As you're building a country, you have to be thinking about what works at the ground level. And women have their fingers on the pulse of the community. They know what is critical to have in the treaty to stop the war.

Women are less corruptible. There's plenty of research to show that they are less inclined to take bribes and they are more trustworthy. And so it's all the more important to have them in large percentages.

One of the greatest mistakes the international community can make is to say, "Well, we will get other matters figured out and stabilized, and then we'll think about the women's rights, because that's really a grade-B kind of concern."

The United States is the lone superpower of the world. We have a stake in Rwanda's success because we have a stake in the world's stability.And we have got to understand the need for a paradigm shift. This is not about "might makes right." This is about a democratic movement that pulls out the voices of all of the people so that they come up with a fair and healthy and stable and sustainable society. And if we can learn those lessons in a place like Rwanda, then we can apply them around the world.

Women know what kinds of laws can really be implemented. I loved in the film where the woman was talking to the other women about what it was going to be like when they were married. And she was saying, "Now, don't you think that just because the mother gave your husbands that cow that it's just his cow."

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."

I'll tell you, when you have wounds that are as deep as were caused by the genocide, the first thing you do is try to create some way to pull the wound together. And it may be artificial until the skin grows back.