The Crucial Role of Women as Peacemakers

A number of years ago, Ambassador Swanee Hunt was invited to speak at a conference in Kigali, Rwanda. The topic was women building peace in Africa, and women from all over the continent attended. She was invited to speak at the time about her involvement in the women’s movement here in the United States.

“I talked about, here in the U.S., here’s how we brought women forward,” she said. “Little did I understand that at the time, women in Rwanda were 49 percent of the parliament. Then there was an election, and they were 56 of the parliament. People said they’re not going to get above that. And today they are 64 percent.

“What would happen if women could be represented in those numbers everywhere? What would that look like?” she asked.

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