Geeta Rao Gupta (born 1956 in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

, India) is a

leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures us ...

, women's issues, and

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

who is serving as

United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues The Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues is the ambassador-at-large who heads the Office of Global Women's Issues in the United States Department of State. This ambassador-at-large also has the rank of Assistant Secretary. The posit ...

since May 2023. She previously served as executive director of the 3D Program for Girls and Women and senior fellow at the

United Nations Foundation The United Nations Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Washington, DC, that supports the United Nations and its activities. It was established in 1998 with a $1 billion gift to the United Nations by philanthropist Ted Turne ...

since 2017. She is frequently consulted on issues related to AIDS prevention and women's vulnerability to HIV and is an advocate for women's economic and social empowerment to fight disease, poverty and hunger. Rao Gupta is former president of the

International Center for Research on Women The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, with regional offices in New Delhi, India, Nairobi, Kenya, and Kampala, Uganda. ICRW has project offices in Mumb ...

(ICRW). She began working with ICRW in 1988 as a consultant, researcher, and officer, and headed the private, non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., from 1997 through April 2010. She stepped down to join the

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it w ...

as a senior fellow from 2010 to 2011. Appointed by

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary- ...

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

, she served as deputy executive director for

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid t ...

and the vice chair of the board for the

GAVI Alliance GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

from 2011 to 2016.

Early life and education

Rao Gupta grew up in

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

, India, and received her education from the

University of Delhi Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE ...

and

Bangalore University Bangalore University (BU) is a public state university located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The university is a part of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and affiliated by Univer ...

. Rao Gupta received a Ph.D. in social psychology from Bangalore University, an M.Phil. in organizational behavior from the University of Delhi, and a master's in clinical of psychology and a B.A. in psychology from the University of Delhi.

Career

While working toward her advanced degrees in social psychology, Rao Gupta worked as a counselor at a drop-in center in New Delhi and lectured in the psychology departments of several universities. At the

Tata Institute of Social Sciences Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) is a multi-campus public research university in Mumbai, India. It is Asia's oldest institute for professional social work education and was founded in 1936 in then Bombay Presidency of British India as ...

, Rao Gupta worked with a team to develop the first women's studies curriculum for graduate students in India. In the mid-1980s, Rao Gupta moved to the United States and began working at the

(ICRW) in 1988. She has held a number of positions with ICRW, including consultant, researcher and vice-president. In the 1990s, Rao Gupta headed a ground-breaking, 15-country research program that identified the social and economic roots of women's vulnerability to HIV infection. Rao Gupta became president of ICRW in 1996. Rao Gupta currently serves as co-convener of the Social Drivers Working Group of aids2031, an international initiative commissioned by

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) (, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/ AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ...

to chart a course for a global response to AIDS over the next twenty-five years. She served as co-chair of the U.N. Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Youth Employment and from 2002 to 2005, she co-chaired the U.N. Millennium Project's Task Force on Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women. In 2016,

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level o ...

Director General

Margaret Chan Margaret Chan Fung Fu-chun, (born 21 August 1947) is a Chinese-Canadian physician, who served as the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) delegating the People's Republic of China from 2006–2017. Chan previously served ...

appointed Rao Gupta as member of the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme. From 2016 until 2017, she co-chaired (alongside Katherine Sierra) the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

's Global Gender-Based Violence (GGBV) Task Force; the group was launched by World Bank Group President

Jim Yong Kim Jim Yong Kim (; born December 8, 1959), also known as Kim Yong (/金墉), is an American physician and anthropologist who served as the 12th president of the World Bank from 2012 to 2019. A global health leader, Kim was formerly the chair ...

to strengthen the institution's response through its projects to issues involving sexual exploitation and abuse. Since 2019, she has been a member of the '' Lancet''–SIGHT Commission on Peaceful Societies Through Health and Gender Equality, chaired by

Tarja Halonen Tarja Kaarina Halonen (; born 24 December 1943) is a Finnish politician who served as the 11th president of Finland, and the first woman to hold the position, from 2000 to 2012. She first rose to prominence as a lawyer with the Central Organisa ...

