Ending child marriage is not only a moral imperative—it is a strategic imperative that will further critical U.S. foreign policy interests in development, prosperity, stability, and the rule of law.

The pervasive practice of child marriage is stirring concern among U.S. foreign policymakers because it threatens to undermine U.S. interests in development, prosperity, and stability, says CFR's Rachel Vogelstein.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon examines women's rights in Afghanistan.

In a Room for Debate blog post for the New York Times, Isobel Coleman discusses Hillary Clinton's legacy as former secretary of state

Reza Aslan discusses the connection between women's empowerment and economics, as part of the Council on Foreign Relations' roundtable series on religion and the Middle East.

This meeting was cosponsored by the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initative.

Several high-profile sexual assault cases in India have sparked a national debate over women's rights and the need for social reform in a rapidly modernizing country, explains this Backgrounder.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says the Facebook COO's new book Lean In encourages mothers with careers to opt out of the parent-or-careerwoman binary and firmly choose both.

The female veterans who filed the lawsuit say combat exclusion is unfair and outdated, based on stereotypes, inhibits recognition and promotion of servicewomen—and ignores the realities of the modern battlefield, says Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.

Today, 214,098 women serve in the U.S. military, representing 14.6 percent of total service members.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says that just as Malala Yousafzai, the fourteen-year-old Pakistani girl who was gunned down by Taliban shooters, refused to silently abandon her right to education even at the risk of losing her life, courageous women and men fight daily against a worldview that considers girls' schools a call to action in their battle against modernity.

Freida Pinto and Isobel Coleman say that efforts like International Day of the Girl have helped girls make significant progress in recent years, but more resources, leadership and long-term commitments are still needed to close persistent gender gaps and improve the rights and well-being of millions of girls around the world.

This session was a meeting of the Women and Foreign Policy Roundtable Series.

Micah Zenko examines the gender breakdowns of Washington's premier think tanks.

Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women and former president of Chile, discusses the empowerment of women around the world with CFR's Director of Studies, James Lindsay. Bachelet emphasizes the importance of contextualizing the support provided in each country, and the need to combine both top-down and bottom-up approaches.

Experts discuss the impact of technology and banking on the economic and political development of women.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses one Aghan woman's efforts to stop the reality that every 30 minutes, a pregnant woman dies in Afghanistan.

Amity Shlaes discusses what role maternal instinct can play in governance.

Seyran Ates, a practicing Muslim, charges that  Germany has been downplaying human rights--and women's rights in particular--in an effort to remain politically correct with respect to religious practices.

In a Los Angeles Times op-ed, Malcolm Potts argues that Afghanistan will turn into a failed state if Afghan women remain "enslaved" in the nation's patriarchal society.