General Women, Peace and Security

At the beginning of this week I sat in Washington DC, in a room with 25 emerging women leaders between the ages of 25 and 45, from countries all across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, who are participating in the Vital Voices Global Partnership.

I gloried in the glow of 25 different stories of growth and achievement and listened to expressions of intent to accomplish even more.

{[{Islamic feminism

The battle for women's equal rights existed before the Islamic Revolution. However, thinkers such as Soroush and Kadivar provided authentic Islamic terms and arguments to a branch of feminism within the Islamic establishment in 1990s. Their ideas created an environment in which Muslim women could raise their concerns with regard to women';s rights on the national level.

Deeqo Jibril is always on the go. Whether she is tending to her four children or teaching breast cancer awareness classes to women in her community, the Somali-born community organiser is always up for a new challenge.

Recently, she gave up her job as a social worker to focus full time on the Boston-based Somali Community & Cultural Association, a nonprofit Jibril founded a year ago to support Somali-American women.

Somalia, like many other African countries, has endured sustained militarization and armed conflict. This phenomenon has become a significant obstacle to Somalia's progress towards peace, justice, democratization, and development. As a rule of thumb: where militarization increases, so does death and destruction, and human rights abuses. And, yes, so does senseless wars.

What will happen to Afghan women when the United States begins withdrawing troops later this year? Will women be thrown under the bus as soldiers head for the exits?

Since I returned from Phnom Penh in January, I've been asked, "What's a nice Jewish guy like you doing helping Buddhist and Muslim girls in Cambodia?" My usual response: "Because this is what Jews are called to do."

It's a problem nearly every woman in the Egyptian capital has experienced — leering, whistles, groping or other sexual harassment on Cairo's thoroughfares and backalleys. Soon they'll be able to instantly speak out on the Internet when it happens.

Despite the development in research and practice towards the acknowledgement of the roles of women after conflicts, post-conflict strategies are still gender-blind. Women need to play a role in post conflict reconstructions.

Al-Shabaab loyalists are shooting themselves liberally in the foot with all their strange rules, the most recent being that women should not be permitted to sell khat, the popular stimulant. It is a redundant clause, if the Somali fundamentalists are seriously considering becoming the rulers of a nation.