The subjugation of women as a threat to national security was explored by current and former policymakers, activists and scholars Friday at a conference hosted by Texas A&M's Bush School of Government, with renowned feminist organizer Gloria Steinem calling in to stress the importance of a foreign policy that "behaves as if the female race matters."
"To begin to discuss this as foreign policy is a huge leap forward," said Steinem -- who was not able to attend the conference in person due to an injury -- via Skype. "If we can just listen to the women and men on the ground, if we can understand that gender, like race, is an invention, if we can see we are linked, in fact, we are not ranked, then we will be able to move forward in the way we behave every day and the way we vote, the way we create our own domestic policy and our own foreign policy."
Steinem said Friday's all-day conference was important for raising hope and "treading on grounds where we're not supposed to be and asking the questions we're not supposed to ask." The conference explored the idea of Hillary Clinton's assertion in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women that human rights are women's rights, and through keynote speakers and panel discussions addressed topics ranging from the treatment of women in Afghanistan to what a state foreign policy that takes women seriously might look like.
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"I do think that we need to understand a basic problem, which is that what happens to men is frequently viewed as political, and what happens to women is cultural," Steinem said.
Valerie Hudson, who joined the faculty of the Bush School in 2012 as the George Bush Chair, said the higher the level of violence against women, the more likely a nation-state is to be noncompliant with international norms and its own treaty obligations, and the less peacefully it will behave in an overall sense in the international system. However, there are some "moral quandaries" that come with assisting the women in those countries. In many cases, the United States stays silent as women are oppressed, Hudson said. She said Clinton remained "conspicuously silent" when she was secretary of state on the treatment of Saudi women, not because she didn't care about them, but because of a clear-eyed view of the alternative sources of power in Saudi society when compared to the current government.
Additionally, open support of women activists in other societies could put them at risk, Hudson said. Many of the panelists agreed the most important thing is to listen to those women and ask them what they want.
Patricia Leidl, who co-wrote The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy with Hudson, said in terms of foreign policy, the United States and its allies have to be wary of supporting revolutions, because the unintended consequences can be far worse then the original tyranny. Power vacuums are filled by extreme movements, and it's wiser in most cases to "support the secular devil you know than the nonsecular devil you don't," Leidl said. Secular societies at least see change, and under Saddam Hussein women had more rights than they do now, she said.
Robin Morgan of The Women's Media Center said the United States has to "look to our own house" and not position itself as the beacon of the world, and approach international issues with humility.
"Pale males are the standard of what's human, and we're all dying because of it," Morgan said. "Let's never again use the phrase 'women's issues.' Women suffer first and worst from every world problem, and we are the last and least considered."
The 2016 presidential election was discussed as a potential turning point in taking women more seriously in both domestic and foreign policy. Donald Steinberg, president and CEO of World Learning, said any institution that takes gender seriously has to set measurable goals that support women's empowerment. One of his policy recommendations to the next president was to not support any peace process that does not involve the participation of women.
Steinberg pointed to the importance of Resolution 1325, adopted by the U.N. Security Council in 2000. The resolution affirms the importance of involving women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts, peace negotiations, peace-building and more in post-conflict reconstruction, and stresses the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.
"We now know that it is 66 percent more likely that process will fail unless full participation of a critical mass of women are at the table," Steinberg said. "In defense of us taxpayers' dollars, why are we putting money into processes we know are going to fail?"
Micah Zenko of the Center for Preventative Action at the Council on Foreign Relations agreed that Resolution 1325 needs to be a key component. He also said women's voices matter with senior appointments and key positions and send an important message, saying the number of women who participate in critical positions on foreign policy is currently "stalled across the board." He said this agenda needs to be enhanced with key international organizations that have credibility and reach.
Sexual violence against women and the denial of access to contraception were another common theme of the conference. Kathleen Kuenhast, senior adviser at the U.S. Institute of Peace, said sexual violence is "a huge security issue" in conflict zones. She said for it to not be as important as guns is to "absolutely miss the point" that sexual violence used in conflict is cheaper than a bullet and far more effective.
Steinberg added that the United States should refuse to support any peace process that provides blanket amnesties for sexual violence during conflict.
In terms of reproductive rights, Morgan said until a woman's right to control her reproductive system as a basic human right is a pillar of foreign and domestic policy, women can't be full human beings with agency over their lives.
Steinem told The Eagle in a phone interview Thursday she can't predict when women's issues will start to be taken more seriously by more people, "but it's not going to happen unless we make it happen."
"Valerie Hudson and her scholarly colleagues wrote the book (The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy) and the positive response to the book led to this conference, so we have to keep making it clear that foreign policy or a domestic policy that considers less than half of the population is doomed," Steinem said.
