The full Speech of Melanne Verveer, Ambassor at large for Women's Issues, from the IWMF conference Womens Stories Unfettered can be found here. See also my former blog post " There is nothing that is not about us"

Qoute from the speech:

"I know that this morning you released the ground breaking report of the status of women in the news media and that it illustrates the progress that has been made by women in the profession—but also the distance yet to be traveled to end discrimination, to end under-representation, and to end the untapped potential of women in the media. I know that among you are so many who are the exceptions, who have made a difference in your companies, and who are committed to tapping the potential of women and to greater inclusion more broadly and the talent that they represent. But the study that was released by the foundation mirrors so many other studies with which I am familiar. Whether it is women in politics or women in corporate boards—the story line is all too familiar.

And yet, humanity has no greater underutilized resource than women. The right thing to do—and what we are all in fact beginning to do better—is to ensure that women have full access to the educational, economic and political opportunities that they can touch. Given that access and those opportunities, women can and are changing the world and I see it wherever I go.

I particularly like the fact that you have arranged these proceedings so that they will lead to a “Platform for Action” to achieve greater equality in newsrooms and news coverage."