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

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

Seven Questions for Cecili Thompson Williams

Cecili Thompson Williams is the Director of Ploughshares Fund grantee and partner, Beyond the Bomb, where she leads a team of campaigners and activists mobilizing against the threat of nuclear war and weapons. She has nearly two decades of experience leading mission-driven campaigns with...

April 22, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Nuclear Weapons and the Green New Deal

At its core, ours is an existential fight. Our work to prevent nuclear war is driven by an understanding that humanity has the capacity to destroy itself and we can’t leave prevention to chance.The Doomsday Clock is currently set at two minutes to midnight — the closest to a nuclear apocalypse...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
Time to Ban the Bomb

Of late, the world has been reminded that the threat posed by nuclear weapons is severe and worsening. The United States has signaled that it will withdraw from one of the most important Cold War arms control agreements — the 1987 Intermediate- Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) — which...

April 3, 2019 - By Ploughshares Fund
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