Washington, DC—On April 13, 2011, WFPG and Ambassador Elena Poptodorova of Bulgaria hosted a program and reception to honor women diplomats and celebrate the centennial of International Women's Day. Speakers included Deputy Director of the State Department's Office of Global Women's Issues Anita Botti, Baroness Mary Goudie of the House of Lords, and ambassadors from Grenada, Croatia, Bahrain, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

In her opening remarks, Ambassador Poptodorova discussed the gains made by women in the diplomatic, political, and corporate worlds, and highlighted the success of businesses with more women on their boards. The Ambassador quoted Eleanor Roosevelt, "being a woman is like being a tea bagyou cant tell how strong she is unless you put her in hot water." Anita Botti relayed greetings from Secretary Hillary Clinton and Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer. She stressed the need to invest in women as a cornerstone of foreign policy. Baroness Goudie spoke of the importance of having more women involved in peace negotiations since women are often left to pick up the pieces, and Ambassador Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of Croatia emphasized this point, saying "women are the most important part of society when it comes to peace and reconciliation." Ambassador Grabar-Kitarovic will be leaving her position later this year to become NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy.

Ambassador Gillian M.S. Bristol of Grenada stressed the need for women leaders to use their professional platform to ensure that women's voices and concerns are heard, saying, "one of the key things we must remember, especially for young girls and young women, is the confidence to break [barriers]." Ambassador Houda Nonoo of Bahrain and Ambassador La Celia Prince of St. Vincent and the Grenadines spoke of their own countries initiatives to promote womens participation in politics. Ambassador Nonoo discussed misconceptions she has faced in the West as a woman ambassador from a Muslim country, and Ambassador Prince closed the evening with her remark that "it is our duty to keep championing the cause so that when in the next 100 years International Womens Day comes around, it is not that we are still talking about these issues—they will already have been resolved."

Ambassador Gillian M.S. Bristol of Grenada		Ambassador Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of Croatia		Ambassador Houda Nonoo of Bahrain		Ambassador La Celia Prince of St. Vincent

Baroness Mary Goudie of the House of Lords		Ambassador Elena Poptodorova of Bulgaria and Anita Botti, Deputy Director of the Office of Global Women's Issues, Department of State
Baroness Goudie, Anita Botti, Patricia Ellis, and Ambassador Poptodorova		Ambassador Grabar-Kitarovic and WFPG President Patricia Ellis
Board Member Donna Constantinople, Madagascar Chargé d'Affaires Celotiana Raobelina, Ligia Reid of the Embassy of the Dominican Republic, Ambassador Nonoo, and Corporate Council Member Nancy Adams of PhRMA		Patricia Ellis, Board Member Diana Villiers Negroponte, and Marie Okabe, United Nations
WFPG Members and Guests		Ambassador Grabar-Kitarovic with Khojesta Ebrahimkel of the Embassy of Afghanistan

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