Angelina Jolie: Equality for women key to peaceful world

Actress and activist Angelina Jolie is warning that the world “will remain stuck in a cycle of violence and conflicts” as long as nations put almost every other issue ahead of equality for women.

Jolie is a special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency and told a ministerial meeting on U.N. peacekeeping Friday that there are many examples around the world of successful and inspiring women — “but women and girls are still the majority of the victims of war.”

She said that if those affected by a problem were able to determine a solution, “then the majority of the world’s peace negotiators, foreign ministers and diplomats would be women.”

But Jolie said the reality is that unequal power relations have kept many women in a subordinate position internationally.

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This story corrects Jolie’s title to special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency