Capítulo 1
Breaking the Chains of Inequality: A Global Awakening
What if I told you that the most pervasive human rights violation in our world today isn't terrorism or war, but something happening in plain sight? Jimmy Carter's "A Call to Action" confronts this uncomfortable truth: the systematic abuse and discrimination against women and girls across every continent and culture. This isn't just another political memoir-it's a passionate manifesto from a former president who has witnessed firsthand how religious misinterpretation, violence, and cultural traditions combine to subjugate half of humanity. The book has become required reading in human rights courses at universities worldwide and has influenced policy discussions at the United Nations. Even celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Emma Watson have cited it in their advocacy work. As we navigate today's polarized conversations about gender equality, Carter's unique perspective as both a devout Christian and progressive humanitarian offers a bridge between seemingly opposed worldviews.
Capítulo 2
The Personal Journey of Understanding Inequality
Growing up in the rural community of Archery, Georgia during the 1930s, Jimmy Carter's earliest experiences with gender roles were shaped by his immediate surroundings. His mother, a registered nurse, often worked long hours away from home, while his father insisted the family treat the Black women who helped in their home with deference and respect. This early environment instilled a sense of chivalry toward women, though it existed within a deeply segregated society.
Carter's childhood heroine was Rachel Clark, an African American woman whose husband worked on the Carter farm. He describes her as having "an aura like a queen" and recalls how she taught him fishing, nature, and how to relate to God and other people. Rachel was famous in their agricultural community for outworking everyone in cotton picking and peanut harvesting. The young Carter cherished nights spent sleeping on a pallet in Rachel and Jack's home, immersed in their culture and wisdom.
However, as Carter grew older, his worldview began to shift. At age six, while selling boiled peanuts in town, he overheard men speaking freely about their extramarital affairs, including relationships that crossed racial lines despite societal taboos. This early exposure revealed how his community interpreted Bible lessons to accommodate convenient ethical standards-condemning divorce while accepting extramarital relationships.
Like many Southerners of his generation, Carter was caught in the misinterpretation of Scripture regarding racial inequality, as society rationalized segregation as God's will. As a teenager, he noticed how his Black friends began treating him differently, standing back to let him go through gates first-a painful shift in relationships that had once been more equal. Similarly, he observed how society maintained different sexual standards for boys and girls, though he maintains that abstinence before marriage is best for both.
These formative experiences laid the groundwork for Carter's later understanding of how societies construct hierarchies based on race and gender, often using religious texts to justify discrimination. His personal journey from accepting these norms to questioning and eventually challenging them reflects the evolution many must undergo to confront deeply embedded prejudices.
Capítulo 3
From Naval Officer to Human Rights Champion
Carter's commitment to peace and human rights began during his service as a Navy officer in the final days of World War II. He closely followed the formation of the United Nations, keeping its Charter with him aboard ship. This document represented a global consensus that devastating wars must end, with peaceful alternatives sought for inevitable disputes. The UN's stated purpose was to promote security, development, human rights, democracy, and lasting peace, while preventing atrocities like the Holocaust.
The UN Charter committed member states to respect human rights "without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion." Under Eleanor Roosevelt's leadership, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ratified in 1948 by a vote of 48-0, with eight abstentions. Significantly, no objections were raised to guaranteeing equal rights for women, except Saudi Arabia's opposition to marital equality.
This declaration explicitly guaranteed equal rights for men and women in all aspects of life-dignity, freedom from slavery and torture, marriage rights, voting rights, equal pay, education, and special protections for motherhood. Yet these solemn international commitments are being blatantly violated today, with religious leaders remaining remarkably silent.
Carter laments that America has abandoned the UN's peaceful principles, becoming almost constantly involved in armed conflicts worldwide. The resort to violence has become a natural facet of U.S. foreign policy, with some Christians advocating warfare over Jesus's teachings of peace. When questioned about military involvement, the common answer is, "We need to show our strength." This neglect of peace obligations increases the suffering of the innocent, particularly women and children who bear the brunt of modern warfare.
Through his post-presidential work with The Carter Center, he has visited approximately 145 countries with his wife Rosalynn, witnessing firsthand how financial inequality grows with each decade, both between and within nations. Yet the most serious worldwide challenge he identifies is the deprivation and abuse of women and girls, causing unconscionable human suffering and devastating economic losses from the untapped contributions of half of humanity.
