The Foreign Service Journal, April 2011

A P R I L 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 27 any of the major challenges of our time, from tackling global poverty and cli- mate change, to improving food security, global health and governance, cannot be effectively addressed without a focus on women and girls. As they become mindful of this reality, governments and nongovernmental organizations, multi- lateral organizations like the World Bank and, increasingly, corporations, are all making greater efforts to close gender gaps and improve the status of women. An important objective of the State Department’s 2010 Quadrennial Diplomacy F OCUS ON W OMEN IN S ECUR I TY AND D EVELOPMENT T HE E MERGENCE OF I SLAMIC F EMINISM J UST AS CONSERVATIVES HAVE USED I SLAM TO HINDER WOMEN ’ S EMPOWERMENT , M USLIM FEMINISTS ARE USING THEIR FAITH TO PROMOTE IT . B Y I SOBEL C OLEMAN Ben Fishman M