Countries would be better off if they had a quota of women leaders, Swedish Democratic politician Margot Wallstrom said.
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Wallstrom told about 50 people in the International Affairs Building on Thursday evening that more women in power would help ease the severity of gender-related issues, such as sexual violence in armed conflict.
Wallstrom, the vice president of the European Commission, which acts as the executive branch of the European Union, spoke on “Women, Peace and Security: Challenges Ahead.” She is involved in a number of policy issues, including culture, youth and social affairs, the environment, and communications and media on the national, European, and international levels. In her speech, she elaborated on the role of women in peace-building.
The event was sponsored by the School of International and Public Affairs, the Alliance Program, the Center for the Study of Human Rights, the European Legal Studies Center, the European Institute, and SIPA’s U.N. Studies Program.
Yasmine Ergas, the associate director of the Center for the Study of Human Rights, introduced and welcomed Wallstrom. She said that Wallstrom’s agenda is “the agenda we at the Center of Human Rights work on every day.”
Wallstrom replied that it is good “to be back in such a great city,” although she admitted that she did have a few qualms with the weather.
Wallstrom opened by noting that as President Barack Obama’s message of change has spread around the globe, Europe has been following events in the United States.
“Imagine a different type of change,” she said, leading into the heart of her speech. She then described three scenarios in which women have been raped in warfare and how it changed their lives forever. “As hard as it is for us to imagine these situations [these victims] do not have any trouble ... they aspire to live lives like ours,” she said.
Wallstrom noted that more than two thousand women have been raped during the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “Many of these violations are still taking place as we speak,” she said. Later, she said that in Liberia she heard that “60 to 70 percent of all women have been raped.”
According to Wallstrom, countries employ sexual violence as a “deliberate strategy” of war. “Violence against women is not cultural, it’s criminal,” she said. She added that the situation was worsening, and a “majority of victims fall through the cracks.”
Many states have not incorporated women into their police forces, and women comprise only 10 to 16 percent of peace-keeping operations. Wallstrom suggested several solutions to these international problems, including greater accountability for states that allow these practices to occur, and an increased presence of women in the peace-making process.
During the question and answer portion, Wallstrom said international governing organizations have to put “pressure on those [states] who accept to work on violence against women but who refuse to allow women to be involved in peace-keeping.”
A New York University student, who is also a member of Amnesty International, asked what she and her fellow students can do to ameliorate these issues. Wallstrom responded that “we have to mobilize more men,” and the issue cannot merely be viewed as a women’s issue.
Ergas, the moderator, sparked a moment of tension when she raised the question of whether war might be beneficial to women.
“European historians have in the last decades looked at the effects of war and argued that the wars in Europe were good for women,” she said, emphasizing how “conflict can reshuffle social relations” in a way that is beneficial to women.
After being rendered speechless, Wallstrom came out strongly against this statement, saying “the point is so wrong.”
“All historical evidence shows women are the worst victims in the long term ... Nothing good comes from war,” she said, adding that war “has devastated societies and women and children.”
An earlier version of this article mentioned Wallstrom's comments on the Dominican Republic. In fact, Wallstrom's comments applied to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Spectator regrets the error.
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