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.

In awarding the prize to three women activists, the Nobel committee is honoring the fact that women's full participation in society is essential to peace, says CFR's Isobel Coleman.

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.

This roundtable was part of the ExxonMobil Women and Development series, which was organized by CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Program and made possible by the generous support of ExxonMobil.

Cherie Blair, Maura O'Neill, and Trina DasGupta discuss women's access to mobile technology and the opportunities it affords.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a work published by Mary Wollstonecraft in 1792 in which she argued for various womens’ rights.

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.

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.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's address to APEC's Women and the Economy Summit.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses the challenges facing Michelle Bachelet as the leader of UN Women.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon asks, "... will women's rights be negotiated away in the quest to reach a graceful exit - or, in fact, any kind of exit, in Afghanistan?"

The World Health Organization (WHO) released this report on women's and children's health in September 2010, launching its Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health program.

Isobel Coleman and Gayle Tzemach Lemmon say the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan places maternal health programs for Afghan women in jeopardy.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon says that while Secretary Clinton's commitment to keeping women front and center in Afghanistan is clear, the White House's interest in deploying political capital on Afghan women's behalf is far less certain.

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

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon argues that the freeing of the only suspect arrested in the mutilation of Afghan girl Bibi Aisha sends a message throughout Afghanistan that women's rights are irrelevant.

This session was part of the project, Maternal Health in Afghanistan and Pakistan, organized by CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Initiative.

Isobel Coleman discusses the Women2Drive campaign in Saudi Arabia and says the next generation of Saudi rulers will have to face the issue of women's rights.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses why women in Afghanistan will be watching particularly closely to what President Barack Obama plans to say about the drawdown of American troops in Afghanistan.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon discusses Afghan women who express concern at the lack of a peace process in Afghanistan, even as troop withdrawals approach.