Today, Feb. 6, 2017, marks International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. Learn more about the practice of female genital mutilation/cutting through these five publications from the Women and Foreign Policy program, and join the conversation on social media with @CFR_WFP to #EndFGM. Read more »

In the midst of the uproar over President Trump’s executive order (EO), entitled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” an important element missing from the debate is the disproportionate impact it will have on women. While the federal government provides limited data on women refugees, the State Department reported that in fiscal year 2016, over 72 percent of refugees resettled in the U.S. were women and children. The executive order, signed on January 27, 2017, suspends the Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days and bans all citizens from seven “countries of concern”—Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen—from entering the United States for ninety days. The order also indefinitely suspends entry of Syrian refugees into the United States. Other observers have persuasively outlined the legal and ethical limitations of the EO and lawyers have successfully challenged aspects of the order in court.

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The Trump Administration’s executive order on immigration indefinitely bars Syrian refugees from entering the United States, temporarily blocks citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, and suspends all refugee admissions for 120 days.

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Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post, covering from January 15 to January 28, was compiled with support from Becky Allen, Anne Connell, and Alyssa Dougherty.

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On January 21, 2017, the Women’s March on Washington, DC, drew a record-breaking public display of support for women’s rights and civil rights in a mass demonstration, estimated to be the largest one-day protest in U.S. history. With over 600 sister marches held in every major city and dozens of small towns across the United States—as well as at sites on every continent around the world—crowd assessments from police forces and organizers tallied up millions of participants globally. Participants from Boise to Nashville—and from Kolkata to Santiago—flooded the streets and airwaves, with an unprecedented 11.5 million tweets around the world to date using the hashtag #womensmarch.

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This week, world leaders are convening at the 2017 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos to tackle today’s most pressing economic challenges. Driven by the theme, “responsive and responsible leadership,” leaders are expected to exchange ideas to promote increased global collaboration, economic growth, and inclusive development, amid a rapidly changing geopolitical and technological landscape.

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The week after Hillary Clinton failed to shatter that “highest and hardest glass ceiling,” I attended a conference honoring feminist theorist Catharine MacKinnon, who pointedly noted that the American presidential election is one in which “when a woman wins, she doesn’t really win, because of a system she had no voice in designing.” Only a month earlier, United Nations representatives passed over women candidates in favor of a man, António Guterres, to be the next secretary general—by all accounts, a strong choice—despite a global campaign for a woman to be named UN chief.

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Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post, covering from January 6 to January 15, was compiled with support from Anne Connell.

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Voices from the Field features contributions from scholars and practitioners highlighting new research, thinking, and approaches to development challenges. This article is authored by Dana J. Hyde, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

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With the presidential transition underway, observers have noted with concern President-elect Trump’s hostility toward international institutions. As CFR Senior Fellow Stewart Patrick notes, “[T]here is one prediction we can take to the bank: The United Nations is going to get hammered.”

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