Secretary of state mike pompeo on legislature to establish a permanent Womens Global Development and prosperity office at the state department. They were joined by several members of congress and white house officials at this womens global empowerment summit. It runs one hour. Thank you so much for coming. It is my great pleasure to introduce our wonderful secretary of state, michael pompeo, to open our discussion. Secretary pompeo thank you. Thank you, ambassador curry. Ambassador curry will be heading this new unit that we are establishing here at the state department. Congratulations to you. [applause] it is a privilege, and frankly joyous for me to be here today to kick off this and not girl Interagency Steering Committee meeting and to host everyone today. Thank you all, for being here. Our country was founded on the selfevident idea and truth that every man and woman is endowed by the creator with a certain set of inalienable rights, and so deserves a chance to achieve his or her godgiven potential, something we all, regardless of our political party, agree on. What is more, womens achievements are americas achievement and president trumps program is a historical intangible expression of our founding values. Through this initiative, american interests are served by having freer, and more. Rosperous the need for the wgdp is urgent clear and urgent. Too many barriers have kept women from too many opportunities in too many parts of the world. Tomorrow i leave for my trip to Subsaharan Africa and look forward to meeting women across the region. Ivanka was in ethiopia last year and met a woman named sarah, and ethiopian weaver who worked with our usaid to expand her business local business to 500 employees, a true testament to the effectiveness and goodness that comes from the wgdp programs. If we succeed, there can be many stories like her. Thank you all, for being here. Ambassador, i look forward to working with you and your team and look forward to your leadership on this issue. Thank you, mr. Secretary. It is my great pleasure to introduce my partner in crime, the real lodestar of this initiative, ivanka trump, advisor to the president. [applause] ms. Trump thank you, ambassador. Secretary, i can say that sarah will blow you away. What she has been able to do over the last decade, to go from an employer ofs , hundreds of women, and she teaches the skills too, and is now the countrys largest exporter of woven textiles. Really an amazing story. And im thankful just for being here and for supporting the dedicated men and women at the state department, and for your leadership in forging a legacy of bold diplomacy around the world. I look forward to continuing to partner with you as we achieve real impact. Today, i am honored as we come together to celebrate the oneYear Anniversary of the Womens Global Development and prosperity initiative, also known as wgdp. Anniversaries like this allow us to highlight the incredible work yous been done by all of and your teams sitting around this table, and to set new goals to drive us into the future. We are especially excited to announce the state departments new role as lead coordinating Agency Working to support the white houses continued direction on policy. The state department will establish a dedicated team to work on wgdp under the leadership of ambassador kelly curry. State diplomatic and policy expertise is critical to all elements of the wgdp initiative, but particularly as it relates to driving the types of legal and regulatory reforms that are so important to sustainable change across the world. I want to thank you again, secretary pompeo, ambassador curry, and the many others across the state department who share this priority and are committed to the success of wgdp. I would also like to thank usaid administrator mark green, for his incredible leadership on this initiative. Thank you, mark, and thank you for joining us. You have been working with us since day one, and last year launched the dedicated wgdp fund. Usaids Program Expertise is essential for this fund to be successful and we know that it will be. In december, we were thrilled to announce wgdp got its own light line item in the 2020 omnibus bill, which is truly incredible for a young initiative, and signals the strong bipartisan support we have been fortunate to receive in collaboration on this initiative with members across the aisle on the hill since its inception. This past week, the president reaffirmed his commitment to this initiative in the 2021 budget, which doubles the allocation to wgdp. So many individuals in this room have worked tirelessly the past several years to get this initiative off the ground. I would like to thank everyone around this table for prioritizing womens Economic Empowerment efforts across your agencies and departments. Wgdps success relies on the hard work that you and your team put forward every day. So thank you, all. I also want to recognize and thank thank senator Lindsey Graham and senator Jeanne Shaheen for joining us here today. You have both been instrumental in the creation of this initiative from day one and have really worked with us on developing it based on your experiences and making it what it is. We first worked together on womens peace and security legislation, and subsequent to that, the womens entrepreneurship Economic Empowerment act, and have built very constructive relationships based on trust and a shared mission and a shared goal, which is why i am pleased particularly pleased to be able to announce today that we will be introducing Bipartisan Legislation in the senate to promote the empowerment, development, and prosperity of women globally, aptly named the wgdp act. This legislation would permanently authorized wgdp and authorize wgdp and establish womens Economic Empowerment as a core facet of u. S. Foreign policy, in line