When foreign ministers from 10 countries — Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE and United States — met in Paris in December to discuss possible solutions to the crisis in Syria, the absence of women was noticeable and inexcusable, despite the fact that U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 explicitly says all parties in any conflict should support women's participation in peace negotiations.
In the all-important Paris Climate Conference (COP21) in the same month, only 16 out of the 58 main figures were women. This is a deplorable number.
We are fed up. The lack of women — whether in peace negotiations, high-level conference panels, or boards — is alarmingly common.