In yet another instance of the growing Indian American visibility in American administration and public life, Geeta Rao Gupta, the State Department official heading US global diplomacy on women’s issues, is leading her country’s delegation to the  G20 Ministerial Conference on Women’s Empowerment in Gandhinagar, Gujarat that began on August 1.

The participation of Gupta, who has the formal title of Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, “highlights and advances the US government’s gender equality policy priorities in the region and around the world”, the State Department said.

The US delegation to the G20 meeting in the run-up to next month’s summit includes officials working on women’s or gender issues, Special Assistant to the President Rachel Vogelstein; Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nancy Izzo Jackson, and USAID Senior Coordinator Jamille Bigio.

After the G20 meeting, Gupta is to travel to Mumbai and Bengaluru to “promote the rights and empowerment of women”.

In Mumbai, Gupta is scheduled to meet with members of the private sector and civil society to discuss “advancing women’s economic security by dismantling systemic barriers to women’s equitable participation in the economy, closing the gender digital divide, and preventing and responding to gender-based violence”, the department said.

In Bengaluru, Gupta and Jackson will then travel to are to deliver keynote remarks at the WEConnect International Asia Pacific Conference on August 7.  WEConnect bills itself as a global network that connects women-owned businesses with buyers.

Gupta, who has worked for international organisations, is a former senior fellow of the United Nations Foundation and a member of WHO’s Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for Health Emergencies.

With a Ph.D. in psychology from Bangalore University, she was the president of the Washington-based International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) for more than a decade.

(SAM)