Women And National Security

But I think that if you look at this century and you look at the instability, the conflicts that we have in so many places in the world, there's a direct relationship between the subjugation and oppression of women and extremism. It is therefore in our interest to stand up for the rights of women. Because by doing so, we enhance our own security.

- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

American support for international development is the right thing to do – and it is the smart thing to do. Programs that empower women and girls are a critical part of this “smart power” approach to international security, helping to build the safer, more secure world we want to live in.

Security experts have noted that the countries that nurture terrorists are disproportionately those where women are marginalized: countries like Yemen, Somalia, the “Af-Pak” region of Afghanistan-Pakistan.

Compare the different national security challenges in Bangladesh and Pakistan: two countries similar geographically, demographically, and economically. (Bangladesh was a part of Pakistan until 1971).

Surely one reason Bangladesh is more stable today is that it has invested enormously in women and girls, so that a girl in Bangladesh is far more likely to go to school than a Pakistani girl.

- Nicholas Kristof and Cheryl WuDun, Half the Sky

There is a reason why the Taliban burns down girls schools and attacks teachers and students: because they recognize that girls’ education is a major step toward building a more stable, more prosperous, society, one that will reject their extremist philosophy.

Increasing access to education for girls is one big step toward stabilizing societies and reducing sanctuaries for terrorism; so are programs like microfinance, because women invest their proceeds in their families and their communities.

One early pair of studies found that when women hold assets or gain incomes, family money is more likely to be spent on nutrition, medicine and housing and consequently children are healthier.

- Kristof and WuDun

Stable, democratic nations in which women participate are far less likely to make war on their neighbors or to host terrorist organizations; stronger health infrastructures support stable communities, and enable us all to fight international pandemics. The alternative – a world with fewer and fewer women due to harsh treatment, lack of food or health care – is a dangerous one.

The world needs to do more to prevent a gendercide that will have the sky crashing down.

- "Gendercide, What Happened to 100 Million Baby Girls?", The Economist