Child Marriage as an American Foreign Policy Issue

  A 12-year old Indian child bride on July 30, 2011. A few weeks ago, I attended a Council on Foreign Relations lecture by Rachel B. Vogelstein. She recently released a book in May 2013 entitled Ending Child Marriage: How Elevating the Status of Girls Advances U.S. Foreign Policy Objectives. In her book she argues …

Taking Advantage of Womenomics to Fight Poverty

Hi! I’m so glad you are reading the WomanStats blog! My guess is that if you are reading this, you are probably interested in the situation of women and how we can improve the lives of women, men, and children by focusing on empowering females. You may wonder, like myself, how it is that since …

Cautiously Optimistic on Sexual Assault in the US

When I was assigned this blog, I asked myself what I think needs to be discussed or what needs to be revived as a discussion. What this blog will discuss is nothing new, but that’s precisely why I feel I need to talk about it. The topic has become so commonplace that people don’t talk …

Pioneer Women and Girls

Pioneer Family by Chris L. Waddle, corner of Center Street and Main Street in Springville Utah July 24th is an official holiday in the State of Utah. It is known as Pioneer Day and commemorates the entry of the first Mormon Pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. They were part of …

The Security of Women, The Security of A State, and Domestic Violence

As many of us know, Dr. Valerie Hudson and her colleagues have done outstanding research demonstrating how the security of women is directly correlated with the security of a state and how this impacts international relations.  A couple of her most well known pieces, “Bare Branches” and “A Surplus of Men A Deficit of Peace” …

“Let’s All Dance for One Goal . . . This Time for Africa!” WomanStats Waka Waka

In 2000 countries of the world united and produced the Millennium Development Goals wherein two foundational goals for education were adopted: to ensure that all boys and girls complete primary schooling by 2015 and to ensure that girls have the opportunity for education at all levels by 2015. Sadly, the world is far from meeting …

One in Seven

That's the probability a woman in Niger will die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth. I recently learned from UNICEF's 2005 publication, Progress for Children, that my own lifetime risk (as an American woman) of dying from pregnancy-related causes is 1 in 4,800. That sounds pretty good compared to the women in Saharan Africa, until you …