President-elect Barack Obama’s expected nomination today of Hillary Clinton as the next secretary of state has energized human rights and women’s rights activists, who expect the former first lady to bring a dramatic new focus to the plight of women around the globe.

But Clinton’s ascension to be the nation’s top diplomat also gives new hope to supporters of international women’s rights, who see Clinton as one of the world’s leading figures in the fight to improve education, safety, and economic opportunity for women and girls.

“This is a new opportunity. We’re very optimistic,” said Daphne Jayasinghe, Amnesty International’s acting advocacy director for Europe/Central Asia and violence against women. The human rights group is pushing for ratification of a UN document calling for an end to gender discrimination, as well as programs to counter violence against women and girls.

Further, the human rights groups are hoping for a more assertive approach by the new administration to stop mass rapes of women in war, and a more vocal stance against such practices as genital mutilation and forced marriages for girls.

The former first lady was a strong advocate for development programs for women – such as loan assistance to help women in third-world nations start small businesses, giving them both a higher household income as well as a stronger role in the local economy, her supporters note. Such development programs can be crucial forces in empowering women, they said.

The sheer star power Clinton offers is in itself a boost for women, said Representative James McGovern, a Worcester Democrat and early supporter of Clinton’s presidential run. McGovern, who was recently in rural Ecuador, said local women clamored to know whether Clinton indeed was in line to head the State Department.