 individuals that use archaic cultural or religious practices to subvert women, but to change the national discourse about gender. By showing the national benefits that come from allowing women to own land or receive an education, the State is strengthened as women repeatedly prove themselves capable providers, entrepreneurs and policymakers.
UNWomen, gender advocates, donor states and emerging countries (China, Brazil South Korea are major investors in the developing world, which provides them with enormous say in global politics) must challenge governments that fail to see gender as a national security issue. Governments that fail to promote gender equality do not recognize that every year that a girl spends in secondary school increases her future wages by 15-20%. (The Guardian May 18, 2011) This makes major differences to the fragile states. Undoubtedly the economic argument in gender and specifically “investing in women” helps perpetuate myths in respect to gender roles, but it is also the language that the male-dominate political system understands. In other words, the male dominated political system has to be shown the tangible advantages that come from empowering women, instead of arguing that it is a basic right (even if it is such a thing). Using human rights discourse to advocate gender equality has not born many fruits especially when it has been applied to the countries where women’s rights are at their lowest. Thus, by changing the discourse and using national security, it would be possible to advance gender equality.
 The Loomba Foundation’s report “Invisible, Forgotten Sufferers: The Plight of Widows around the World” (June 2010), which claimed that out of the 245 million widows worldwide approximately 115 million live in extreme poverty. The British charity Plan UK, [http://www.plan-uk.org] asserts that there are approximately 10 million child brides (girls under the age of 18) every year. The June 2011 US State Department’s 400-page “Trafficking in Persons” Report [http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2011/index.htm], emphasized the extent of human trafficking (800,000 people – the majority of which are women – are trafficked annually) and the 2011 report “State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, 2011” by the Minority Rights Group International [ http://www.minorityrights.org] has catalogued the rights of indigenous women, who suffer discrimination and abuse.
 A good example of this is the willingness of the Karzai government to negotiate with the Taliban despite their horrific treatment of women.
 Mark Neocleous persuasively demonstrate that national security stemmed from Roosevelt’s conception of economic security and the havoc caused by the Depression, which is why economic and national security need to be interlinked especially when viewed through a securitization paradigm. Neocleous shows the link Mark Neocleous, “From Social Security to National Security on the Fabrication of Economic Order,” Security Dialogue, Vol. 37, No. 3 (2006), pp. 363-384.
 Rebel forces rape women and girls as a retaliatory tool, as for example for the Nianga ethnic group, which constitutes the majority of the population in some parts of the region “it would be better to die than to be a victim of rape committed by FDLR or their allies, as rape constitutes the worst human humiliation.” (Women’s Voices, January 2011) Conversely, there is evidence of Congolese soldiers also engaging in mass rapes. In addition to being used as “tools of war,” women are also raped because there is no security, allowing the men to engage in such activities with impunity.
 The case of Shahnaz Bibi is indicative of the plight of women in rural Pakistan. Bibi was dragged by six men from her home because her son was accused of having sexual relations with a married woman. She was forced to walk naked around the village without a single person helping her (none of the villagers even reported the incident to the police). Due to her ordeal, Bibi cannot return to the village. (BBC News, June 21, 2011)
 The Indian novelist Kishwar Desai, 