How Sex Shapes Governance and National Security Worldwide

Valerie Hudson, George H.W. Bush Chair and professor of international affairs in the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, gives the 2024 Winnie Veenstra Peace Lecture hosted by the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society. The title of the talk is “The First Political Order: How Sex Shapes Governance and National Security Worldwide.”

In what ways does the treatment of women within society affect that society's levels of security, prosperity, and resilience? Dr. Hudson and her co-authors performed the most comprehensive empirical investigation of that question under the auspices of the US Department of Defense's Minerva Initiative. This presentation will outline their research, its results, and its implications for policymakers. What they found will convince you that "What you do to your women, you do to your nation-state."

This talk is co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology, Department of Political Science, and College of Arts and Science Women's Caucus. For more information, visit the Ethics Center's website.