Women and Women's Rights

Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post covers January 22 to January 29.

  This post is part of the Council on Foreign Relations’ blog series on women's leadership in peacebuilding and non-violent movements, in which CFR fellows, scholars, and practitioners highlight new security strategies. This post was authored by Dr. Marlene Spoerri, Independent Diplomat's Director of Inclusive Diplomacy and Systems Change.

Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post covers December 21 to December 28.

Every year, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign brings attention to the systemic violence experienced by women and girls all over the world - but these commitments must go beyond sixteen days of lip service. It is time for leaders to take concrete steps that fund and support women and girls, particularly those afflicted by conflict or crisis. 

Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post covers November 8 to November 15.

This post is part of the Council on Foreign Relations’ blog series on human trafficking, in which CFR fellows and other leading experts assess new approaches to improve U.S. and global efforts to curb trafficking and modern slavery. This post was authored by Philip Langford, President of IJM United States, and Peter Williams, Principal Advisor on Modern Slavery at IJM.  

Decades on, it has never been more important to fulfill the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and invest in the wellbeing and safety of adolescent girls. 

As the U.S. reduces its presence, women fear they will be bombed and assassinated into a return to the past.

The Women and Foreign Policy program is launching new data on women’s participation as negotiators, mediators, and signatories in major peace processes from 1992-2019.

Welcome to “Women This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy.

This post was compiled by Haydn Welch, research associate in the Women and Foreign Policy program.  This past Sunday, people around the world celebrated the annual International Day of the Girl Child. We have compiled four publications written by the Women and Foreign Policy team that highlight the importance of human rights for girls, and the crucial role they play in securing a more peaceful and prosperous world for all.  Investing in Girls’ STEM Education in Developing Countries In this report, Douglas Dillion Senior Fellow Rachel Vogelstein and Senior Fellow Meighan Stone write that girls’ access to STEM education, especially in developing countries, is a smart and necessary policy to help economies thrive. Additionally, investing in girls’ STEM education in developing countries will help close the economic gap between men and women, as girls will have greater digital fluency and be able work in higher-paying fields. It’s Time to Close the Loopholes on Child Marriage in the U.S. Despite the global decline in child marriage over the past twenty-five years, child marriage continues to be a worldwide epidemic, as twelve million girls get married each year. Douglas Dillion Senior Fellow Rachel Vogelstein and former Research Associate Alexandra Bro write that it is not enough to condemn child marriage abroad—the United States must eliminate child marriage in the United States, once and for all. How Violent Extremist Groups Profit From the Trafficking of Girls Armed and extremist groups around the world have taken advantage of the systemic inequalities girls face in conflict and humanitarian settings. By participating in the trafficking of girls, armed and extremist groups subject girls to forced labor, forced marriage, and sexual exploitation; girls can also be coerced into acting as combatants. Senior Fellow Jamille Bigio posits that greater investment in girls and the reduction of gender inequality will not only help protect human rights, but will also lead to a safer and more secure world. A Story of Migration and Child Marriage Senior Fellow Jamille Bigio tells the story of Senait, a teenage girl who left her home in Ethiopia to avoid getting married to a man her father’s age. Senait instead set off for Kuwait to get a job, or so she thought—the smuggler she trusted actually brought her to Kenya, where she and eight other girls were confined to one room for an entire month. Senait was eventually able to return to Ethiopia, where she, and far too many adolescent girls, are not able to access the education they are entitled to.