Every year, March brings with it Women’s History Month. This annual celebration highlights the contributions of women, both past and present to the world. Around the globe, there are talks, speeches, marches, and more to draw attention not only to the accomplishments of women, but also to the challenges that still plague society today.
UN Women reported earlier this month that, globally, women hold only 64% of the legal rights that men do, and that progress toward gender equality on an international scale is stalled—or, in some cases, reversing.[1]
It is difficult to reflect on the accomplishments of women this Women’s History Month as we confront the reality that women’s rights are a declining priority and are more at risk than ever due to rising violence and conflict globally. State-based conflict is increasing, with 59 active conflicts in 36 countries recorded in 2024.[2] Peace is in decline, with more countries entering conflict than leaving it each year.
Every day, the news reports violence targeting and affecting civilians. Beyond the current tensions between the United States and Iran, numerous other conflicts continue to impact women globally: in Ukraine, Myanmar, Sudan, Haiti, the list goes on.
These conflicts were at the forefront of my mind as I attended programming related to Women’s History Month, including events tied to International Women’s Day. As of 2025, around 676 million women and girls live within 50 kilometers of state-based conflicts—the highest recorded number since the 1990s.[3]
On March 4, I attended a talk at American University, featuring several prominent female diplomats to the United States: H.E. Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana of Rwanda, H.E. Ambassador Catalina Crespo-Sancho of Costa Rica, H.E. Ambassador Dina Kawar of Jordan, and H.E. Ambassador Svanhildur Hólm Valsdóttir of Iceland. It was a panel discussion focusing on women’s political participation worldwide, spanning domestic politics, foreign affairs, and beyond. The event was hosted by the Women & Politics Institute (WPI), a program within AU’s School of Public Affairs.
The panel began with introductions before moving into moderated discussion. (The full panel is available on the WPI YouTube channel: International Women’s Day Panel featuring Female Ambassadors to the U.S. w/ Betsy Fischer Martin.)
At the outset, one moderator explained that the goal was to “learn about what’s working in other countries, understand what still makes this so hard, and hear how women across different cultures and political systems are building power, shaping policy, engaging in peacemaking, and expanding their opportunities.”[4]
While women in conflict zones were not the primary focus of the discussion, the topic was clearly on the minds of many in attendance, including the ambassadors, particularly as the event took place just four days after the United States began its attacks on Iran.
For example, when responding to a question about the impact of having a female president in Costa Rica (their second woman to hold the title), Ambassador Catalina Crespo-Sancho said:
It is very clear that the more gender equal a country is, the less conflict or the more peaceful it is, the less conflict with your neighbors, the less interstate conflicts you will have, the better economically a country will be.[5]
Ambassador Crespo-Sancho speaks to a well-established academic finding: greater gender equality across political, economic, and social spheres is associated with more peaceful and stable societies. Rigorous studies have repeatedly shown that “where women are more empowered in multiple spheres of life, countries are less likely to go to war with their neighbors, to be in bad standing with the international community, or to be rife with crime and violence within their society.”[6] Yet despite this evidence, progress toward gender equality continues to lag. In many countries, it is not even a governmental priority. As of April 2026, 117 countries have a National Action Plan for women, but only 26% have included budgeted funds for it at adoption.[7] Without a budget for action, the ability to affect change is limited to none.
In addition to lacking focus on advancing women’s roles as a pathway to peace, the panel also addressed the unique and multifaceted effects that conflict has on women. Ambassador Dina Kawar of Jordan spoke to this in response to a question about peace building:
In wars, women are the first to be affected. They get the double whammy of having to be left alone and worry about what’s going on and then when it comes to negotiations or any form of peacemaking, they’re usually absent. But all studies show that when women are at the table, they manage to negotiate better.[8]
Ambassador Kawar brings deep firsthand expertise. She led the Jordanian delegation during the country’s tenure on the United Nations Security Council from 2014 to 2015 and was the first Arab woman to preside over the Council. In that role, she engaged directly in high-level discussions on peace building and worked to ensure that the effects of conflict on women and children remained central to those conversations.
Women face gendered consequences of conflict while also being excluded from the decisions that lead to war and the negotiations that end it.[9] As the Peace Research Institute Oslo puts it:
The broader evidence paints a stark picture: armed conflict is consistently linked to increased maternal mortality, heightened risks of gender-based violence, elevated rates of school dropout among girls and reduced access to livelihood opportunities. Violent conflict serves as a critical indicator of the status of women, as its escalation often triggers deterioration across multiple dimensions of gender equality – particularly in access to justice, education, employment and protection from intimate partner violence.[10]
These direct effects faced by women are particularly harmful as they often are ignored as not important in a crisis situation. During a conflict very few governments are going to redirect focus from war to focus on girls dropping out of school (for example). These items do not make the agenda for discussion and are often forgotten.
This is particularly notable as the women who would bring these items to the policy agenda are not part of the conversation at all. As of 2024, “on average, women made up only 7 percent of negotiators and 14 percent of mediators in formal peace processes worldwide.”[11] Women are repeatedly facing unique direct effects from conflict not shared by their male counterparts, but these same women are not allowed to participate in building the peace that would mitigate these effects.
How can it be that research repeatedly finds that conflict has gendered consequences and that peace is stronger and more easily found when women are involved, but a related push to include women in negotiations is not present? This slippage between what is proven to be best practice and what is happening is one of the issues that drives women, peace, and security activism.
As Women’s History Month ends and celebrations highlight the progress women have made, it is important to remember that women’s rights extend beyond political representation or the gender wage gap. While progress in these areas is essential, advocates for women, peace, and security must also engage across sectors, including defense and national security, where decisions have profound and lasting impacts on women’s lives.
[1] Ensuring and strengthening access to justice for all women and girls, including by promoting inclusive and equitable legal systems, eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices, and addressing structural barriers, a report of the UN Secretary-General
[2] ‘The Great Fragmentation’ Driving Conflict: World Peace Plummets, by Vision of Humanity
[3] Women exposed to armed conflict, 1990–2024, a GPS Policy Brief by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
[4] International Women’s Day Panel, timestamp 4:54
[5] International Women’s Day Panel, timestamp 34:54
[6] Why Women? Inclusive Security and Peaceful Societies by Marie O’Reilly, Inclusive Security
[7] Global Map of Adopted National Action Plans by Women, Peace and Security Focal Points Network; Facts and figures: Women, peace, and security by UN Women
[8] International Women’s Day Panel, timestamp 46:35
[9] Women and peace and security report 2025 by the UN Secretary-General; Women, Political Decision-Making, and Peace-Building by Elizabeth Porter; The Mechanisms of Exclusion: Women in Conflict by Kathryn Lockett; and many other studies.
[10] Women exposed to armed conflict, 1990–2024
[11] Facts and figures: Women, peace, and security