Statement by Youth Activist at Gender and Nuclear Weapons Event

My name is Julia da Silva Roberto, it is an honor to close today’s discussion on behalf of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and its youth initiative, RTT and in partnership with the permanent missions of Kazakhstan, Kiribati, and Malta. I would like to thank all our speakers and everyone for being here. 

We’ve heard today about the devastating impacts of nuclear weapons. But I want to close by returning to a question that seems deceptively simple: Why should we invest in women?

At first glance, framing gender within something as distant, technical, and violent as nuclear weapons might seem unexpected. Why gender? Yet it becomes imperative when we recognize that it profoundly shapes not only our social conditions, but also our material realities.

Across academic, professional, and personal spheres—and crucially, in matters of health and safety—gender undoubtedly determines how we experience and are affected by the world. The same is true in the nuclear realm.

1. Women are impacted differently

​​Nuclear weapons do not affect all people equally. Decades of research, from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the test sites of Kazakhstan and the Pacific—have shown that radiation exposure has distinct and disproportionate effects on women and girls. Studies by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research confirm that women are biologically more vulnerable to ionizing radiation than men, facing higher rates of cancer, blood-related diseases and thyroid conditions. For decades, most exposure studies were based on male physiology, leaving these specific health risks faced by women scientifically invisible and politically neglected.

Beyond these biological effects, women face severe reproductive and pregnancy-related consequences, including miscarriages, stillbirths, and children born with birth defects. Similar patterns of miscarriage and developmental abnormalities have been documented among women from Kazakhstan to Kiribati. 

The toll is not only physical but also social: women in these communities often are caregivers, activists, and advocates. They sustain families under an enduring nuclear legacy, preserving memory and truth. And for that reason, they deserve a central place in shaping the policies meant to prevent such suffering from ever occurring again. 

2. Investing in women works

With this crucial context addressed, there is still more to this question: why should we invest in women?

Because investing in women pays off. 

Across sectors and across continents, one fact remains consistent: when women are supported, their communities grow stronger. Studies in development and peacebuilding show that when women have access to education, employment, or financial resources, they reinvest a larger share of their income into their families and local economies. 

In microfinance programs, for instance, women now make up over seventy percent of participants worldwide and consistently demonstrate higher repayment rates than men—trust and accountability continue to characterize women’s economic participation. Similarly, research shows that mothers who complete at least eight years of schooling tend to raise healthier children, lower infant mortality, and improve household wellbeing.

Research across peacebuilding and humanitarian contexts reveal something powerful: when women lead, recovery is faster, and peace lasts longer. UNIDIR found that across forty peace processes, those that included women and civil society were far more likely to succeed—and far less likely to break down. Women’s participation and leadership is just as much about effectiveness as it is about equality—it is central to building sustainable peace and preventing future conflict. 

As a Brazilian, I often return to the words of Paulo Freire, one of my country’s most influential educators, who described education as an act of liberation. Investing in women is, in many ways, a similar act—one that liberates voices, and restores agency to those who have too often been excluded. 

3. Personal 

I hope I can offer a small reflection on what investing in women can look like. As a first-generation college student, an immigrant, and a young woman, I am deeply aware of what access to education and opportunity can make possible. Earlier this year, I had the privilege of attending the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) as a youth delegate of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. That experience was my first introduction to nuclear disarmament beyond the classroom—and it has already begun to shape my future.

Hearing the statements from representatives of Kiribati, such as Taraem Taukaro and Oemwa Johnson, and meeting with survivors of  the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings at the 3MSP was profoundly impactful. I learned about nuclear legacies that I had never known of—about how entire communities, and especially women, continue to live with the physical and emotional consequences of nuclear testing. Until then, nuclear weapons had always felt too vast, too distant, for me to truly grasp—the scale of destruction almost impossible to comprehend. 

Listening to their stories in March, made possible by the TPNW gender considerations, I understood that women’s voices carry a vital dimension to disarmament I had not yet recognized—the pursuit of nuclear justice. Across affected communities, women have been central in documenting harm, advocating for reparations, and transforming suffering into policy action. Investing in women, therefore, is an investment in accountability, inclusion, and sustainable peace.

As we move forward, I hope to remember that disarmament is truly about people, not weapons. It is about the right to live without fear, to heal, and to build futures with dignity. Investing in women means investing in that vision of peace—one rooted in care, resilience, and collective strength. 

Thank you.