The 100 Women Initiative celebrates cultural exchange

March 30, 2011

The U.S. Department of State’s 100 Women Initiative, a three-week tour in which 100 women from 92 countries met with local business leaders to discuss the importance of promoting the advancement of women throughout the world, was recently held.

Formally titled “100 Women Initiative: Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchanges,” the initiative was launched by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and is intended to be the first of many in a year-long series of events that focuses on foreign policy and other measures crafted to empower women and girls around the globe.

“Many of you have also traveled a long distance to be here, and in the next three weeks we are going to send you across the United States. We are going to have you meet business leaders who have confronted challenges and succeeded. We are going to have you meet government officials and those who are trying to make our government at the local, state, and federal level work better. We are going to have you talk with women entrepreneurs who have learned how to set their own businesses up and make them as successful as possible,” Clinton told the women upon their arrival in the U.S.

Under the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ International Visitor Leadership Program, approximately 5,200 international leaders come to the U.S. from all around the world every year to experience professional engagement and development, as well as to get a direct experience with American culture.

The U.S. Department of State isn’t the only institution that has recognized the immense benefits of cultural exchange in recent years, however. Small and mid-size American companies are now conducting business in an increasingly global marketplace, and they recognize there is a competitive advantage to bringing in overseas talent for training or short-term internship placements.

International students and young professionals not only increase corporations’ cultural diversity, but they bring international perspectives and skill sets that help employers and their American co-workers better position themselves to do business in a global economy. It’s a positive experience for everyone, since interns will take their valuable international business experience and improved English language skills back to build careers in their home countries.