Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan once noted the critical contributions women make during times of conflict: "In war-torn societies, women often keep the society going. They maintain the social fabric. They replace destroyed social services and tend the sick and wounded. As a result women are the prime advocates of peace."
But a more forward-looking understanding is needed to recognize the real reasons for involving women as countries emerge from political upheaval. In Iraq, for example, women now make up a large part of the population because so many men have died in the country's wars in the past three decades. There are widows and divorced women who can't support themselves or care for their children. They all have particular health and safety needs. Who will understand these needs better than other women?
No matter what country or crisis we are contemplating, surely there can be no rational reason for excluding half (or more) of that country's population from participating in its reconstruction. What kind of a Committee of Wise Men could possibly fail to see that?
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