Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Attend The Daily Beast's Women in the World Summit

NEW YORK, March 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend the March 12th opening night in New York of a three-day summit, Women in the World: Stories and Solutions, co-hosted by The Daily Beast, Vital Voices Global Partnership, Diane von Furstenburg, and the UN Foundation.

Secretary Clinton will introduce an exclusive one-night reading at the Hudson Theatre of SEVEN, the documentary play created for Vital Voices Global Partnership to honor the courage of brave female activists from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Guatemala, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Pakistan, and Russia.

Seven acclaimed actors have volunteered their time to dramatize the issues highlighted in the play: Meryl Streep heads the line-up, which includes Marcia Gay Harden, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Stephanie Okereke, Archie Panjabi, Julyana Soelistyo and Lauren Velez. The reading is directed by celebrated Broadway director Julie Taymor in an evening made possible by HP.

SEVEN is a collaboration by playwrights Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith, and Susan Yankowitz.

Said Daily Beast Founder Tina Brown; "We are all delighted that Secretary Clinton, who has done so much throughout her career to further the goals and aspirations of women around the world, will be joining this remarkable gathering of inspirational voices."

Said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: "The play powerfully portrays the transformative way that seven courageous women have changed their societies for the better – from peace-building, to fighting corruption to combating violence against women."

Secretary Clinton led the Vital Voices initiative when it was a program of the State Department and she was First Lady. Secretary Clinton personally knows and admires the women depicted in the play.

Alyse Nelson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vital Voices Global Partnership said; "The most powerful thing about SEVEN is that it gets to the heart of some of the most critical issues facing our world today. It reminds us of the power of the human spirit to rise up when faced with adversity and as we rise...it reminds us that we have a responsibility to bring others along with us."

Melanne Verveer, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, will speak on the "Unfinished Beijing Agenda" at the Summit's Friday night dinner preceding the performance of SEVEN. Verveer was Secretary Clinton's chief-of-staff when the then-First Lady delivered the news-making keynote address at the Beijing Women's Conference in 1995.

The three-day Women in the World summit will bring together an extraordinary group of 300 global leaders from government, media, social activism, business, and the arts. Topics will include human trafficking and modern slavery, the rise of rape as a tool of war, the ways new technologies can help empower women financially, and how traditions can be toppled in cultures that devalue women.

Summit participants include Valerie Jarrett, Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, Fatima Bhutto, Cherie Blair, Luis CdeBaca, Thomas L. Friedman, Edna Adan Ismail, Christine Lagarde, Molly Melching, Somaly Mam, Frances Townsend, and Zainab Salbi. Moderators include Christiane Amanpour, Mika Brzezinski, Katie Couric and Barbara Walters.

In addition to Technology Innovation Partner HP, Women in the World: Stories & Solutions is supported by ExxonMobil, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Women

SOURCE The Daily Beast