Women, Peace & Security

A Conversation with Valerie M. Hudson in recognition of International Women’s Day

Author of
Sex & World Peace
The Hillary Doctrine: Sex & American Foreign Policy
The First World Order: How Sex Shapes Governance & National Security

University Distinguished Professor and George H.W. Bush Chair, Professor of International Affairs
Director, Program for Women, Peace & Security at The Bush School, Texas A&M University
and
Founder of the WomenStats Project

Can the security of women predict the security of states and the likelihood of conflict and war?  Yes, indeed.  The prevalence of institutionalized gender-based violence and other deterrents to women’s well-being and their overall status in society correspond significantly to state and global stability. Ms. Hudson’s presentation will clarify this relationship and address the many implications of the overwhelming data supporting the link.

Her remarks will be of tremendous interest to anyone interested in the dynamics of international security, foreign policy and the status of women.  The insights will apply across a broad swath of issues of pressing interest to Americans around the globe (and to the citizens of every country in which we reside).

“The First Political Order offers the strongest possible proof that male control of reproduction – and the violence necessary to control women’s bodies – is the first step in normalizing violence and hierarchy in every society.  From now on, there will be no more separating questions of politics and peace from the treatment of the females. Those days are over.  Thanks to Valerie M. Hudson and her team of global researchers, we have a long, practical, intimate way of diminishing violence and increasing democracy.”

                            Gloria Steinem                                        

Dr. Valerie Hudson

Dr. Valerie Hudson, University Distinguished Professor, joined the faculty of the Bush School in 2012 as the holder of the George H. W. Bush Chair. An expert on international security and foreign policy analysis as well as gender and security, she received her PhD in political science at The Ohio State University and comes to Texas A&M University from a senior faculty position at Brigham Young University. Hudson directs the Bush School’s Program on Women, Peace, and Security.

In 2009, Foreign Policy named her one of the top 100 Most Influential Global Thinkers. Her co-authored book Bare Branches: Security Implications of Asia’s Surplus Male Population, and the research it presents, received major attention from the media with coverage in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, BBC, CNN, and numerous other outlets. The book also received two national book awards. Another coauthored book, Sex and World Peace, published by Columbia University Press, was named by Gloria Steinem as one of the top three books on her reading list. A recent book, with Patricia Leidl, is The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy, published in June 2015. Her newest coauthored book is The First Political Order: How Sex Shapes Governance and National Security Worldwide (Columbia University Press, 2020). She was also recently named a Distinguished Scholar of Foreign Policy Analysis by the International Studies Association.

Dr. Hudson has developed a nation-by-nation database on women, the WomanStats Database (http://www.womanstats.org/), that has triggered both academic and policy interest (the latter includes its use by both the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and various agencies of the United Nations). Using this data, Hudson and her co-principal investigators from the WomanStats Project have published a wide variety of empirical work linking the security of women to the security of states, with research appearing in International Security, American Political Science Review, Journal of Peace Research, Political Psychology, and Politics and Gender.

Dr. Hudson offers courses on women and nations (the foundations course for the Women, Peace, and Security concentration), foreign policy analysis, and a capstone on Women, Peace, and Security. Throughout her career, Dr. Hudson has demonstrated a strong commitment to collaboration with other scholars both in her own field and in other disciplines and has received significant research grants, including grants from the US Department of Defense’s Minerva Initiative and the National Science Foundation, to support her work in international affairs. Her research and teaching experience is also complemented by three major teaching awards and numerous research awards, and she has recently been awarded an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. She was also a Fulbright Distinguished Chair at the Australian National University in early 2017.

Hudson served as vice president of the International Studies Association for 2011-2012. She is a founding editorial board member of Foreign Policy Analysis, and also serves, or has served on, the editorial boards of The American Political Science Review, Politics and Gender, the American Journal of Political Science, and International Studies Review. More information can be found on her professional website, https://vmrhudson.org.

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