We must repeat and spread far and wide what many still do not realize: women’s rights are human rights. Many human rights advocates see women’s rights as a separate issue, not as pressing as “human rights.” But women’s rights are just as urgent as issues that also affect men.
I attended The Daily Beast’s Women in the World summit this past weekend, which was an interesting conference organized by Tina Brown. I cried when women spoke about having been enslaved, raped, beaten, had their genitals mutilated, harassed, threatened, victimized by their own families, isolated, and injured in other ways. I knew that the goal of the conference was not just to hear powerful testimony, but to try to do something about it afterwards. All I can do at this stage is spread the word: women and children all over the globe are in a state of crisis and we must end their suffering.
When are powerful governments going to take violence against women seriously, when are they going to say: this is an emergency, it must stop now?
