Reception honoring the UN commission on the Status of Women

On February 27, 2012, Asia Society hosted a reception honoring the 56th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.  Asia Society President Vishakha Desai remarked that gender equality and women’s empowerment have been an important part of Asia Society’s agenda throughout its history.  Most recently, Asia Society has been working through its Women Leaders of New Asia initiative to develop a growing cross-sectoral community and network of senior and emerging women leaders from the Asia-Pacific region to find practical solutions to problems, by promoting connectivity, communication, collaboration, and catalyzing action across all sectors.  These remarks were followed by Ambassador Melanne Verveer, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, who spoke to the important work that the U.S. is doing around the world to improve the rights and living conditions of women and girls.  Finally, Sally Susman, Executive Vice President, Policy, External Affairs and Communications at Pfizer spoke about the importance of private sector involvement in the effort to improve the lives of women around the world.