Capítulo 4
Religious Texts: Liberation or Oppression?
The relegation of women to inferior status by religious leaders is, in Carter's view, a primary reason for the perpetuation of sexual abuse. When potential exploiters believe their victims are considered inferior even by God, they presume taking advantage is permissible. It's crucial, he argues, that believers abandon the premise that faith mandates sexual discrimination.
As an active Christian, deacon, Bible teacher, and missionary, Carter has taught Bible lessons since age eighteen-at Annapolis, as a farmer, governor, president, and still in Plains about thirty-five times yearly to diverse audiences. These discussions reveal that contentious issues aren't between different faiths but within them-particularly regarding homosexuality, contraception, abortion, biblical interpretation, and women's equality.
After the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000, Carter and his wife questioned whether their beliefs aligned with the Convention's new emphasis on wives being "submissive" to husbands. This contradicted his understanding of Jesus as the greatest liberator of women in a society where they were considered inferior. Jesus treated women as equal to men-conversing publicly with the Samaritan woman, pardoning the woman accused of adultery, and accepting women as travelers in his entourage and financial supporters of his ministry. Mary Magdalene was first to witness his resurrection and inform the disciples.
While some cite Paul's letters as evidence of bias against women, Carter argues these must be understood in the historical context of troubled early church congregations. Paul himself commended many women leaders, including deacons, apostles, and ministers. In Galatians, he wrote "there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." The debate about women's equality often centers on Genesis creation stories, but both emphasize the mutuality and equality of worth between male and female.
Many Christian and Jewish fundamentalists use the second creation story as basis for male superiority because man was created first, combined with blaming Eve for original sin. However, Paul addresses this clearly in 1 Corinthians: "Woman may come from man, but man is born of woman. And both come from God."
Carter observes that people of faith selectively interpret the Bible's 31,000 verses to maintain power. Ironically, women now hold leadership positions in all major professions but are often denied leadership roles in churches, despite their service in Jesus's ministry and early Christianity. This religious suppression has influenced women's unequal status worldwide.
Capítulo 5
Violence as Policy: From Prisons to Battlefields
As governor of Georgia, Carter witnessed how bias, discrimination, and injustice create an underlying tendency toward violence and abuse, particularly affecting women and others unable to defend themselves. This pattern extends from prison systems to international conflicts.
In October 2013, UN special rapporteur Rashida Manjoo reported a global increase in women's incarceration rates compared to men, with women often facing harsher conditions. Many are imprisoned for crimes committed under coercion from abusive men, especially in drug trafficking. Women also face incarceration for "moral crimes" like sex outside marriage, which don't affect men similarly, and can even be punished as rape victims. Prison conditions are particularly severe for women, who face increased sexual assault risk.
The Carter Center firmly opposes capital punishment. While Carter was governor in 1972, the Supreme Court issued a moratorium on executions in Furman v. Georgia due to inconsistent legal grounds. Executions resumed in 1976 after states established new standards. Only three executions occurred during his governorship and presidency, but 1,359 have taken place since 1980.
The United States stands alone among NATO and North American countries in executing citizens. Despite claims that capital punishment deters crime, evidence shows the opposite. Canada's last execution was in 1962, yet its murder rate is far lower than America's. Southern states perform 80% of executions but have higher murder rates than other regions. Studies show homicide rates actually increase around executions through what researchers call the "brutalization effect"-state-sanctioned killing desensitizes society to violence.
The normalization of state violence encourages violence in society, particularly affecting impressionable young people. If government easily chooses violence to solve problems, citizens internalize this approach in their own interactions. This is especially evident in military settings, where sexual assault has become epidemic. The Department of Defense estimated 26,000 instances of unwanted sexual contact in 2012, but only 3,200 were reported and just 300 prosecuted-about 1.2 percent of known cases compared to 37 percent in civilian courts.
War inevitably causes civilian casualties, particularly among women, children, and the elderly. The brutality of war removes normal inhibitions, leading to increased sexual violence against women, as demonstrated by Japanese forces in Korea and China and currently in eastern Congo. Even within civilian populations, the acceptance of violence as normal causes additional abuse of women and girls.