with the president s own National Security strategy. The Womens Global Development and prosperity act will also permanently elevate these efforts at the state department, by establishing for the First Time Ever in legislation and office of womens empowerment led by an ambassador or at large. Since the bush administration, there have been continuous efforts to codify the role of women as a Foreign Policy priority. This white house looks forward to working closely with congress and passing wgdp legislation and realizing this long overdue goal. We thank you for your partnership and your commitment to helping us get this done. I would also like to recognize and thank representative mccaul. Thank you, representative. And his counterpart in the house, representative lois frankel. I am happy to announce that under their leadership they will be introducing a companion bill in the house of representatives in the coming days, and we think thank you again for your steadfast commitment to advancing this work. Thank you. Thank you for being here. To put all this in a little bit of context, last february the president signed the National Security president ial memorandum to officially launch wgdp. Wgdp is the firstever government coordinated approach to womens Economic Empowerment across the agencies. This also established an ambitious goal of reaching 50 million women across the developing world by 2025. Today, we will release the first report in front of everyone detailing our impacts, and i am beyond excited to announce we have reached over 12 million women in the last year alone. [applause] really amazing. All of this through Innovative New programs and projects across all three of the wgdp pillars, all of which is itemized in the report. One of the key components of wgdp is recognizing the role of both the public and private sector in achieving largescale and lasting results. The private sector is a critical partner in our mission as we seek to address barriers to womens economic inclusion. I would like to call out a few of our partners that were with us since inception, including mastercard, visa, and ups, for helping us generate this tremendous impact. These partnerships have made it possible to source and scale Innovative New projects across all three of the pillars. Under pillar one, we are advancing Workforce Development and Vocational Education for women by equipping them with the necessary skills to secure jobs in their local economies and to enhance the productivity of the work that they are doing. We have launched programs like women connect, a call for solutions to improve womens participation in everyday life by meaningfully changing the way women and girls access and use technology. Through this program, usaid has over 2. 9 million to 12 grantees working to bridge the gender divide in their countries. In pillar number two, we are empowering women to succeed as entrepreneurs. We know womenowned or womenrun businesses make up a third of small to Mediumsized Enterprises in emerging markets, yet some of the greatest obstacles to growth include insufficient access to capital, mentorships, and trading markets. Through initiatives launched by this administration, such as the wgdp iix challenge, we galvanized g7 nations to join us in committing 3 billion to the worlds women, and through the world bank womens entrepreneur finance initiative, which the u. S. Was a Founding Member of, we have mobilized more than 2. 6 billion to date, from 14 separate countries. This weekend i will travel with , ambassador curry, the World Bank President , and the imf managing director to the summit in dubai. With the help of many in this room, we are making historic progress on closing the gender credit gap and empowering Women Entrepreneurs to create jobs in their communities and economies. Finally, and very importantly, maybe the most important, pillar three recognizes the central role of a Legal Framework that enables women to thrive by eliminating legal and societal barriers that prevent women from fully participating in the economy. Today, in 90 countries around the world, there are still laws on the books that restrict womens abilities to work in the same jobs and sectors as men, often times in the Predominant Industries in those countries. In 75 countries, there is at least one law that prohibits women from owning, managing, or inheriting property. We can and must address these discriminatory laws and regulations. To that end, two of the most significant milestones we have seen are the governments that have amended laws to promote womens Economic Empowerment to addressing womens property and land rights. We commend those governments for making these important and bold reforms. The United States stands eager and ready to work with every country willing to take action to address discriminatory legal and regulatory barriers that hold women back and impede economic progress for all. In a landmark report that was also issued today, the White House Council of economic advisors, and thank you, thomas, for being here, estimates that fully addressing the five legal barriers to wgdp, accessing institutions, building credit, owning and managing property, traveling freely, and removing employment restrictions, could increase annual global gdp by 7. 7 trillion, 8. 