Azzarelli Kim K. - Fast forward: how women can achieve power and purpose

First Mariner Books edition 2016

Copyright 2015 by Seneca Point Global

Foreword copyright 2015 by Hillary Rodham Clinton

All rights reserved

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to or to Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 3 Park Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10016.

www.hmhco.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Verveer, Melanne.

Fast forward : how women can achieve power and purpose / Melanne Verveer and Kim K. Azzarelli; foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-544-52719-5 (hardback) ISBN 978-0-544-66435-7 (trade paper (international edition)) ISBN 978-0-544-52800-0 (ebook) ISBN 978-0-544-81185-0 (pbk.)

1. Women in the professions. 2. Women executives. 3. Women in economic development. 4. Success in business. I. Azzarelli, Kim K. II. Title.

HD6054.V47 2015

650.1082dc23 2015019683

Cover design by Christopher Moisan

v3.0816

Silence by Anasuya Sengupta, copyright 1995 by Anasuya Sengupta, is reprinted with the permission of Anasuya Sengupta.

To the women around the world who endlessly inspire us with their courage and commitment as they bring about change. We hope this book supports them in their efforts and inspires others to help contribute to advancing women and girls in ways large and small.

Melanne Verveer and Kim Azzarelli

To my husband, Phil, who makes all things possible.

To my children, Michael, Alexa, and Elaina, and my granddaughters, Leigh and Evan, who are my pride and joy.

Melanne Verveer

To my dear husband, my loving family, and all the women and men who have inspired me, often through quiet example, to focus on the power of perspective and to help me find my lifes purpose.

Kim Azzarelli

by Hillary Rodham Clinton

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT ONCE SAID , Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart. For decades, Melanne Verveer has been that true friend to me and to countless women around the world shes never even met. Shes devoted herself to helping women unlock their potential. Thats been the story of much of her lifeas an ambassador, advocate, and activistand its the theme of this book.

Fast Forward shows us how leaders at every level can use their power and purpose to help more and more women achieve their dreams for a better life. Melanne and Kim Azzarellian attorney and champion for women in her own rightexplain how, in doing this, we strengthen communities, companies, and countries.

There were plenty of cynics in the lead-up to the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Many in our own government thought the United States should not participate because of Chinas dismal human rights record, a concern we certainly appreciated. Others doubted that a conference on women would ever achieve much anyway. This one we didnt appreciate at all; in fact, it only served to deepen our determination to participate, speak out, and drive progress.

Melanne accompanied me to Beijing. There, together with leaders from across the world, I declared that human rights are womens rights, and womens rights are human rights once and for all. For the first time in history, 189 nations came together and made a commitment to work toward the full participation of women and girls in every aspect of society.

Back at home, Melanne was determined to make good on that commitment and help me build on that momentum worldwide. While I was first lady, we worked to narrow the global gaps in girls education and womens economic participation. We advocated for laws against domestic violence and human trafficking. We encouraged institutions like the United Nations, the World Bank, and others to underscore the importance of investing in women and girls.

After leaving the White House, Melanne spent eight years at Vital Voices, an organization that she and I started with Madeleine Albright, to support emerging women leaders around the world.

When I accepted President Barack Obamas offer to serve as secretary of state, I was determined to bring the progress of women and girlsprogress that had too often been relegated to the marginsinto the mainstream of American diplomacy. Naturally, Melanne was one of my first calls. I asked her to serve as our first-ever ambassador-at-large for global womens issues and help me craft a full participation agenda and weave it into the fabric of American foreign policy and national security.

It was then that Melanne introduced me to Kim, who shared her determination to unlock the potential of women and girls. Through her work at Avon, Kim focused on how to leverage public-private partnerships to enhance our efforts. She founded and chairs a center at Cornell Law School to support women judges in an effort to combat violence against women. Today, she also leads Seneca Women, which supports and connects women worldwide.

Together with activists around the world, we have worked to make the case, based on both evidence and morality, that our world cannot get ahead by leaving half the population behind. We have more data than ever before that confirms what weve always known intuitively: when women and girls have opportunities to participate, economies grow and nations prosper.

Over the past twenty years, women and girls have made important progress around the world. Access to health and education has improved markedly. The rate of maternal mortality has been cut in half. Girls now attend primary school at nearly the same rate as boys.

Yet significant gaps remain. Progress has been slow when it comes to economic opportunity for women. Globally, the gulf between mens and womens labor force participation hasnt narrowed that much, and equal pay remains out of reach. One in three women continues to experience violence. And not enough women have risen to the highest ranks of business and government.

Ensuring the full participation of women and girls is the great unfinished business of the twenty-first century. However, as Melanne and Kim often remind us, this isnt just a womens issue. Its a family issue and a mens issue too. These days, in the United States and elsewhere, many hardworking families depend on two incomes to make ends meet. When one paycheck is shortchanged, the entire family suffers.

The future of our global economy depends on more women participating in it. The evidence on this is overwhelming, and Melanne and Kim have worked tirelessly to gather it. If we close the global gap in workforce participation between men and women, gross domestic product worldwide would grow by nearly 12 percent by 2030. We cannot afford to leave that growth potential on the table.

A true friend, Melanne gives me hope. A rising star, Kim gives me hope. The stories in this book of people making a difference give me hope. No more rewinding the rights of women and girls. We can move fast and we can move forward. We can use our power and purpose to help all women achieve their own. And once we do, we can fast-forward to a better world for all.

IT WAS JUST ANOTHER APPOINTMENT on the calendar for both of us: 2 p.m. on a warm spring day, at Kims office on the twenty-seventh floor of Avons headquarters in midtown Manhattan. To Melanne, it was one more meeting on top of dozens shed already taken to explore private-sector partnerships for Vital Voices, the womens leadership nonprofit she had cofounded eight years earlier and was always working to grow. As far as Kim knew, Vital Voices was just another worthy nonprofit that Avon might consider supporting.

Melanne by then had grown used to the standard corporate position: women were fine as a philanthropic gesture, but not as the active partners she knew they could be. But something was different about this particular meeting. Kim, who then served as vice president, corporate secretary, and associate general counsel, had just taken charge of public affairs at Avon and was ready to use her platform to go beyond traditional corporate social responsibility. As she saw it, companies could join forces with women to both do well and do good, contributing to a companys goals while also advancing the lives of women and girls.