.  They have attempted to erase Afghan women and girls from society, banning women and girls from accessing education beyond the primary level, prohibiting women’s employment in most sectors, restricting their freedom of movement, and effectively removing them from public spaces.  The Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights Rina Amiri, focused on five key efforts in 2023.

First, the Special Envoy promoted respect for human rights of Afghans, especially women and girls through diplomacy.  In every meeting with the Taliban, the Special Envoy made clear that women’s rights are central to U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and cannot be siloed or deprioritized. In coordination with our partners and allies, we have repeatedly made clear that the United States will not support steps towards normalization unless the rights of Afghan women and girls – and indeed, all Afghans – are respected.

Second, Special Envoy Amiri worked closely with partners, and Muslim-majority countries in particular, to ensure global solidarity for the rights of Afghan women and girls.  Since January 2022, we have engaged counterparts from more than thirty countries throughout the world. One example is supporting education through S/GWI’s partnership with the Asian University for Women (AUW) in Bangladesh, which has become a model for holistic support to young Afghan women by providing support to more than 100 Afghan women to prepare for and receive university education.

Third, we recognize the importance of amplifying the voices of Afghan women themselves, including both those inside the country as well as those forced into exile.  The U.S.-Afghan Consultative Mechanism, launched by Secretary Blinken in 2022, surpassed 200 consultations in 2023 with Afghan women and men from all major ethnic groups and areas of the country have had regular, direct engagements with leading U.S. policymakers, providing valuable perspectives to inform U.S. deliberations on Afghanistan policy across a range of shared priorities.

Fourth, we have also mobilized resources to advance education and economic resilience for women and girls.  This includes virtual educational program and job skills training for Afghan women and girls through the Alliance for Afghan Women’s Economic Resilience (AWER), a public-private partnership between the State Department and Boston University, co-managed by SCA and S/GWI.  During the February 2024 AWER Summit, Secretary Blinken noted, “Women and girls are determined to study.  They’re determined to chart their own path.  They’re determined to contribute to the future of their communities despite the extraordinary obstacles that they face.”  Recognizing we all have a role in matching the creativity, resilience, and determination of Afghan women and girls everywhere, Secretary Blinken announced a new initiative with AWER members Coursera and Qatar’s Education Above All Foundation that will provide access to online vocational upskilling for hundreds of thousands of Afghan women inside and outside of Afghanistan.    And fifth, we are working to support protection and accountability measures for the short and long term through our ongoing engagement with the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), and Afghan and international human rights organizations.

Utilizing U.S. Foreign Assistance to Improve Outcomes in Gender Equality

To support our strategies, programs, and initiatives, the State Department and USAID met the President’s historic Fiscal Year 2023 budget request for $2.6 billion towards gender equality foreign assistance , which doubled the amount requested the previous year, representing the largest investment to date.  This included $330 million in programs to prevent and respond to GBV, and an additional $200 million for the Gender Equity and Equality Action (GEEA) Fund, which advances women’s economic security globally.  Highlighted below are just a few S/GWI programs that promoted the rights and empowerment of women and girls over the past year:

•  Women and Girls Empowered (WAGE): Successfully concluded in September 2023, the WAGE project trained and supported more than 500 civil society organizations and institutions across 15 countries.  This resulted in improved design of women’s empowerment interventions; from coalition building to technical support and referral services.  For example, WAGE Moldova  fostered the Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment, an unprecedented collaboration between business and civil society organizations from across Moldova.  The Alliance significantly influenced the adoption of a proposed law on alternative childcare services by the Parliament, with the Alliance’s recommendations integrated into the law.
• SHE’s GREAT!:  The SHE’s GREAT! project engaged over 2,200 youth in six countries between 2018 and 2023 to promote economic skills and opportunities for girls.  One of the best examples of how the project empowers youth to address GBV is the story of Diana, a participant from a school in Osh, Kyrgyzstan who witnessed a bride kidnapping and used her learning to prevent it.  When Diana saw the kidnapping happen, she memorized the car details and called her SHE’s GREAT! program coordinator who in turn contacted police. In a couple of hours, the car was found, and the kidnapped girl was released.  As a SHE’s GREAT! participant, Diana had learned to be aware of this type of GBV and believed that she could influence the outcome. In so doing, she forever changed a young girl’s life.
• SHE WINS Rapid Response Fund:  In 2023, the S/GWI Supporting Her Empowerment: Women’s Inclusion for New Security (SHE WINS) Rapid Response Fund (RRF) supported five emerging women-led organizations to prevent and address local conflict in their communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guatemala, Kyrgyzstan, and North Macedonia.  Specifically, programming strengthened the capacity of women leaders; provided psychosocial and economic empowerment support to women; and advanced the role of women in democratic processes and civil society.  For example, in Guatemala, SHE WINS supported a women-led organization to mobilize 90 indigenous women to participate in local and national elections by addressing the factors in their communities, including violence, that had been obstructing their opportunity to vote.  In Bosnia and Herzegovina, SHE WINS supported an organization to establish a network of young women peacebuilders and build their capacity on organizational management and social advocacy.  In total, the RRF has committed over $600,000 to local civil society organizations through small, easily accessible funds to advance the initiatives of women peacebuilders.  In October 2023, S/GWI expanded the RRF globally, enabling S/GWI to provide simple-to-access funds in amounts up to $250,000 to new and emerging women-led civil society organizations around the world to support WPS efforts in their communities

In FY 2023, S/GWI-funded foreign assistance programs resulted in:

• 153 civil society organizations, including 71 women’s rights groups and 55 indigenous people’s groups, engaged in advocacy for gender equality such as targeted engagement with public officials on policy reform;

• Over 644 women participating in a substantive role or position in a peacebuilding process;
• 574 activities to strengthen the civic participation of women;
• 3,281 people (including 2,659 women) receiving increased access to productive economic resources such as finance or employment;
• and 2,492 people trained to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment outcomes in their capacity as members of a public or private sector institution or organization.

These results reflect the real-life impact of S/GWI’s programs on the lives of women and girls, as well as our commitment to supporting locally-led, community-based programs, leading to more sustainable outcomes in gender equality across the globe.

Building the Department’s Capacity on Gender Equality

S/GWI cannot, and does not, advance these priorities alone.  A core component of the office’s mandate is to build the Department of State’s institutional capacity to integrate the needs and perspectives of women and girls across all our efforts – this includes training our personnel, providing technical expertise and tools, and reforming operational policies and practices.  This year, the Department continued implementation of training requirements established in the WPS and Women’s Entrepreneurship and Empowerment (WEE) Acts. S/GWI launched a new analysis tool in February 2023, training nearly 160 Department personnel in 2023.  S/GWI and the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) facilitated four offerings of the Promoting Gender Equality to Advance Foreign Policy course in 2023, and signed an agreement that for the first time extends the course from three to four days in 2024 and beyond.