Albina du Boisrouvray, a French countess and philanthropist devoted to women's and children's social justice issues around the world, explained to HuffPost Live last week why women, who are routinely "discarded" from governance, need to be more included in negotiations and decision-making.
The countess, who is the founder and president emerita of her nonprofit organization FXB International, explained to host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani that "with the world on [women's] shoulders most of the time" through the responsibilities of providing, it's imperative that they be involved in peace negotiations and governing.
"Women are discarded from the decision-making, and they should be there," du Boisrouvray said. "Not only because they're the half, but because they're, I would say, the better half. They're the ones who carry the future generation. They're the ones who raise the generation."
Du Boisrouvray can relate to feeling disregarded as a woman, and she told HuffPost Live that throughout her career she's received significant criticism for her work that she suspects men wouldn't have received.
"Why was I so criticized?" she asked. "If a man had been pioneering this kind of program, everybody would have said, 'Oh, how interesting. Let's look into it.' In my case, very high-up men ... in governance in some instances would say, 'Well she does something that works, but I just don't understand what she's doing.' They never really put their noses in it or asked the right questions."
Given women have more sensitivity and an ability to nurture and interact with people "in a listening and not authoritarian, imposing way," du Boisrouvray said, "women are essential to all the conversations."
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