3 . It is a really amazing report, and we suggest everyone take a close look at it. In the coming year, we can work to empower millions of women to lift their families out of poverty, grow the economies of in their country, reduce dependence, and deliver on the promise of Greater Peace and prosperity. I look forward to working with each of you around this table as we advance this ambitious goal. Now i would like to turn it over to my dear friend, senator graham, to follow up with a few words. Thank you, senator. Sen. Graham thank you, very much. I dont know where to start, other than to say thank you to ivanka and her team for not taking no for an answer. It is just easier to pass this bill than to meet with her all the time. [laughter] ms. Trump lindsey, it is genetic. Sen. Graham we have a determination that is good for washington. Secretary pompeo, thank you for putting the state department behind this initiative. This idea was needed at home and it has found a good home here, in tough, we live turbulent times. You are always willing to work on things that matter. You have the ability to compartmentalize yourself and your country and we are working here to memorialize this in legislation, so that this one administrations idea becomes the United States governments standing commitment to women. And that is why the bill matters, by making it a part of our law that will be passed on from one administration to the other. Very quickly i have been to iraq , and afghanistan pushing 60 times, and what you learn over and over again is that when a mothers voice is silenced, it is not a very good place to live. When a womans future is determined on the day she is born and there is no hope, it is a very discouraging place. So to fix a problem, you have to identify it. Weve got a lot of good programs. Feed the future. President obama was trying to make africa more selfsufficient when it comes to food. President bush tried to get ahead of an aids epidemic and save millions of Young Africans from certain death and empower africa grow economically by having affordable power. But the one thing i can say above all else is that the way a nation presents Economic Opportunity to women will determine their future and ours. To those who wonder, why does this matter to you in South Carolina . I promise you, in places where women can be part of the economy, we have more customers. In places where a woman can have a say about her childs future, you will have peace. And in a place where they are soccer poorly, put in stadiums for sport, mass raped under the name of religion, our soldiers will soon go there because that ideology will eventually come here. This goes to the root cause of the problem. It could be 1120 in a lot of countries in this world, even though it is 2020. Imagine a world where your daughter cannot inherit property, that your wife or your sister cant go to the bank of all the things i have an part of, this could be the most consequential. My commitment to make sure it is done this year will be and nurtured. Thank you all. Thank you, senator graham. Your commitment is inspiring and i hope it inspires her fellow senators to get behind this initiative or it with that, i will turn it over to senator shaheen who has been a rockstar and leading case bipartisan effort to request i am pleased tobe able to join all of you address the challenges that women face globally. A volcker, i appreciate your leadership on this issue. Globalually every measure, women are more extended than men, over one billion women around the world are restricted andhaving the same jobs restricting the types of jobs and where and when they can work. Ithink it defines differently. Regardless if it is 9000 countries for more discriminate communitiese and countries and the Global Economy are often hurt by women not allowed equal opportunity critic researcher just that closing the gender gap in the 28 trillionld add to the global gdp by 2025. Human capital wealth would increase by over 100 trillion according to the world bank. Im excited to be joining senator graham on this legislation. A lothere is a lie of bipartisan support for this initiative and if weekend get off the ground, it will continue in future congresses that in a way that would make a difference around the world. , itchieve empowerment incorporates womens and girls rights, protections and how can order to truly help women and girls succeed. This legislation aims to do that during it takes the whole government approach of gender. Quality im pleased the ambassador curry is here. This makes a permanent dedicated office to address gender issues and a direct line to the secretary of state which we all believe is important. Legislation creates more and ensuresgress that the legislative branch is working together to address womens issues and as everyone has said, u. S. Leadership on womens empowerment is absolutely critical. Thank you all for the work you are doing and i look forward to thisng you continuing effort. Thank you, senator shaheen, for your leadership. I would like to recognize representative mccaul. Secretary, it is an honor to be here to celebrate the oneYear Anniversary of the Womens Global Development and prosperity initiative. Last year i traveled with senator Lindsey Graham to launch this important effort. The energy and excitement around this initiative was incredible and ivanka, you are a rockstar, you were a rockstar there and i am proud to support you in this critical work. You set a deadline and we met that deadline, im proud to say, in this partisan and polarized time in our government. There are very few things we get to work on that earned such bipartisan support, and senator shaheen, thank you for your work on this as well. When i look at the esteemed guests here today, it is truly an interagency, bicameral, bipartisan effort, and that is because we know the impact we are having here today. When a woman is empowered and an active participant in her community, the economy and society, we know countries are more stable and prosperous. That is why lindsay and i passed the global fertility act, to stabilize these nations and to me it gets to the problem of extremism. When secretary pompeo talks about fighting extremism, when mark green talks about a journey to reliance, when larry kudlow talks about opportunities for business and investment, this opportunity to empower women is essential to all these u. S. Foreign