On Oct. 14th, nearly 50 women gathered in Charlottetown Friday to participate in the Island's first Women's Peace Table, a worldwide initiative that questions why more women aren't part of peace negotiations and other decision making. 

As you may recall, P.E.I. psychologist and peace activist Susan Hartley is co-ordinating the global Women's Peace Tables Worldwide campaign. Dr. Hartley had spent two and a half months at the Rotary Peace Centre in Bangkok earlier this year, learning from experts in peace negotiations and people on the front-lines of conflict areas.  

Hartley is one of 21 students from 16 different countries around the world who received a 2016 Peace Fellowship from the Rotary Foundation to spend three months at the Peace Centre. Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 individuals from around the world to receive fully funded academic fellowships at one of our peace centers. These fellowships cover tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transportation, and all internship and field-study expenses. In just over a decade, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 900 fellows for careers in peace building. Many of them go on to serve as leaders in national governments, NGOs, the military, law enforcement, and international organizations like the United Nations and World Bank.

"The high participation of women in the Global Peace Fellowship is in stark contrast to their presence at formal peace negotiations globally where there continues to be an imbalance in the representation of women," Dr. Hartley wrote.