The Dressmaker of Khair Khana tells the story of a young entrepreneur whose business created jobs and hope for women in her Kabul, Afghanistan, neighborhood during the Taliban years.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's efforts to put women and girls at the forefront of the new world order.

Investment in maternal health in Afghanistan provides a cost-effective way to promote strategic U.S. foreign policy objectives including reducing maternal and child mortality, improving public health, empowering women, and fostering economic stability, and therefore, as part of a responsible drawdown in Afghanistan the U.S. government continue its commitments to training midwives and improving other maternal health programs to expand the advances made in women’s health since 2001.

This module features teaching notes with discussion questions and ideas for additional projects by CFR Fellow Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, along with other resources to supplement the teaching of Ms. Lemmon's book, The Dressmaker of Khair Khana, in the classroom. In this book, Ms. Lemmon provides an intimate look at the daily lives of women in Afghanistan through the incredible true story of a female entrepreneur who mobilized her community under the Taliban. This text can be incorporated in a variety of international affairs and foreign policy courses, such as those focusing on Afghanistan, global political economy, international development, and gender studies.

Though investment in entrepreneurs is not a silver bullet for development, economic growth and job creation stimulated by small and medium-sized enterprises can foster stability and help curb conflict in fragile states. Comprehensive programs that help SMEs increase their access to finance, markets, networks, and skills should be offered as part of a package of services to best leverage the efforts now under way to promote entrepreneurship.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says that while U.S. politicians have accused them of destroying "the fabric of this country," single mothers are a powerful example that is holding society together.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says a battle is on to keep Afghan women from falling off the political agenda while Washington and its NATO allies seek a diplomatic solution to America's longest-ever war, and the fight becomes more urgent as the NATO summit in Chicago approaches.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses innovations that are enabling entrepreneurs to secure financing.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argues that any peace agreement in Afghanistan that leaves out Afghan women will simply be a short-term deal, not a durable peace.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says that while Afghan women deplore the burning of the Quran by U.S. troops, they are even angrier at the bloody protests that followed.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses the current situtation in Afghanistan, where more Afghans are seeking asylum now than at any time since war in Afghanistan began.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says Mitt Romney embodies U.S. business management's view that serving shareholders and investors is crucial to serving society, but as this view is beginning to evolve, Romney should change with it.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses her personal experience with school choice.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says the the shocking torture of Sahar Gul is just one example of widespread violence against women in Afghanistan, which mostly goes unreported and unpunished.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon states, "Now that attention is turning to what women endure during war, it is time to ensure they get a say in the peace."

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses an innovative program in northern India, where one in two girls is wed before the age of 18, that is paying girls to stay unmarried and helping to lower the rate of child marriage.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon examines what Hamid Karzai's request for international aid until 2030—well past the 2014 date on which U.S. troops are scheduled to exit—means for Afghan women.

Isobel Coleman and Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argue that U.S. investments in midwifery programs in Afghanistan promote sustainable development in Afghanistan and allow the United States to keep its promise to bring a responsible end of the war.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says Afghan women share Americans' desire to end the longest U.S. war, but a peace that leaves women out will not last.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon interviews Ameerah Al-Taweel on why Saudi Arabia's women won't accept a reversal on equal rights.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says that the Nobel Peace Prize committee's acknowledgment of the role of women in peacemaking should bolster the cause of women in Afghanistan who are struggling for democracy.

With the United States eager to withdraw from Afghanistan and reconciliation with the Taliban considered key to any peace process, Afghan women's rights are once again in question, writes CFR's Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says that King Abdullah's granting the right to vote to Saudi Arabian women is another sign that the spirit of reform blowing through the region is making it increasingly hard to defend women's lack of basic rights.