State Department blog summarizes U.S. policies addressing gender equality

Writing in the U.S. State Department's "DipNote" blog, Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, who serves as senior adviser to the Secretary of State and directs the department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, discusses the One Billion Rising campaign calling attention to violence against women and girls. Noting some data on violence against women, he states, "The United States has put gender equality and the advancement of women and girls at the forefront of the three pillars of U.S. foreign policy -- diplomacy, development, and defense." CdeBaca continues, "This is embodied in the President's National Security Strategy, the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, the 2010 U.S. Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), and the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security." He also discusses "the first-ever U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence," (.pdf) launched in August of last year (2/14).