The other day the NYT printed an op-ed by Valerie M. Hudson who is a professor at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University and Dara Kay Cohen, an assistant professor of public policy at Harvard. It was one of those I breezed through in general agreement and then kept thinking about and had to go back and read again. I really wish the NYT had more than 2 women (out of 12 contibutors) writing on the Opinion page. This one is definitely worth a read but here are some important points:
Women’s Rights Are a National Security Issue
Even if the new administration is not poised to be as attentive to gender issues as previous ones, the United States still has obligations under international treaties, and also some of our own policies. The United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security requires the State and Defense Departments, along with the Agency for International Development, to meet benchmarks on efforts for women’s inclusion and empowerment.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not the first person to argue that national security is linked to women’s equality when she made it a cornerstone of American foreign policy. President George W. Bush identified “respect for women” as one of the “nonnegotiable demands of human dignity.” Even President Xi Jinping of China said in 2015 that “every step taken to promote women’s cause has been a giant step forward for the progress of human civilization.”
This is not just hot air. Over a decade’s worth of research shows that women’s advancement is critical to stability and to reducing political violence. Countries where women are empowered are vastly more secure, whether the issue is food security, countering violent extremism or resolving disputes with other nations peacefully.
The State Department’s gender equality programs are not just politically correct fluff — they deal with matters of life and death, like rape during war, genital cutting, forced marriage and access to education. The State Department provides essential funding to combat these problems.