The world’s discrimination and violence against women and girls is the most serious, pervasive, and ignored violation of basic human rights: This is President Carter’s call to action.
And I agree with him. Violence and discrimination against women and girls is pervasive and rising around the world. Who are these women and girls? They are our mothers, our sisters and our daughters. The effects of the violence and discrimination extend far beyond just the victims of the abuse, but to every member of the community. Strong correlations have been drawn suggesting communities where violence against women and girls is prevalent are often blighted by poverty, crime and lack of resources.
President Carter published his 28th book “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power”, detailing his experience in traveling to over 145 countries and seeing firsthand the shocking reality that women around the world are being denied equal rights. He posits that there are essentially two underlying causes; the first being the manipulation of religious texts and the second, the excessive presence and acceptance of violence.
