In a crowded auditorium at a conference on gender-based violence in Delhi this month, a frail woman sits silently. When the discussion shifts to atrocities on tribal women, she takes center stage. When she speaks, the crowd listens in silence. Soni Sori, a schoolteacher, speaks about the fate of women in Chhattisgarh, an Indian state that has been engulfed in violence and conflict.
Men came while she was working in her field. Twice. Like so many women I met a few months ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the woman telling her story explained how men wearing uniforms appeared as she worked her land and dragged her to a tree and tied her to it, raping her, cutting her, terrifying her. They wanted her money and they wanted her gone from her field.
It’s unfathomable to think that in 2014 half the global population will be prevented from a full range of occupations because of their gender. This kind of prejudice is broadly seen as a throwback to a distant and unenlightened era—which is why the findings of a recent study of the best U.S. colleges was surprising to many.
As a human rights lawyer for more than 40 years, pushing every avenue to advance women’s rights, this month’s Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict hosted by UK Foreign Minister William Hague and Angelina Jolie was a confirming moment of hope.