GlobalPittsburgh Arranging Area Meetings for Group of International Women Being Honored For Activism by U.S. State Department

GlobalPittsburgh has been invited to arrange two days of programming in March for a group of five highly distinguished women who will be honored for their activism by Secretary of State John Kerry as International Women of Courage at a ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Two of last year's Women
of Courage honorees
during their 2012 visit
to Pittsburgh.

GlobalPittsburgh has arranged meetings for the group at the Women & Girl's Foundation, Chatham University, the University of Pittsburgh Law School and Gwen's Girls. Chatham University and GlobalPittsburgh are partnering together on an invitation-only event for the group.

The International Women of Courage awards event, held on International Women’s Day on March 8, annually recognizes women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk. Since the inception of this award in 2007, the Department of State has honored 69 women from 45 different countries.

In addition, Secretary Kerry will posthumously recognize the courage of Nirbhaya (Braveheart), the 23-year-old physiotherapy intern whose brutal gang rape in Delhi has inspired a popular movement to end violence against women in India.

The names of the six women to be honored have not yet been released. However, the general themes of the honorees’ work include: women, peace and security, support for victims of gender-based violence; engaging women in the political process and in politics; journalism; prevention of gang/drug violence; empowering young women; capacity building for women; and human and women’s rights organizations.

Following the award ceremony in Washington, the honorees will travel separately to cities across the United States to engage with the American people through the State Department's International Visitor Leadership Program. They will visit Indianapolis, Portland, OR, San Diego, San Francisco, Tampa, and Jackson Hole, WY. The women will reconvene in San Diego to reflect on their visit and discuss ways to work together to improve the lives of women and girls around the world.