New York City is playing host to Jordan‘s Queen Rania for a few more days. The monarch is recuperating from a procedure fixing her irregular heartbeat, but that’s not the news here. The news is that the 40-year-old campaigned nonstop last week for the advancement of females in today’s society, despite her health problems.
“So when you educate a woman, you really do transform societies,” she told the crowd at the Clinton Global Initiative last Wednesday (Sept. 22). “It’s not just about doing girls a favor, it’s really about benefits that cascade throughout society and really make a huge difference.”
That same day, she closed the two-day summit on the United Nations‘ Millennium Development Goals with a moving speech. Two days earlier, she hosted the fifth annual Important Dinner for Women with Wendi Murdoch and PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to stress the importance of accomplishing those aforementioned goals for women and girls worldwide.
It looks like all of Rania’s hard work paid off. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said they received $40 billion in pledges for their program Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health. We hope this successful news doesn’t reach Rania just yet. Her heart doesn’t need to race.
Photo by PR Photos.