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Global Perspectives on Women's Status
Through his extensive travels, Carter has gained unique insights into women's status across cultures. His mother's experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in India at age seventy revealed the complex interplay of professional status and cultural hierarchy. Despite being a nurse, she was considered an "untouchable" because of her work with bodily excretions. When she offered to teach a gardener's daughter to read and write, she set in motion a transformation that led to that girl eventually becoming president of a local university-a powerful testament to how education can transform the lives of excluded girls.
During the Iran hostage crisis as president, Carter studied the Koran extensively to understand how religious beliefs might help secure the release of American diplomats and bring peace to the region. This study helped him recognize that all major faiths contain essential elements of justice, peace, and compassion, though biased interpreters can distort their meaning.
Western observers often fail to understand the political freedom many Muslim women enjoy. The Carter Center has monitored elections in numerous Islamic countries where women have equal voting rights. In Saudi Arabia, though women have historically lacked voting rights, the king appointed thirty women to the Consultative Assembly in 2013. Despite strict dress codes and restrictions on driving, many Saudi women-particularly from elite families-described to Rosalynn Carter their satisfaction with their protected status and privileges. Educational opportunities for Saudi women are expanding, with women comprising nearly 60 percent of university students, though employment barriers remain significant.
To better understand attitudes toward women in Islamic society, Carter studied the works of Naguib Mahfouz, the 1988 Nobel Laureate in literature from Egypt. His collected quotations revealed disturbing views on women, describing them as lacking ideology, comparing marriage to "castor oil," and suggesting women without children are "like wine without the power to intoxicate." Only one quote near the end of his work supported women's liberation, indicating that even within modern, ostensibly secular Islamic societies, there remains a tendency to derogate women.
Capítulo 7
The Carter Center's Fight for Women's Rights
The Carter Center confronts sexual discrimination and abuse through work with families in over seventy developing nations, witnessing firsthand how religious beliefs and violence impact women in patriarchal societies. When communities face poverty, disease, or persecution, women invariably suffer more severely, with men and boys receiving priority for food, education, and opportunities. During civil conflicts, women become primary victims of violence, displacement, and rape, while also facing special biases from distorted religious beliefs and discriminatory tribal customs.
The organization focuses on waging peace, fighting disease, and building hope by filling vacuums in global needs rather than duplicating others' efforts. Over time, they've increasingly concentrated on reducing neglected tropical diseases that still impact hundreds of millions in Africa, Latin America, and parts of Asia.
Their most publicized health campaign targets Guinea worm disease, approaching total eradication as the second disease in history eliminated. This 25-year effort spans 26,000 isolated villages across twenty countries, giving unprecedented insight into women's roles in destitute communities. The disease spreads when people drink stagnant water containing microscopic larvae, which mature inside the body into 2-3 foot worms that painfully emerge through the skin. With no medical cure, women bear the heaviest burden-they're blamed for bringing contaminated water and must care for afflicted family members. Yet women have become the Center's greatest allies in prevention, with over 10,000 female volunteers now monitoring villages in South Sudan.
Blinding trachoma affects women twice as frequently as men. The Carter Center's comprehensive approach follows the WHO's SAFE strategy: Surgery, Antibiotics, Face washing, and Environment. They've trained thousands of female health workers to perform eyelid surgeries and distribute antibiotics. In Ethiopia, 6,500 female health extension workers lead teams treating millions annually. The environmental component saw remarkable success when communities were taught to build simple latrines-Ethiopian women embraced this as a practical liberation movement, building 2.9 million latrines by 2012.
After Liberia's civil war ended and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became Africa's first elected female president in 2005, The Carter Center helped establish a legal system in rural areas that particularly benefited women. They informed people that rape was a crime, women could own property, wives could inherit from deceased husbands, both parents had claims on children, and female genital cutting wasn't mandatory. Using the slogan "Empower Men and Women Together," they used community dramas, training of traditional leaders, and radio broadcasts to promote gender equality.
