About the Expert
Expert Bio
Rachel Vogelstein is the Douglas Dillon senior fellow and director of the Women and Foreign Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in Washington, DC, and a professor of gender and U.S. foreign policy at Georgetown Law School. At CFR, Vogelstein's research is focused on the relationship between women's advancement and prosperity, stability, and security. She is the author of Ending Child Marriage (2013), Women's Participation in Conflict Prevention and Resolution (2016), Building Inclusive Economies (2017), and Countering Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (2018).
From 2017 to 2018, Vogelstein was a visiting fellow with the Center for Global Legal Challenges at Yale Law School, where she taught a seminar on women’s issues in U.S. foreign and national security policy.
From 2015 to 2016, Vogelstein served as senior advisor on women's issues for the Hillary for America campaign, developing domestic and global policy and leading a coalition of over 200 women's leaders and organizations. She also served as an advisor to the Clinton-Kaine transition team.
From 2009 to 2012, Vogelstein was director of policy and senior advisor in the Office of Global Women's Issues within the Office of the Secretary of State at the U.S. Department of State. In this capacity, she advised Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton on a range of foreign policy issues related to the advancement of women, and represented the U.S. Department of State as a member of the White House Council on Women and Girls. Following her tenure in government, from 2013 to 2015, Vogelstein served as the director of Women's and Girls' Programs in the Office of Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Clinton Foundation, where she oversaw the development of the No Ceilings initiative and provided guidance on domestic and global women’s issues.
Vogelstein is an attorney by training with expertise on gender equality. Prior to joining the State Department, she was senior counsel at the National Women's Law Center in Washington, DC, where she specialized in women's health and reproductive rights. In 2004, she was awarded an Equal Justice Works Fellowship to work on women's health policy. She also served as assistant counsel to then-Senator Clinton's first presidential campaign and on the staff of her 2000 U.S. Senate campaign. She has lectured widely on the rights of women and girls, including at the U.S. Congressional Women's Caucus, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Foreign Service Institute, the World Bank, the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, and Yale University.
Vogelstein graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University's Barnard College and cum laude from Georgetown Law School, where she was executive editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. Following law school, Vogelstein clerked for the Honorable Thomas L. Ambro on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She is a recipient of the Secretary of State's Superior Honor Award and a National Association of Women Lawyers Award. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Women’s History Museum and Planned Parenthood Global, and chairs the Board of Trustees of the National Child Research Center.
Affiliations:
- TIME’S UP, Senior Advisor
- Georgetown Law School, adjunct professor
- National Women’s History Museum, board member
- Planned Parenthood Global, advisory board member
- Providing outside informal counsel to the Biden for President Campaign
Current Projects
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Find out where women around the world wield political power—and why it matters.
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A recent spate of state laws to restrict abortion services in the United States has reignited debate over the procedure. How does the United States’ regulation of abortion compare to the rest of the world?
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Human trafficking can fuel conflict, drive displacement, and undercut the ability of international institutions to promote stability. The United States should work to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks and terrorist groups that exploit conflict-related human trafficking, while prioritizing the prevention and prosecution of and protection from human trafficking in conflict contexts.
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The education gender gap costs the world between $15 trillion and $30 trillion in human capital. U.S. aid programs need to equip girls and women to participate in the modern digital economy.
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Terrorism and Counterterrorism
U.S. policymakers overlook the roles that women play in violent extremism—including as perpetrators, mitigators, and victims—and rarely enlist their participation in efforts to combat radicalization. This omission puts the United States at a disadvantage. -
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Barriers to women's economic participation persist in every region of the world. Nations need to do more to level the legal playing field for women and ensure that women have the right to compete fairly in the economy—which will lead to significant gains.
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Most countries still have laws that make it harder for women to work than men. This inequality shortchanges not only women but also entire economies.