Last month‚ during Georgias disputed election Salome Zourabichvili stood against pro-Moscow forces that tried to claim victory before vote-counting was done (while russian-backed groups harassed voters and used water-cannons on EU-flag holding protesters)
Other female leaders show similar strength: Maia Sandu of Moldova fights russian fake-news; polish women helped remove right-wing PiS party; hong-kong females lead anti-chinese protests
The US security world doesnt take womens roles seriously enough - back in early 2000s one top-general said:
Weʼll talk about womenʼs issues after we secure the place
Today many countries see womenʼs rights going down-hill: from iranʼs gender rules to kenyas anti-female trends; internet hate against women grows too
The Women Peace and Security plan from last year shows how gender-bias links to violence; but some miss its point thinking its just about hiring more women. The real goal: seeing how gender views help spot early signs of power-grab politics
Look at these examples of bad leaders:
* Vladimir Putin talks about christian values while making domestic abuse rules weaker
* Viktor Orban in hungary blocks women from media and pushes them to stay home
* Alexander Lukashenko tried forcing out female opposition
* Xi Jinping wants chinese women to forget work and have kids
US can do three key things: help womens groups world-wide; use gender info in spy-work; join more talks about feminist foreign-policy. These steps could help spot democracy problems early-on