policy objectives. This is a National Security issue. The biggest threat to extremism is an empowered woman, and that is why wgdp sets a goal to reach out to 50 million women. Think about that, 50 million women globally in developing countries by 2025. So i look forward to working with all of you to meet and surpass that goal and i applaud my friends here today, particularly senators graham and shaheen for the introduction of the wgdp act. This legislation will codify important interagency coordination and Senior Leadership dedicated to advancing this work. And in the house, i am working with representative frankel and chairman engel, and well introduce the house companion to this important legislation in the next few days, and we will take the interagency, the ngos mark works with, and sector partners to get this on and on the president s desk. And i will look forward to that great day we will be sitting in the oval office and having this important legislation signed into law. Thank you. Thank you, congressman. We appreciate the support from our separate and coequal branch of government. I said separate and coequal. [laughter] if i could turn now to our wgdp Steering Committee cochairs, Robert Obrien and larry kudlow to make brief remarks. Mr. Obrien it is great to be back at the state department, mr. Secretary, thanks for having me back. And it is wonderful to see ambassador curry, she is fantastic in her position. Ivanka, congratulations. You and the secretary have taken in a normal step with this mission and your leadership on the global stage is amazing. It is something i see a reflection of as i speak with colleagues around the world and they ask for president ial visits are president ial calls, i get just as many requests for ivanka to come and visit the countries. Dont tell that to the president. Your leadership is making an impact around the world and is recognized. Womens empowerment and development is a National Security issue of the highest important, and the reason is that societies and countries where women fully participate in the Civic Affairs and Political Affairs in the Economic Affairs of their nation, those are countries with which the United States will have great relations. And that is why we have incorporated this initiative into the nsc process. This is a fully vetted nsc process that led to a National Security memorandum from the president , so you have the full support of the National Security council and the United States. In a very polarized city, polarized country, we need these initiatives that will bring americans together. And this is one of those bipartisan initiatives where every american can get behind. It is something for us to feel good about as a country, and initial we can feel good about as americans, rolling out across the world, and that makes us safer and more secure and is going to make for a better world. So thank you, ivanka and mr. Secretary for your leadership on this. And you have our full support. Mr. Kudlow thank, mr. Secretary, ivanka, lots more work to do but we appreciate everything you have done. Thank you to the two senators for supporting Bipartisan Legislation, which can be a wonderful thing. We are a little short now, but if you can boost that, that would be a heck of a good thing. Success in leadership starts at home, and in the administration we often talk about the bluecollar boom that is going on in labor markets, but there is also a womens boom going on in labor markets, and if you just bear with me for some numbers, the womens Unemployment Rate is 3. 6 , a 66 year low going back to 1953. 72 of jobs created last year went to women. 59. 1 of the jobs since the 2016 election went to women. In december 2019, the share of women working hit 55. 7 , several Percentage Points ahead over the past couple of years per the Labor Force Participation rate for primate working women hit 76. 8 . That is up several Percentage Points in recent years. Women now account for over 50 of the workforce, so men are once again a minority group. Over the past three years, median Weekly Earnings for working aged women, up 3. 6 at an annual rate, compared to only 2. 1 annually during the prior three years. These are impressive numbers, there is a womens going on as well as a bluecollar room. Under ivankas leadership, we are helping to work toward full access to credit and traveling freely in legal rights to own property and start businesses, and work in the same industries. And i have heard a lot of great gdp forecasts today. The cai think was 7 trillion and change. I prefer senator shaheens number, 28 trillion. I believe in the optimistic law of big numbers. [laughter] let me say finally, a couple of points. One is quite serious. Years ago at princeton i took a historical course by bernard lewis. Most believe he was the best scholar of the middle east, writing voluminously. Professor lewis and his classic book what went wrong . The clash between islam and modernity. He noted in the key chapters of this book that, regrettably, the relegation of women to inferior positions in the economy of many muslim nations where women were not allowed to work took what was once a great and mighty civilization and turned it into something that felt very low this simple fact. One half of those countries, 50 , women, were not allowed to work. It was an extraordinary point. I raised it in a constructive way. It is part of the agenda. It shows you how significant. 