Mobilizing Faith for Womenbetter infrastructure where the streets are lit, wherepeople can walk in safety, where public transportationis safe? We’ve heard the story of the rapes thatjust took place in India. They convened an excellentcommission. The late Judge Verma made incrediblerecommendations, but the state put them aside anddid something else. Why would they do that whenhe has outlined exactly what needs to be done? Thestate needs to take these obligations seriously andtreat women as equal parties. Religious leaders havea big role to play because this is not a question aboutculture. This is a question about honoring everyhuman being in the country.“Women’s rights are aboutyou and me: our boys andgirls, our children, our future.It’s about our outlook on theworld not only today but30 or 40 years from now.Where do we want to be?”— Mona RishmawiViolence against women is an area in which religiousand community leaders need to invest muchmore because it’s about everybody and not one part ofsociety only. President Carter told us why they don’tdo that: because they actually think women are inferiorand that protection really isn’t necessary. Whenyou look at someone as less than a human being, thenthe abuse is fine. It’s actually a joke. When boys talkabout what they tell girls, other boys laugh. Withinthe family, the community, and the religion, thesehave to become taboos. The human rights systemutilizes integrative approaches, but for some reason itis difficult to implement them. For example, the U.N.Human Rights Council just endorsed recommendationsto address the issue of safety and security forwomen through the enactment of adequate legislation;instruction and training of law enforcement officialsto take action to protect women; and investingin infrastructure such as public transportation,sanitation facilities, street lighting, and improvementsin urban planning. Community leaders and religiousleaders have to look at this and find ways to bringthese issues into the mosques, churches, and villages,because these are the things that will make a differencein the daily lives of people.The problem is that the investment is not there;the investment is in conflating two notions that Ithink should be kept separate: culture and religion.Religion comes from the divine; it comes from God.Culture comes from us; let’s not confuse that. Cultureis us. The divine we cannot change, but we absolutelycan change culture! It comes with our progress: Somenorms that were adequate at a certain stage don’tserve their purposes anymore.The problem is that in the area ofwomen — because women are the weakest insociety — culture and religion often are confused. Inthe past in Egypt, they managed to prevent femalegenital mutilation in public hospitals, and therewas a religious fatwa that the ban was in line withreligion. When they realized that girls die from thesepractices, suffering throughout their lives and whenpregnant, the state took measures. That was very positive,but the state can do much more in this regard.For example, I don’t think any religion is in favorof “honor killings.” If anything, religion would limithonor killings, because it says in cases of adultery youneed a certain standard of proof. The issue is thatpeople believe this is their tradition. But how canreligion accept for a life to be taken on the basis ofa suspicion? Culture and religion get conflated, andthe state colludes with laws that actually give lenientsentences for these offenses, police who don’t investigate,and the community that covers it up. This iswhere we need to invest. Religious leaders have aduty to explain the true spirit of religion. They have aduty to explain to people that protecting life is at thecore of religious values.These practices of violence and oppressive culture22 The Carter Center
Mobilizing Faith for Womenlead to one result: Women fear to be part of thepublic space. Tell me which country today can affordto have half its society unengaged in its economic andpolitical life? In a time of economic oppression, in atime where competition over influence is so high, weneed every part of the society to play its role. Womendon’t feel protected to play the role they need to play:They protest and group themselves in organizations,but the majority of women still fear to be in thestreets and in public places and are harassed at workand paid less. To remedy these problems and aggression,the state needs to do much more, and religiousand community leaders have a bigger role to playthan they are playing right now.Let me conclude by saying I don’t think women’srights are only an issue of women: Women’s rights areabout all of us. Women’s rights are about the dignityof every person. Women’s rights are about you andme: our boys and girls, our children, our future. It’sabout our outlook on the world not only today but30 or 40 years from now. Where do we want to be?If we want to be confined as our people were 1,000years ago, that’s a choice. We can make that choice,but it has a price. If we want to go backward, that’sa choice. If we want to go forward, that’s anotherchoice. And if we choose to go forward, we have tomake different decisions today to bring everybody onboard to respect the dignity of every human person.We all have things that we can do within oursphere of influence. President Carter has showed theway. Throughout his career, he has done whatever hecan within his sphere of influence in whatever positionhe was sitting. He has lived for his convictions.I think it is important that one lives for his or herconvictions and moves things forward with a vision ofwhere we want to be in the future.The Carter Center 23
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