Women's Initiative

To create a world where all people and the planet are safe and free from nuclear threats, it’s imperative we harness the insight and experience the entire security ﬁeld has to offer by working toward greater inclusivity and representation.

Historically, the security sector has devalued the perspectives of women and other marginalized communities' populations. We need more women in the ﬁeld. And when women do make it into the room, we must keep their contributions and insights—which may challenge the status quo of a system that overvalues force and threats over diplomacy and cooperation—from being discounted or ignored all together. By inviting and positioning women ﬁrmly at the peace and security table, Ploughshares Fund aims to invest in, amplify, and expand the range of perspectives addressing our world’s greatest nuclear challenges—and, as a result, expand the variety of solutions and ideas available to us.

Learn about the Ploughshares Fund Women's Initiative $1 Million Campaign

GIVE TO THE WOMEN'S INITIATIVE

Latest News and Analysis on the Ploughshares Fund Women's Initiative

Gender Champions

The Women’s March, Jan. 21, 2017, the largest single-day protest in US history, drew millions of people to the streets to advocate for women’s rights, reproductive rights and other important social issues and has inspired a heightened level of activism for gender equality that continues to...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Diversity Makes Better Policy

At a time when our global challenges are more complex than ever, it is particularly unfortunate that the decisionmaking levers of foreign and security policy do not reflect the rich diversity of cultures and perspectives that make up the United States. US foreign and security policy is...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
A Nuclear Policy for All

The legitimacy of American democracy is rooted in political participation. Since the end of World War II, however, participation in national security policymaking by citizens, and even by most elected representatives, is no longer considered legitimate. This is especially true for decisions...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Perpetual War

Last year marked a new, tragic milestone in the war on Afghanistan. Now, children born after Sept. 11, 2001 — young people with no memory of how America's longest war began — are old enough to enlist in it. Seventeen years is a long time. I know that, because 17 years ago I was the only member...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Never Give Up

In diplomacy, and in life, we always have to be prepared to accept our lack of control over circumstances. The world can and often will wreak havoc on our plans. Even these days, when I am often despairing and want to lean out, I keep working to make the world safer, less violent and more...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Gender and National Security

Our thinking about national security — and our national security policies themselves — are shaped and limited by ideas about gender. These ideas are deeply embedded in national security discourse, where they underlie core assumptions about what makes us more secure, and what counts as “rational...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
A Feminist Nuclear Policy

I founded the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy because I kept seeing the same patterns in foreign policy: the exclusion of marginalized communities in policymaking, the pressure on women to bear the burden of peacekeeping and the insistence that gendered ideas (in particular those relying on...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Women in the Room Where It Happens

In one year, the world witnessed the prospect of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula turn into awe-inspiring peacemaking by Korean leaders. Now, a historic opportunity to end the seven-decade Korean War is within reach. The majority of South Koreans want a peace agreement to end the Korean War...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
A New Vision for Gender and National Security

Watch our April 3, 2019 conference featuring women leaders with practical steps for smart, effective national security strategy. The conference in part celebrated the launch of our new report, A New Vision: Gender. Justice. National Security. This report was produced in collaboration with...

March 8, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
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