Following her 11-day trip to Africa, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent a clear signal of her intentions to make women's rights as one of her signature issues.

As reported in the Washington Post, Clinton's interest in global women's issues is personal following her defeat of health-care reform effort in 1994. She addressed the U.N. women's conference in Beijing in September 1995, strongly denouncing abuses of women's rights. Delegates jumped to their feet in applause.

"It was a transformational moment for her," said Melanne Verveer, who has worked closely with Clinton since her White House days.

Salamatu Suleiman, Women and Social Development Minister, indicated that Nigeria must pursue women's empowerment more vigorously in order to attain the MGDs as well as President Umar Yar'Adua's seven point agenda.

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On September 14, 2009, the General Assembly adopted a resolution on improving system-wide coherence in merging the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Division of the Advancement of the Women, the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues, and the UN International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (UN-INSTAW).

Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in a statement:
"An important step has been made in strengthening the United Nations' work in the area of gender equality and empowerment of women, as well as in ensuring the effective delivery of its operational activities for development, which constitutes the other key components of the resolution."

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The Violence Against Women Act (VAMA), signed on September 13, 1994, marked its 15-year anniversary along with the creation of the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) within the Justice Department.

"We've made tremendous progress since the Violence Against Women Act first passed in 1994, but we have much more to do. We cannot rest. It will take all of us to fulfill the promise to end domestic violence and sexual assault," said Vice President Joe Biden, the author of the landmark Violence Against Women Act.

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