50 of the labor force missing in action in the economy. Those were women who denied the economic rights senator shaheen referred to. Ivanka, you talked about 3 billion from the g7, so i can announce in june we are going to have a g7 Plenary Session on wgdp and related matters. I will not let them out of the room until they fulfill your pledge. [laughter] mr. Kudlow basically we will give women on the economic rights they deserve. I will say this any great country that affords equal economic rights as well as other rights is bound to produce a happier and more peaceful nation. Of course, i know that women are smarter than men. I learned it years ago. This just gives me a chance to work on that project. Thank you so much. I have such wonderful partners at the white house. I dont know how we could possibly not succeed. That is a perfect segue to our next speaker, the secretary of labor. Thank you for joining us today. It is a pleasure to be here to celebrate the oneYear Anniversary of the Womens Global Development and prosperity initiative. I would like to thank advisor trump for her leadership. When you talk about ivanka and leadership, it is a project that will be approached with determination, thoughtfulness, resolve. I would like to thank secretary pompeo for hosting this event. Last year was a very good one for women in the United States economy. Unemployment for adult women reached a low last year that we had not seen since 1953, according to the data we have at the department of labors bureau of labor statistics. Since december, there are more women than men in the u. S. Labor force. That said, just as we recognize there is more to be done in this country to ensure equal opportunity for women, we know it is all the more urgent that elsewhere in the world women have the opportunities i described to you. At the labor department, we are proud to be part of the wgdp effort. Our role is an extension of things we already do. This year, we are celebrating the 100th Year Anniversary of our womens bureau, which focuses on empowering women in this country through economic opportunities. Our bureau of International Labor affairs engages in efforts fulltime to combat Human Trafficking to save women around the globe from dangerous situations. I am pleased to be joined by the deputy under secretary. Thank you for what you do. In the countries we focus on, women face discrimination. They faced genderbased violence, poor working conditions, and limited employment opportunities. We are proud to contribute to this governmentwide initiative to address that injustice. In 2019, the department reached nearly one million women under the wgdp initiative and related efforts. One example a woman in southeastern zambia named miriam, with assistance from a governmentfunded project called a Department Funded project called empower, miriam and others in her community built a poultry house. They now plan to invest and diversify that business, selling tools and machinery, becoming what they call agrodealers. This is the entrepreneurialism in this country we take for granted. It makes such a great difference in the lives of these women and ultimately in their country. We need more outcomes like this. I am pleased to announce the award of two new Technical Assistance projects from the labor department, one of these mexico and one in colombia. One will increase both will increase womens marketable skills, reduce determination, and enhance Work Opportunities in agriculture supply chains. I should add this is in addition to provisions in the u. S. Mexico Canada Agreement the president signed into legislation last month. Provisions in the agreement will promote equality of women in the workplace in mexico and fight employment discrimination there. Ivanka, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for those new commitments. At this point, i want to turn it over to one of our most important partners. We could not do this without usaid and the incredible work they do around the world. They are on the ground providing invaluable assistance. We deeply, deeply appreciate the administrator and his personal commitment. Thank you. Good morning, everyone. It is an honor to join all of you here in marking wgdps First Anniversary and celebrating the progress and results we have already seen. To be clear, womens Economic Empowerment as long been part of usaids work. What wgdp brings to the mission is new energy and a comprehensive approach involving every part of the executive branch, from missions in the field to the oval office itself. It is bringing new analytic metrics and laser sharp focus on the barriers to prevent women from having their place at the economic table. Usaids role in wgdp is an operational one. It is a programmatic one. First, we manage the wgdp fund and make sure we have Optimal Outcomes and results and we squeeze them from every single dollar that gets invested. Second, we worked relentlessly to find the most promising proposals for accelerating womens Economic Empowerment, provide initial funding to pilot those approaches, and then bring the best performers to scale. Finally, we work to leverage our extensive field presence to advance the three fundamental pillars you heard ivanka talk about. The early returns are promising. Wgdp already lifted the lives of 12 million women around the. 9 million of those were direct beneficiaries of these programs i have been referring to. In its very first year, the wgdp fund made investments across 44 countries and amplified its reach. Wgdp worked with partners across ngos and local governments, 250 partners. At usaid alone, our department improved working conditions for more than than 1. 