Women and Stability: A Topological View of the Relationship between Women and Armed Conflict in West Africa

The relationship between women and stability, if any, is a topic of much debate and research. Several large and influential organizations have all researched women\u27s effect on stability. Furthermore, several of these world organizations, the United Nations, in particular, have declared gender equality to be a driving force in promoting stability and conflict prevention. Due to the United States active involvement in conflict prevention in such regions as West Africa, research concerning the relationship between women and stability is of particular interest to the United States Africa Command. As such, this research applied Topological Data Analysis, combined with other machine learning algorithms, to Demographic and Health Survey Program data combined with Armed Conflict Location and Event Data so as to observe the relationship between women\u27s status and armed conflicts in the West African region. While this team did not observe any direct correlation between women\u27s well-being and stability - defined as a lack of armed conflict events - the chosen methodologies and data usage have potential implications for future research concerning stability and conflict