Capítulo 8
The Darkest Abuses: From Gendercide to Sexual Violence
Some of the most disturbing violations of women's rights occur before birth or in early childhood. During a 1981 visit to rural China, Carter observed the strictly enforced "One is best, two at most" family planning program. Billboards depicted happy parents with an only child-always a boy. This preference for male children has had serious consequences globally. While naturally slightly more males than females are born, some nations show significant deviations. WHO data reveals India's girl-to-boy ratio is 100:112, while China's ratio increased from 100:106 in 1960 to 100:118 by 2010.
With sonogram technology now widely available even in remote areas, sex-selective abortion has become common. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen estimated in 1990 that 50 million females were "missing" in China, and over 105 million worldwide-decisions made privately within families rather than by government mandate. Some mothers openly admit to killing their newborn daughters. Child mortality also disproportionately affects girls, with 131 girls dying in India for every 100 boys of the same age. Despite laws against gendercide in several countries, the practice continues, with current estimates of at least 160 million missing females-more than twice the number of casualties in World War II.
Sexual violence against women is pervasive globally, with the U.S. Justice Department reporting 191,610 cases of rape or sexual assault in 2006-over 475 women assaulted daily. Only 16% of these cases are reported to police, dropping to under 5% on college campuses. In India, rape has doubled between 1990 and 2008, with 24,206 cases registered in 2011 (one every twenty-two minutes). The horrific 2012 Delhi gang rape of a 23-year-old student sparked international outrage and resulted in death sentences for the perpetrators, though human rights activists argue that capital punishment doesn't address the underlying patriarchal attitudes.
In Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, rape has been weaponized in conflict, with the DRC becoming known as the "world capital of rape." Studies show alarmingly high rates of sexual violence in southern Africa, with 26% of South African men and 34% in eastern Congo admitting to forcing non-partners to have sex.
Modern slavery generates $32 billion in profits annually, with the United States having nearly 60,000 people in bondage. India has the highest number at nearly 14 million slaves, while Mauritania has the highest percentage. The sex trade is particularly lucrative-a slave prostitute costs about $1,900 on average but generates $29,000 annual profit. Unlike drugs which can only be consumed once, women can be sold thousands of times. About 800,000 people are trafficked across borders annually, 80% being women and girls, with three-quarters sold into sex work.
Capítulo 9
Cultural Practices That Harm Women
Some of the most entrenched forms of gender-based violence are defended as cultural traditions. The terrible custom of "honor" killings remains either legal or unprosecuted in many countries, despite having ancient roots even in Judeo-Christian scripture. According to Human Rights Watch, honor killings are acts of vengeance against women perceived to have dishonored their families through refusing arranged marriages, being sexually assaulted, seeking divorce, or allegedly committing adultery. The BBC estimates more than 20,000 women are victims annually worldwide.
Despite reform efforts by leaders like Jordan's King Abdullah II and Queen Rania, honor killings persist due to deep cultural beliefs. Jordan's previous law explicitly exempted killers from penalty when "discovering" female relatives committing adultery. Even with stricter legislation, courts often reduce sentences, particularly when families request leniency. Cambridge University researchers found alarming support for honor killings among Jordanian youth, with 50% of boys and 20% of girls believing such killings are justified.
Female genital cutting (FGC) represents one of the most severe forms of abuse against girls, typically performed without anesthesia using crude instruments. The procedure can cause lifelong health consequences including chronic infections, severe pain, and psychological trauma. The World Health Organization estimates 125 million women and girls have undergone FGC, supposedly to "purify" them by reducing sexual desire. Despite no scriptural mandate, the practice occurs among various religious groups. A 2013 UNICEF report showed overwhelming prevalence in certain countries: 98% in Somalia, 96% in Guinea, 93% in Djibouti, and 91% in Egypt.
The most effective interventions come from within communities themselves, as demonstrated by Molly Melching's Tostan organization in Senegal, which educates women about their rights and health, allowing them to make their own informed decisions about abandoning the practice. This grassroots movement has spread to over 6,400 villages across multiple African countries, with women themselves deciding to abandon both genital cutting and child marriage.
