For a long time, foreign policy was largely "a world minus women," says Valerie Hudson, Professor and George H.W. Bush Chair at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. That's beginning to change, as policymakers increasingly recognize gender as a critical factor in the success or failure of programs. What's missing, says Hudson, is hard data. That's where WomanStats comes in.

WomanStats is a large, open-access database of information on the status of woman in 175 nations around the world. In this week's podcast, Hudson, a lead researcher on the project, explains how the security of women relates to the security of nations and why the WomanStats data is crucial for better foreign policy.