Bloomberg examines Sec. of State Clinton's focus on women

Bloomberg examines Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's "fervor for making women's advancement a core part of her national-security efforts." According to the news service, Clinton "has been pushing the cause from remote Congolese villages to the United Nations General Assembly. She appointed Melanne Verveer … her former chief of staff, as the first U.S. ambassador for global women's issues. On every foreign trip, Clinton schedules an event with local women."

Bloomberg looks at Clinton's recent speeches that reflect a "new focus inside the State Department [of] … ensuring women have access to savings accounts, health insurance, home ownership and business funding." Bloomberg also reports on congressional efforts to improve women's lot globally and "legislation to make permanent the ambassadorship Verveer now holds."

The news service continues: "President George W. Bush and his wife Laura, who worked to expand opportunities in Afghanistan, recognized the national-security value of improving women's lives. Karen Hughes, a close Bush aide, focused on the issue as an undersecretary of state, a job that convinced her 'it is increasingly the women of the world who are the agents of change, the arbiters of peace and reconciliation,' she said in an e-mail" (Zacharia, 11/24).