The Women and Foreign Policy program is a major component of CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy initiative. The objective of the Women and Foreign Policy program is to bring the status of women firmly into the mainstream foreign policy debate. Thanks in part to its efforts, there is now broad understanding of the importance of women's empowerment to a host of development, health, security, and other global priorities.
The program's current areas of focus include:
Please see below for relevant publications:
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.
This meeting was presented by the Women and Foreign Policy Program.
See more in Wars and Warfare, Women
This meeting was presented by the Women and Foreign Policy Program.
Isobel Coleman discusses the importance of leveraging new resources, such as commitment accounts and mobile technology, for poverty alleviation.
See more in Civil Society, Economic Development, Poverty, Foreign Aid
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.
See more in Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare, Women, Foreign Aid
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.
See more in United States, Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare, Women
This meeting was presented by the International Institutions and Global Governance Program and the Women and Foreign Policy Program.
See more in Wars and Warfare, Peacekeeping, Peacemaking, Women
This meeting was presented by the International Institutions and Global Governance Program and the Women and Foreign Policy Program.
See more in Wars and Warfare, Peacekeeping, Peacemaking, Women
This meeting was presented by the International Institutions and Global Governance Program and the Women and Foreign Policy Program.
See more in Liberia, Colombia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare, International Peace and Security, Women
This meeting was presented by the International Institutions and Global Governance Program and the Women and Foreign Policy Program.
See more in Liberia, Colombia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare, International Peace and Security, Women
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon interviews Ameerah Al-Taweel on why Saudi Arabia's women won't accept a reversal on equal rights.
See more in Saudi Arabia, Democracy and Human Rights, Women
Isobel Coleman argues that increased access to voluntary family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways to improve health and reduce poverty.
Isobel Coleman argues that a stable, prosperous Libya undergoing a process of democratization will enhance the chance of successful transitions in neighboring countries such as Tunisia and Egypt.
See more in Libya, Civil Society, Economic Development, Political Movements
This meeting was part of the Women and Foreign Policy Roundtable Series, which was organized by CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Program.
See more in International Peace and Security, Women
This meeting was part of the Women and Foreign Policy Roundtable Series, which was organized by CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Program.
See more in Wars and Warfare, Women
This meeting was part of the Women and Foreign Policy Roundtable Series, which was organized by CFR's Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Program.
See more in Afghanistan, Wars and Warfare, Civil Society, Political Movements, Women
Cherie Blair, founder of the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, discusses the gender gap in access to mobile technology. Research conducted by Blair's organization has found that the gender gap is particularly wide in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
See more in Economic Development, Technology and Foreign Policy, Women
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.
See more in Afghanistan, Democracy and Human Rights, Peacekeeping, Women
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.
See more in Liberia, Yemen, Democracy and Human Rights, Women
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.
See more in Afghanistan, Women
For more on what the United States and others can do to foster open, prosperous, and stable societies, visit CSM&D.
