Session 7:
Women Leaders’ Leverage in Peacebuilding

Thursday, February 3: 11:00-12:10 PM EST

Women leaders have “soft convening power,” which is a powerful force for moving forward both ideas and events. First Ladies and women ambassadors have pivotal positions, working with their spouses and citizens to both identify what the main concerns of their countries are, as well as to augment solutions. All nations of the world are counterparts of the other. We are not removed from wars or suffering of another nation; world problems affect all of us, and each nation has a role on the world stage. The conflict we see between the bitter divide of North Korea and South Korea, for example, once solved, could very well be a model for world peace. Unity of the Korean Peninsula could show the world a success story—truly that of loving “enemies” and sacrificing for someone holding different ideals from our own. Women have the ability to be the mediators and bridges which the world can walk in the quest for peace. Our contributors will address the conflicts and divides within their own nations, presenting hopeful solutions and larger lessons that can be applied to the world.