Professor of political science, Brigham Young University
“R2PW: The Rationale for a Foreign Policy that Takes the Cause of Women Seriously”
In a special briefing at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., Professor Valerie M. Hudson, now chair of strategic studies at the Bush School, Texas A&M and Kennedy Center advisory board member, spoke on “R2PW: the Right to Protect Women” to an audience that included U.S. Ambassador and BYU alum Robert King, as well as representatives and alumni from the Hill, State Department, and policy community. Gordon Flake, Kennedy Center alumni advisory board member, coordinated the event.
In recent years, the role of gender, particularly the security of women and how it significantly contributes to the security of states, has permeated mainstream security discussions. At an international women’s conference held at the UN in March 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remarked: “The subjugation of women is a direct threat to the security of the United States.” In her remarks, Valerie M. Hudson will discuss the need for a foreign policy that addresses this issue. Hudson will draw on research from her book Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia’s Surplus Male Population, in which she argued that high male-to-female ratios often trigger domestic and international violence, and from the groundbreaking WomanStats Project—the most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of women in the world, and a project that facilitates understanding the linkage between the situation of women and the security of nation-states. Her speech will be followed by a question and answer session.
