When Hudson first proposed her women's security/nation's security thesis at a BYU meeting with colleagues five years ago, it was dismissed outright. Later, Hudson enlisted Mary Caprioli of the University of Minnesota-Duluth (whose earlier research showed a correlation between gender inequality and war-making); Bonnie Ballif-Spanvill, professor of psychology at BYU and director of the school's Women's Research Institute; BYU geography professor Chad F. Emmett; and Rose McDermott, political science professor at Brown University.

After collecting data on women's security, the researchers then correlated this data with data from several measurements of national security, including the Global Peace Index (which measures external conflicts, civil conflicts and military expenditures of nations).

The findings were published earlier this year in the Harvard University-based journal International Security, under the title "The Heart of the Matter: The Security of Women and the Security of States."

Worldwide, 185 countries have ratified a United Nations' treaty supporting the rights of women (CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). But violence against women continues, producing yet another generation of children "who believe violence against women is justified," Hudson notes.

Not surprisingly, a WomanStats map reveals highest levels of women's physical insecurity in the Middle East, India, much of Africa, Brazil and Mexico. On a Violence Against Women scale, the United States sits smack dab in the middle, at a level 3 on a 5-point scale, with moderate levels of domestic violence and rape. (The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that has not ratified the CEDAW bill of rights for women.)

Hudson acknowledges that much further research is necessary before her results can be considered authoritative. "We're hoping for a spirited investigation of this thesis," she says.

The "Heart of the Matter" study includes an arresting tally of 20th century deaths due to war compared with the number of female deaths from such practices as female infanticide, sex-selective abortions and "honor killings." Hudson estimates that an entire century's worth of war, civil war and genocide resulted in about 10 million fewer lives lost than the number of missing women just in the year 2005.

The causes of violence against females "are lost in the mist of evolution," says Hudson, but the violence persists, most especially among humans and chimpanzees. Still, "evolution is not destiny," she insists.

"It's entirely possible to create societies that can suppress those parts of our evolution that are no longer necessary," she says. But that requires an understanding that peace within and among nations literally begins at home.

E-MAIL: jarvik@desnews.com