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| First Person |
Anger Management
Swanee Hunt
03/01/2007
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Out of that experience came a curiosity about why women are not
included in peace talks. A UN official told me that the warlords won’t have
women on their teams because they’re afraid the women will compromise.
Bingo.
In my work in this field, I’ve been impressed with what women
in conflict-riddled areas do to stabilize their countries. In 2005, I backed
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf’s successful run for president of Liberia, a country with
80 percent illiteracy, no electricity or running water, ripped apart by 14 years
of war. One day that summer, I was out on my husband’s sailboat when I received
a message on my BlackBerry from Liberia’s minister of gender. She was trying to
figure out how to get women returning from refugee camps to register to vote. I
remember sitting with my thoughts racing and thumbs tapping out what must have
been a five-page document—about dividing up the country, having regional
captains and figuring out how they would travel because there are almost no
roads. Despite such challenges, they managed to organize—and the women voted.
Supporting Liberia has become a family affair. My 36-year-old
son has made a documentary, The Iron Ladies of Liberia, and my 19-year-old staffed a delegation I led to train women in the
parliament. I’ve used my wealth to go into countries like Bosnia, Rwanda,
Afghanistan and Iraq to consult with women leaders and cajole high-level
officials. We recently worked with 120 women in Sudan and came away with a list
of 20 stars who could stand before the UN Security Council or CNN to let the
world know what can be done to stop the genocide.
Hunt Alternatives Fund created the Initiative for Inclusive
Security to change a whole public policy paradigm. Because elevating women’s
influence can shorten (or even prevent) conflicts, it needs to become second
nature to policymakers that when there is trouble, they support the women trying
to stop it. But there is a research and development element. We’ve completed and
disseminated 15 field studies to demonstrate the difference women make.
I put around $2.5 million a year into this collaborative
effort, working with embassies, the UN and the World Bank to put on conferences
with female government and grass-roots leaders. We bring the women to the U.S.,
where our 10-person staff facilitates meetings with government officials. In
February, we’ll bring 15 Afghan women parliamentarians to meet with NATO
officials in Brussels. We’re filling a niche; without this organizing, the women
who are standing up to warlords remain invisible and unsupported.
I have no idea what I’ll do after this. For now, this work
energizes me. As the young Anne Frank said, "No one ever becomes poor by
giving."
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