WASHINGTON, D.C. — Women’s rights are being undermined around the world, and it’s not just in places like Afghanistan where women are being stripped of rights as a matter of law. As argued in Independent Women’s groundbreaking report, “Women and the West: Liberty, Tyranny, and True Liberal Values, the erosion is also happening within free societies—subtly, steadily, and often under the banner of progress.
Across the West, the very foundations that once secured women’s liberty are being weakened: free speech is censored in the name of safety; borders are dissolved in the name of compassion; and biological truth is denied in the name of inclusion. Each of these trends chips away at the rule of law, personal responsibility, and moral clarity—the pillars that made Western women the freest in human history.
The report argues that women’s freedom depends not on expanding bureaucracy or redefining rights, but on preserving the civilizational guardrails that protect human dignity itself. Despite being one of the world’s wealthiest and freest nations, the United States currently ranks 37th out of 177 countries on global indices measuring women’s well-being. This ranking defies conventional expectations and reveals a deeper problem, unveiled today in “Women and the West.” The report argues that wealth and legal equality alone are not sufficient to create a society in which women can truly thrive, and it advocates for a renewed commitment to true liberalism in the West, anchored in sovereignty, free expression, cultural cohesion, and the impartial enforcement of law.
“Women and the West” is both a warning and a call to action. Its message is simple: Strength sustains freedom, and freedom safeguards women—to neglect either is to imperil both.
Meaghan Mobbs, director of Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security and author of “Women and the West,” writes, in part:
“Western values are worth defending, but they are not immune to misuse. Our task is to remain steadfast in purpose and clear-eyed in judgment—never so tolerant that we tolerate our own undoing, and never so open that we forget what we stand for.”
Today, on October 7th, we are reminded of the implications for women and girls around the world when the West fails to lead with moral clarity and demand justice for victims. The global silence following the atrocities committed against Israeli women and girls by Hamas in 2023 was a betrayal, highlighting the selective outrage of those who claim to be champions for women’s rights.
“Women and the West” aims to stir a national dialogue on the legal and political frameworks that best safeguard women’s safety and prosperity so these same mistakes are not repeated. It draws comparisons between the top five and bottom five countries for women’s well-being, as ranked by the Georgetown Women, Peace, and Security Index (GIWPS).
In the forward of the report, Mobbs says:
“From the streets of Stockholm to the war-torn provinces of Afghanistan, the contrasts are stark and instructive. The highest-ranking nations on the Women, Peace, and Security Index remind us that security, opportunity, and dignity are the products of deliberate choices. The lowest-ranking nations warn us of what follows when those choices are abandoned. And the struggles of the United States and Western Europe, caught between the erosion of their own principles and the importation of illiberal ideologies, show that decline is not inevitable, but neither is endurance guaranteed.”
This report calls for a renewed commitment to true liberalism through:
- Vigorous defense of free expression to enable honest public discourse;
- Border enforcement and security measures to prevent the importation of illiberal and violent practices;
- Reaffirmed moral clarity in distinguishing liberal democratic values from those that subjugate women; and
- Championing biological reality in which women’s and girls’ spaces are protected and preserved.
As evidenced in the report, Western values—such as free speech, rule of law, and equal justice—are under threat not only in the United States but also in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. It references incidents like the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal in the UK and rising conflict from unfettered immigration in Western Europe as part of a broader pattern of rising lawlessness affecting women.
Key topics covered in the report include:
- The benefits women experience within the disciplined structures of liberalism;
- Emerging trends of ideological conformity, erosion of free speech, and the dangers of “suicidal empathy” in the West that undermine the freedoms liberalism is designed to protect;
- Increasing incidents of antisemitism, religious extremism, politicization of justice, and declining security in Western nations, and;
- Solutions to restore true liberalism to enhance women’s prosperity in light of these concerning trends.
“Women and the West: Liberty, Tyranny, and True Liberal Values”
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