Equity Rises

Equity Rises: A top priority for Ploughshares Fund

When Ploughshares Fund launched the Women’s Initiative in 2017, the need was urgent and clear.

“If we are to solve the world’s biggest problem of nuclear weapons, we must include more women and more diverse perspectives,” the foundation announced at the time. “Conversations about nuclear weapons have historically been dominated by the singular perspective of men and taken place behind closed doors. But nuclear war is a threat to everyone – generations of men, women, children and the very planet itself.”

The Ploughshares Fund Women’s Initiative grew to be much more than a conversation changer.

In four years, the Women’s Initiative validated and catalyzed new gendered thinking among funding partners in the nuclear policy field. It championed the contributions of women working in the field, supported data-rich studies that explored third-rail issues such as sexism and racism, changed the way panelists are elevated on public platforms – and reached gender parity in Ploughshares Fund grantmaking.

“In looking forward and in listening to the voices and concerns of those working in the nuclear policy community today, it was clear that there is a need to expand our scope with one that aligns with the value of bringing multiple perspectives to the peace and security table,” said Dr. Emma Belcher.

As a key strategic component in her first year as president of Ploughshares Fund, Belcher is proud to announce Equity Rises as the new, evolved and expanded name and approach for the Women’s Initiative.

“Equity Rises aims to increase equity and justice in nuclear policy by empowering diverse voices, cultivating inclusive spaces and collaborating with new partners inside and outside the field,” said Cara Marie Wagner, senior program officer at Ploughshares Fund.

Programmatically, Equity Rises will serve as a core, structural component of the Ploughshares Fund mission to eliminate the threat of nuclear weapons, by expanding its scope of inclusivity to gender, race and disability.

“Equity Rises reflects the underlying values, scope and scale our community needs for deep, transformational and systematic change,” said Terry Greenblatt, senior advisor at Ploughshares Fund, who, along with Wagner, was instrumental in launching the Women’s Initiative.

Building off of the momentum and progress by the Women’s Initiative, Equity Rises will continue to disrupt assumptions on how and who has a say in the matter of making the world a more safe and secure world for all.

GIVE TO EQUITY RISES

Latest News and Analysis on Ploughshares Fund Equity Rises, formerly known as the Women's Initiative.

  • Remembering Sally Lilienthal

    At Ploughshares Fund, advocating for and celebrating women at the peace and security table is part of who we are as an organization. Our founder, Sally Lilienthal, started Ploughshares Fund in the 1980s as a bold way of facing up to Cold War fears.

    March 8, 2019 - By Elizabeth Warner
  • Transforming Thinking, Advancing Policy

    Ploughshares Fund believes everyone deserves the right to a safe and secure future. For more than 36 years we have been working to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons, to stop their spread and to reduce conflict in regions where nuclear weapons exist. From the brink of a new arms race, to...

    January 30, 2019 - By Elizabeth Warner
  • Ploughshares Fund Announces New Women's Initiative

    Ploughshares Fund announces the launch of its new Women’s Initiative as a vital part of its collective efforts to realize a world free of nuclear weapons and where all people are guaranteed the right to a safe and secure future. “It’s simple,” said Joe Cirincione, Ploughshares Fund President, “...

    October 15, 2018 - By Ploughshares Fund
  • Nuclear Diplomacy: An Interview with Jenny Town

    Jenny Town is a Research Analyst at the Stimson Center and the Managing Editor and Producer of Ploughshares Fund grantee 38 North, a web journal that provides policy and technical analysis on North Korea. We recently asked her about denuclearization talks and the September meeting between South...

    October 5, 2018 - By Will Lowry
  • Grantee Spotlight: Laicie Heeley

    Ploughshares Fund is proud to sponsor the work of Laicie Heeley, a fellow at the Stimson Center’s Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense Program. Over the past year, Ploughshares Fund has supported Heeley in launching two flagship programs in the nuclear security field with the new podcast,...

    March 23, 2018 - By Ploughshares Fund
  • International Women’s Day 2018

    Right now, there is tremendous action happening across the country and around the world to advance women’s rights, human rights, and the right to a safe and secure future for all. But that future will not be realized as long as the fields of national security and foreign policy continue to be...

    March 8, 2018 - By Elizabeth Warner
  • Transforming Thinking, Advancing Policy

    Women have led, and are leading, the fight to create a safer, saner and more egalitarian future in many areas of civic life, and nuclear security is no different. Ploughshares Fund aims to increase women's leadership and to amplify the role and voices of women working to reduce nuclear threats....

    February 6, 2018 - By Ploughshares Fund
  • Women for America, for the World (1986)

    To mark Women's HIstory Month we've excavated "Women - for America, for the World" (1986). This 30 minute documentary film features 22 prominent American women from all walks of life discussing what motivates their activism seeking the end of the Cold War-era nuclear arms race. In the film,...

    March 3, 2017 - By Ploughshares Fund