5 million working women. But the numbers dont begin to tell the story of wgdps emerging impact. Numbers cannot convey the story of women coffee farmers in ethiopia that now have access to credit so they can expand their businesses, or women in cote divoire, or strawberry farmers who improved their quality to the point where they are supplying strawberries to major regional restaurant chains. Numbers dont begin to capture the joy i heard in these women as they proudly told advisor trump that because of wgdp, they are now able to chase their dreams, or the pride ivanka must have felt as wgdps architect, to realize all that hard work and time spent in capitol hill has made a difference in very practical ways in the lives of people a long way from the beltway. It is important to note wgdps outcomes are not usaids, not by a long shot. Wgdp works hard to tap into existing local networks. It has also forged partnerships with successful American Companies that recognized their business interests are best served when women are empowered around the world, Great Companies like pepsi, mars, visa, and others. There is a lot to celebrate. The stories i have given you are a small sampling of the work already underway in the first year of wgdp. They are a fraction of the ideas and proposals we have been receiving from partners and potential partners. Finally, there is one other aspect to usaids role in this initiative, working with the state department to institutionalize this. There are a lot of great ideas throughout history. They tend to last just as long as an administration. I think our great nation, working great mission, working so closely with you around the table, is to make sure this framework is in fact a key component of american Foreign Policy. As the second year gets underway, i am excited about what comes next. Innovative programs, empowered women, new economic energy. Really and truly, the best is yet to come. Thank you so much. I think we have time to hear from a couple more people, if we could keep it tight. Now i am going to turn it over to our acting vice chairman, our acting chairman and vice chair of the economic advisers to give us information about the new report advisor trump mentioned. Thank you. Thanks for participating in this important effort. To mark the importance of this effort, the Council Published a report that finds removing legal barriers to womens participation generates huge economic benefits throughout the world. If the government restricts Economic Activity on half of its population, less than half of that Economic Committee will take place. In our report, we formed a wgdp index to measure how much a country allows or disallows women to participate in the economy. We quantify the benefits if all countries changed their laws and regulations to allow women to participate in the economy in the same capacity as men. By removing the restrictions on all female and Economic Activity, we find an increase in global gdp by 7 trillion. Fully deregulating womens Economic Activity in the most restricted regions would increase real per capita gdp by almost 60 in this country. The largest increases of gdp are predicted to come by removing legal restrictions to female Labor Participation and as well as owning property. It should not come as a surprise that leveling the Playing Field to allow women to participate fully in the economy would lead to increased economic performance. Just as the administration realized Great Results for americans through domestic deregulatory reforms, so too can we encourage other nations to give women the freedom to choose their own path, bringing forth benefits to each nation in the world. Thanks a lot for having us participate and congratulations ivanka for leading this effort. If i may follow up, we talked about the discrepancy between the 28 trillion and 7 trillion. The wgdp index quantifies and breaks down specific to the five foundational laws this initiative is looking at property rights, womens ability to participate in all industries. It is specific to that rather than every potential law, and gives us tangible levers we can seek to use, our diplomatic might and power to convince to impact change and reform. That 7 trillion is a short run effect as opposed to a long run effect. I am for the shaheen model. [laughter] thank you. We have to start somewhere. A 7 trillion initial shortterm goal is a good one. I will turn to sean from the Millennium Challenge Corporation. All our partners across the interagency have been tremendous in terms of moving these things forward. The work mcc does on standard setting has been tremendous. Thank you, ambassador. Good morning, everyone, mr. Secretary, advisor trump and ambassador. We are thrilled to be here today. Wgdp is such a testament to the United States and the Trump Administrations commitment to improving the lives of women around the world. And the Millennium Challenge Corporation couldnt be prouder to be a part of that effort. Wgdp is having a direct impact in our partner countries. And the recent example ivanka mentioned was morocco, where, working with our partner government, we implemented and codified laws, securing land rights for women across the country. In addition, mcc is formally adding womens Economic Empowerment to our investment criteria, which guides projects project Development Across all spectrums at mcc. And through this criteria and our investment model, we will continue to target and eliminate institutional and societal barriers on womens participation in the economy. So thank you, ivanka, for your tireless leadership in spearheading this effort. And id like to say how much we look forward to working with the ambassador curry and her team on delivering on our shared goal of improving the lives of women around the world. Thank you very much. Thank you, sean. And i wish we had time to hear from all of our wonderful participants and partners today, but im mindful we have a load of senior principles in this room. I want to get us done on the dot at 10 00. I will make some brief closing remarks. I will start by thanking everyone for coming here today and the incredible commitments that your agencies have shown, that youve shown as leaders, and the work we are doing together. We are transforming the lives of women. We are transforming the lives of their communities. And were transforming our relationship to these countries through the work that were doing. It is something we can be proud