If we look at governments around the world, we see that the higher the women's percentage is in parliament, the more funding there is for education and for health care as compared to buying arms, for example.

Rwanda is an example in terms of the transformation of the rights of women. But if you talk to almost any Africanist at the State Department or the World Bank, when you say the word Africa, they think women.

Full democracy requires the full participation of women. Your voices are vital. The word 'vital' means necessary for life. A democracy, to be fully alive, must include all its citizens.

I think that women often can connect at a heart to heart level.

The capacity to forgive is not just about Rwandan women. It is about a willingness of women all over the world to work across conflict lines, to say, "Yes, I'm a Serb. Or yes, I'm a Muslim. Or yes, I'm a Croat. But I'm also a mother."

Women tend to be more interested in reconciliation. A Kenyan woman leader said to me, "You know, in a war, men and women want different things. The men care a lot about territory. And they care where the borders are. And they want this whole state. The women," she said, "they want a safe place." And she put her fingers like this, "They want a safe place for their children to go to school without being shot, for their daughters to not be raped."

I think the women in the political positions will push very, very hard to see that there are loans and banks for women in Rwanda.