For the past three years, research for the U.S. Department of Defense has amassed tens of thousands of data points for 176 nations. The structure of male-female relations within a society, centered around marriage law/customs, property rights, and personal status law, is highly predictive of nation-state outcomes. The most important revolution, then, in international affairs, is that of male-female relations, and the dynamics of change in such relations are critically important to national and international security.

Valerie M. Hudson taught at BYU for twenty-five years before moving to Texas A&M University, where she is Professor and George H.W. Bush Chair in the Department of International Affairs at The Bush School of Government and Public Service, as well as director of the Program on Women, Peace, and Security. Hudson is co-founder of The WomanStats Project, which hosts the largest compilation of information on the status of women in the world. Co-author of Bare Branches, Sex and World Peace, and The Hillary Doctrine, her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and the U.S. Department of Defense. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she was named a Distinguished Scholar of Foreign Policy Analysis and a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, and has served as a vice president of the International Studies Association.