Child marriage represents another pervasive form of gender abuse, with approximately 14 million girls married before age eighteen annually. This practice disproportionately affects poor families and causes severe health consequences, educational deprivation, and human rights violations. Child brides under fifteen are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their twenties. Their babies are 60% more likely to die in their first year than those born to slightly older mothers. Most child brides must leave school, limiting their ability to support themselves, and they face higher rates of domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Capítulo 10
The Path Forward: Models for Change
Despite these daunting challenges, Carter identifies promising models for change across cultures and religions. Morocco provides an exemplary case of enhancing women's rights within an Islamic context. King Mohammed VI, despite substantial opposition including massive demonstrations, proposed and achieved parliamentary approval of laws improving women's status in 2004. These reforms raised the marriage age to eighteen, established equal spousal responsibility in families, eliminated mandatory male guardianship, prevented forced marriages, granted women more rights in marriage contracts, and required divorce to occur only in secular courts.
A remarkable partnership between British Foreign Secretary William Hague and actress Angelina Jolie demonstrates how political and cultural figures can address serious human rights violations. After viewing Jolie's film about abuse of women in the Bosnian war, Hague launched a major diplomatic initiative against rape in conflict zones. They established a 70-member UK team to gather evidence for prosecuting sexual violence in war zones and to provide care for victims. In 2013, they achieved a unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning sexual violence in conflicts, with forty-five nations as cosponsors.
Ela Bhatt exemplifies how one determined woman can transform millions of lives. A Brahmin-born lawyer who joined the Textile Labor Association, Bhatt founded the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in 1972 to protect women working as vendors and home-based laborers. Following Gandhi's holistic approach, SEWA grew to become India's largest primary union with 1.7 million women members. The organization formed over a hundred cooperatives, established health and life insurance programs covering 100,000 women, and created a bank with 350,000 depositors. Despite small loan amounts averaging $100, the bank maintains a 97% repayment rate.
One crucial lesson from The Carter Center's work is that ending abuses against women requires the entire community's support, especially male leaders. When men joined Tostan's discussion groups, women began framing their goals as "human rights" rather than "women's rights," leading to real progress in ending genital cutting and child marriage. In Congo, a traditional chief who attended their Human Rights Defenders Forum personally apprehended a soldier who raped a fourteen-year-old girl and used his influence to prevent the victim's ostracism.
Sweden's approach to prostitution-punishing brothel owners and customers rather than sex workers-has proven more effective than the Dutch model of legalization, with sex trafficking decreasing significantly in Sweden while increasing in countries following the Dutch approach.
Capítulo 11
A Universal Call for Action
The World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report offers a valuable assessment of gender equality across 136 countries using four criteria: economic opportunity, educational attainment, political empowerment, and health outcomes. Iceland leads with a score of .8731, while the United States ranks twenty-third at .7382, lagging particularly in wage equality (67th) and women in political office (60th). Most countries show slow progress in closing gender gaps, with the U.S. improving only 5 percent over seven years.
Despite composing nearly half the workforce and earning more college degrees than men, American women still earn about 23% less than men in full-time positions, with minimal improvement over the past decade. Globally, the pay gap ranges from 4% in New Zealand to 37% in South Korea. The disparity is even greater at executive levels, where women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies receive 42% less compensation than men, despite research showing companies with more female board members achieve 26% better returns on investment.
The Carter Center's Mobilizing Faith for Women initiative offers an online resource for those wishing to combat discrimination and abuse. Among the twenty-three specific actions they support are: encouraging women to speak out while protecting them from retaliation; reminding leaders of their responsibilities; supporting UN human rights agencies; rehabilitating criminals rather than excessive incarceration; marshaling the efforts of women officeholders; prioritizing the end of human trafficking; removing military commanding officers from control over sexual abuse cases; protecting women students through Title IX; condemning infanticide of baby girls; strengthening legal impediments to genital mutilation and child marriage; training more midwives; clarifying religious beliefs on women's rights; and implementing UN Security Resolutions on women in peace efforts.
What emerges from Carter's analysis is a profound truth: the struggle for women's rights is not merely a women's issue but a human rights imperative that requires engagement from people of all genders, faiths, and cultures. The most effective change happens when communities themselves recognize the moral and practical benefits of gender equality. As Carter concludes, "The abuse of women and girls is the most pervasive and unaddressed human rights violation on earth." Addressing this violation is not just a matter of justice but a prerequisite for building a more peaceful, prosperous, and humane world.