. She is also part of the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee for the WHO Health Emergencies Programme. Rao Gupta is often sought by the development community and media, and has been quoted by the ''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' and ''

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'', as well as other national and international news sources. Her expertise is in gender mainstreaming, women's health, HIV and AIDS, women's economic empowerment, private sector roles in development, strategies to empower women and advance gender equality, and women and poverty.

Ambassador at-large for global women's issues

Geeta Rao Gupta at the State Department in 2023

On November 12, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Gupta to be the United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and ...

did not act on the nomination for the remainder of the year and was returned to President Biden on January 3, 2022. President Biden renominated Gupta the next day. Hearings on her nomination were held before the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid ...

on June 16, 2022. The committee deadlocked on her nomination on July 19, 2022 by a

party-line vote A party-line vote in a deliberative assembly (such as a constituent assembly, parliament, or legislature) is a vote in which a substantial majority of members of a political party vote the same way (usually in opposition to the other political ...

; and her nomination was returned to the President by the end of the 117th Congress. Gupta was renominated by President Biden in the 118th Congress, and her nomination was advanced by the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 8, 2023. On May 4, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on Gupta’s nomination by a 50–44 vote. On May 10, 2023, her nomination was confirmed by a 51–47 vote. She began service on May 18, 2023.

Other activities

International organizations

, Member of the Advisory Group (since 2020) * Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Interim Chair of the Board (2013)

Non-profit organziations

* WomenLift Health, Member of the Global Advisory Board *

Global Health Corps Global Health Corps is a U.S. non-profit organization that offers a competitive fellowship to support emerging global health leaders. Global Health Corps selects young professionals for paid, 13 month fellowships with organizations promoting hea ...

, Member of the Board of Advisors (since 2008) *

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) is a global not-for-profit, public-private partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines to prevent HIV infection and AIDS. IAVI researches and develops vaccine candidates, conducts ...

(IAVI), former Member of the Board *

InterAction Interaction is action that occurs between two or more objects, with broad use in philosophy and the sciences. It may refer to: Science * Interaction hypothesis, a theory of second language acquisition * Interaction (statistics) * Interaction ...

, former Member of the Board * Merck for Mothers, Member of the Advisory Board * Moriah Fund, former Member of the Board *

Nike Foundation Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine given ...

, former Member of the Board

Awards and recognition

*Women Who Mean Business Award, Washington Business Journal, 2007 *Anne Roe Award, Harvard Graduate School of Education *Legacy Award, Working Mother Media, 2006

Publications

* "Gender and HIV: Reflecting Back, Moving Forward" In ''HIV/AIDS: Global Frontiers in Prevention/Intervention''. * Gender Mainstreaming: Making it Happen.
"Structural approaches to HIV prevention"

"Taking Action: Achieving Gender Equality and Empowering Women"

"Value Added Women and U.S. Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century"

Speeches and statements

"Closing the Gender Gap: Where Have We Been? Where Are We Going?"
9th International Congress on AIDS and Asia in the Pacific, 11 August 2009
"Remarks to the House Hunger Caucus and Congressional Global Health Caucus Congressional Briefing"
House Hunger Caucus and Congressional Global Health Caucus, Congressional Briefing, 31 July 2007
"Unlocking the Power of Women: Is Education the Key?"
Harvard Graduate School of Education, 25 October 2006
"Remarks from the Informal Interactive Hearings of the U.N. General Assembly"
Statement at the Informal Interactive Hearings of the United Nations General Assembly, 23 June 2005
"Statement by Geeta Rao Gupta at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS"
United Nations General Assembly 26th Special Session on HIV/AIDS, New York, 25–27 June 2001
"Gender, Sexuality, and HIV/AIDS: The What, the Why, and the How"
XIIIth International AIDS Conference, Durban, South Africa, 12 July 2000

References

External links

*

''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

'', 31 July 2008.
"The Class Struggle"
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikke ...

'', 26 September 2008
"Rights: Ignoring Girls' Welfare Carries High Price"

"International Center for Research on Women website"

"Geeta Rao Gupta, Ph.D., Joins Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a Senior Fellow"
Gates Foundation.org, 8 October 2009

United Nations Press Release {{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Geeta Rao Scientists from Mumbai 1956 births Living people Indian psychologists Indian women psychologists Bangalore University alumni Delhi University alumni Women scientists from Maharashtra International Center for Research on Women United States Ambassadors-at-Large Biden administration personnel