Her office was established by Security Council Resolution 1888, introduced by Hillary Clinton, and she succeeded Margot Wallström and Zainab Bangura.

Patten was a member of the International Women's Rights Action Watch between 1993 and 2002, and from 2000 to 2004 she was a consultant to the Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Development and Family Welfare of Mauritius.

[3] Patten was elected as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 2003.

[4] On 12 April 2017, Patten was appointed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres as Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict with the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

[1][5] In November 2017, Patten visited Bangladesh to interview survivors of the 2016 Rohingya persecution in Myanmar.