Waging War and Peace with Women

So. Finally our opinions matter. I’m not saying that there have been no women through out the course of history that have made some good suggestions. After all, Martha Washington was at the Battle of Valley Forge. However, it seems after all this time, experts on war have decided that one gender’s opinion can be of great help when discussing war and peace. That gender, my friends, is female. In this article in the New York Times former secretary of state Madeline Albright said “Because women are often a principal victim of conflict, the women’s perspective can be vital in seeking to prevent or to mitigate the damaged cause by conflict. That assertion should not be controversial: it is simply common sense.”

This semester, we’ve been talking a lot about what the best plan of attack is, when dealing with other countries and their policies on women. The general consensus is that the United States has been too harsh in dealing with the middle east on subjects regarding women. The New York Times claims that because women treat these conflicts in a much more gentle way, more progress is being made. Another quote from the article says “Female soldiers can respectfully search Muslim women at checkpoints. They are more likely to win the trust of local abused- often sexually- by men with guns.” Female soldiers over seas are especially important, because they are given the same respect as the male soldiers, but are given “reserved access” because they’re women.

The question is, other then the reasons stated by the new york times, why do you think women are having more success reaching out to other cultures, and getting positive results? Other countries are starting to fill government positions with female candidates, do you think that even more countries will follow this example?