Zonta International is a global organization of individuals dedicated to empowering women worldwide through service and advocacy. The Zonta USA Advocacy Action Center is a tool for our members in the United States and other individuals who share our commitment to gender equality to take action to improve the lives of women and girls. With your help, we can make a difference. In addition to the actions below, click here to support our joint efforts with UNICEF USA to end child marriage in the United States.
Gupta was first nominated for the position in November 2021, but her confirmation was blocked by members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in June 2022. The Biden administration once again nominated her in January 2023.
Investing in women and advancing their human rights, as the Office of Global Women’s Issues is mandated to do, is one of the most powerful ways to advance U.S. foreign policy interests and national security priorities, Gupta told a senate panel at her confirmation hearing.
Gupta is currently the executive director of the 3D Program for Girls and Women at the United Nations Foundation and has previously served as the deputy executive director for UNICEF, vice chair of the board for the GAVI Alliance and president of the International Center for Research on Women.
“Over the past three decades, as the leader of a gender and development research institution, a senior executive of a multilateral organization, and as an adviser to philanthropies,” Gupta said, “I have learned that economic security and the guarantee of health and personal safety are critical ingredients for women to thrive and prosper—and when they do, so do their families, communities and nations.”
Gupta also noted that women’s equality is a moral and economic imperative of U.S. foreign policy, which has transcended both Democratic and Republican administrations.
This vacancy is a great weakness in the country’s posture on gender equality and general foreign policy. Please write to your senator and ask them to confirm Gupta as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues.