Historically speaking, religious and conservative groups always wanted the control over the private sphere that impacts women most, as reflected by family law and women's access to resources and mobility. And often secular groups traded this for economic incentives and trade.

My message to the world is that until we recognize that peace is not just the absence of war but the revival of life on the "backlines," where women are keeping kids in school, caring for the sick and injured, and daily negotiating space for the continuation of critical life processes of this nature, we're going to continue to miss the point.

I believe that leadership acts should be manifested by engaging in external work that can be observed and shared with everyone else.

I believe that there is an urgent need to restructure the discussion of war to include the impact it has on women.

Everything can be taken from you in a second, but the human spirit is so strong. War can teach you so much about evil, and so much about good.

It seems to me that violence against women has been tolerated for so long that the world has become numb to it.

From joblessness to lack of education and professional skills to sexual and gender-based violence, women face a multi-faceted oppression.