of, as senator graham said. The legacy this administration is creating with our bipartisan partners in congress is truly something we should be deeply , deeply grateful for. And to that note, i want to thank advisor trump for creating the idea that we are now implementing across the whole of government here. I feel like its an honor of a lifetime to be able to participate in this transformative project were embarking on year two of. As a human rights lawyer myself and as a mother my beautiful 11yearold daughter over there, sarah, is with us today as a working mom and diplomat who gets to come to work and represent this amazing country, i am it is incredible that we get to work on a project that allows women around the world to enjoy the same rights and privileges that i get to wake up every day with, that we take for granted in this country. That is really what were doing, helping women to create a Brighter Future for themselves and communities. To that end, we do have to be very thoughtful about our engagement, but we have to be bold in our advocacy. I think the five areas of law that will be the underlying premises of pillar three in this new chapter are the keys. Thats why the cea has focused on them. Thats why the world bank has done the work to quantify the areas where we can unlock the greatest potential. And i look forward to spending the next year really working on this and focusing on these legal barriers to womens economic anticipation. And then working on the next step, which is the informal barriers. After changing the law, you have to change attitudes and minds. Thats where the really hard work starts. So, i look forward to working with our wgdp cochairs. And to all of our colleagues around the table and all of the agencies committed to this, it is a truly global undertaking and a truly whole of government undertaking we are celebrating today. Happy birthday, wgdp. This is an amazing day to celebrate that, too. And i just really want to thank you all for coming, thank to the secretary for the leadership and confidence he has shown in me. I hope i can live up to the expectations you have laid out. Thank you all for coming. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [no audio] cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up, we discussed election security. Also, i look at efforts to ratify the equal rights amendment. Watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern saturday morning. Join the discussion. And be sure to watch washington journal next week for museum weight. Well explore George Washingtons mount vernon, the marine corps, the Smithsonian National museum, Smithsonian National museum of the american indian, and this was sunny and National Medium of africanAmerican History culture. Follow campaign 20 to nevada this weekend. Saturday night, live at 11 00 p. M. Eastern, democratic residential candidates joe, pete buttigieg, senator amy klobuchar, tom steyer, senator Bernie Sanders and senator Elizabeth Warren speak before clark county democrats. Biden, petey, joe buttigieg, amy klobuchar, and tom steyer speak at a forum. Watch ondemand at cspan. Org and listen on the go on the free cspan radio app. Our cspan campaign 2020 bus team is traveling across the country, asking voters what issues should president ial candidates address . This election, the most voter rights,e is reproductive rights, and reproductive freedom. These are more important now than ever because were seeing them violated left and right. But they are just as important as every other issue. Issue that is imposed is most important to me right now is the fact that veterans do not have housing. I feel as though new hampshire, since its one of our 50 states, should do more for its veterans. And right now, veterans have to leave and either go to vermont or to massachusetts in order to get the services that they need. I dont think that that is appropriate. These people make a sacrifice for our country, and they should be able to have the services when they come home. I really want the candidates to speak on actionable environmental policies, what they are going to do with carbon emissions. And the most important thing to me about this campaign is the truth. We need to work on gun violence. We need to work on health care. We need to work on college education. We have a lot of things to work on. But when the senate votes openly and against the truth in a partisan manner, its time for us to return to our roots, face facts, will it listen to witnesses. Its just time to face the truth and move forward. And we can do that if we dont open our eyes and pay attention. One of the most important issues in the 2020 election is education, including the current cost of education for postgraduate and graduate work. The kind ofo, concerning legislation coming out of the Trump Administration in regards to secondary ed and k12. As a teacher. For me, education is number one and thats why im voting. Voices from the road on cspan. During this election season, the candidates beyond the talking points, or only revealed overtime. But since you cant be everywhere, theres cspan. Eric campaign 2020 programming differs from all other political coverage for one simple reason. Its cspan. We brought you your unfiltered view of government every day since 1979. And this year, were bringing you an unfiltered view of people steering the government this november. In other words, your future. So this election season, go deep, and unfiltered. See the biggest picture for yourself and make up your own mind. With cspan campaign 2020, brought to you as a Public Service by your television provider. , next and American History tv exclusive, indianapolis, indiana, where we learn about its unique history and literary life. For eight years now, we traveled to u. S. Cities, bringing the literary scene and Historic Sites of reviewers