Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse
-
0:00 - 0:02As a matter of fact,
-
0:02 - 0:05I was trying to think about my career
since I left the White House, -
0:05 - 0:10and the best example I have is a cartoon
in The New Yorker a couple of years ago. -
0:10 - 0:12This little boy is looking up
at his father, -
0:12 - 0:16and he says, "Daddy, when I grow up,
I want to be a former president." -
0:16 - 0:17(Laughter)
-
0:17 - 0:21Well, I have had a great blessing
as a former president, -
0:21 - 0:24because I have had an access
-
0:24 - 0:26that very few other people
in the world have ever had -
0:26 - 0:30to get to know so many people
around this whole universe. -
0:30 - 0:34Not only am I familiar
with the 50 states in the United States, -
0:34 - 0:38but also my wife and I have visited
more than 145 countries in the world, -
0:38 - 0:43and the Carter Center has had full-time
programs in 80 nations on Earth. -
0:43 - 0:45And a lot of times,
when we go into a country, -
0:45 - 0:47we not only the meet
the king or the president, -
0:47 - 0:51but we also meet the villagers who live
in the most remote areas of Africa. -
0:51 - 0:55So our overall commitment
at the Carter Center -
0:55 - 0:57is to promote human rights,
-
0:57 - 1:02and knowing the world as I do,
I can tell you without any equivocation -
1:02 - 1:06that the number one abuse
of human rights on Earth -
1:06 - 1:11is, strangely, not addressed quite often,
is the abuse of women and girls. -
1:11 - 1:15(Applause)
-
1:15 - 1:20There are a couple of reasons for this
that I'll mention to begin with. -
1:20 - 1:25First of all is the misinterpretation
of religious scriptures, holy scriptures, -
1:25 - 1:29in the Bible, Old Testament,
New Testament, Quran and so forth, -
1:29 - 1:36and these have been misinterpreted by men
who are now in the ascendant positions -
1:36 - 1:39in the synagogues and the churches
and in the mosques. -
1:39 - 1:43And they interpret these rules
to make sure that women -
1:43 - 1:47are ordinarily relegated
to a secondary position -
1:47 - 1:50compared to men in the eyes of God.
-
1:51 - 1:55This is a very serious problem.
It's ordinarily not addressed. -
1:55 - 1:57A number of years ago, in the year 2000,
-
1:57 - 2:00I had been a Baptist,
a Southern Baptist for 70 years -- -
2:00 - 2:03I tell you, I still teach
Sunday school every Sunday; -
2:03 - 2:05I'll be teaching this Sunday as well --
-
2:05 - 2:09but the Southern Baptist Convention
in the year 2000 decided -
2:09 - 2:12that women should play
a secondary position, -
2:12 - 2:14a subservient position to men.
-
2:14 - 2:17So they issued an edict, in effect,
-
2:17 - 2:23that prevents women from being priests,
pastors, deacons in the church, -
2:23 - 2:25or chaplains in the military,
-
2:25 - 2:28and if a woman teaches a classroom
-
2:28 - 2:30in a Southern Baptist seminary,
-
2:30 - 2:34they cannot teach if a boy is in the room,
-
2:34 - 2:36because you can find verses in the Bible,
-
2:36 - 2:39there's over 30,000 verses in the Bible,
-
2:39 - 2:41that say that a woman shouldn't
teach a man, and so forth. -
2:41 - 2:44But the basic thing is the scriptures
are misinterpreted -
2:44 - 2:47to keep men in an ascendant position.
-
2:47 - 2:49That is an all-pervasive problem,
-
2:49 - 2:54because men can exert that power
-
2:54 - 3:00and if an abusive husband or an employer,
for instance, wants to cheat women, -
3:00 - 3:04they can say that if women
are not equal in the eyes of God, -
3:04 - 3:06why should I treat them as equals myself?
-
3:06 - 3:10Why should I pay them equal pay
for doing the same kind of work? -
3:10 - 3:12The other very serious blight
-
3:12 - 3:16that causes this problem
is the excessive resort to violence, -
3:16 - 3:21and that is increasing
tremendously around the world. -
3:21 - 3:24In the United States of America,
for instance, we have had -
3:24 - 3:28an enormous increase
in abuse of poor people, -
3:28 - 3:33mostly black people and minorities,
by putting them in prison. -
3:33 - 3:36When I was in office
as governor of Georgia, -
3:36 - 3:39one out of every 1,000 Americans
were in prison. -
3:39 - 3:44Nowadays, 7.3 people
per 1,000 are in prison. -
3:44 - 3:46That's a sevenfold increase.
-
3:46 - 3:48And since I left the White House,
-
3:48 - 3:51there's been an 800 percent increase
in the number of women -
3:51 - 3:54who are black who are in prison.
-
3:54 - 3:56We also have
[one of the only countries] on Earth -
3:56 - 4:00that still has the death penalty
that is a developed country. -
4:00 - 4:04And we rank right alongside
the countries that are most abusive -
4:04 - 4:07in all elements of human rights
in encouraging the death penalty. -
4:08 - 4:10We're in California now,
and I figured out the other day -
4:10 - 4:13that California has spent
four billion dollars -
4:13 - 4:18in convicting 13 people
for the death penalty. -
4:18 - 4:23If you add that up, that's 307 million
dollars it costs California -
4:23 - 4:26to send a person to be executed.
-
4:26 - 4:29Nebraska this week just passed a law
abolishing the death penalty, -
4:29 - 4:34because it costs so much. (Applause)
-
4:35 - 4:39So the resort to violence and abuse
of poor people and helpless people -
4:39 - 4:43is another cause of the increase
in abuse of women. -
4:43 - 4:48Let me just go down a very few
abuses of women that concern me most, -
4:48 - 4:52and I'll be fairly brief, because I have
a limited amount of time, as you know. -
4:52 - 4:56One is genital mutilation.
-
4:56 - 5:00Genital mutilation is horrible
and not known by American women, -
5:00 - 5:04but in some countries, many countries,
-
5:04 - 5:09when a child is born that's a girl,
very soon in her life, -
5:09 - 5:15her genitals are completely cut away
by a so-called cutter -
5:15 - 5:19who has a razor blade and,
in a non-sterilized way, -
5:19 - 5:23they remove the exterior parts
of a woman's genitalia. -
5:23 - 5:28And sometimes, in more extreme cases
but not very rare cases, -
5:28 - 5:31they sew the orifice up so the girl
can just urinate or menstruate. -
5:31 - 5:35And then later, when she gets married,
the same cutter goes in -
5:35 - 5:37and opens the orifice up
so she can have sex. -
5:37 - 5:41This is not a rare thing, although
it's against the law in most countries. -
5:41 - 5:43In Egypt, for instance,
-
5:43 - 5:4791 percent of all the females
that live in Egypt today -
5:47 - 5:50have been sexually mutilated in that way.
-
5:50 - 5:53In some countries,
it's more than 98 percent -
5:53 - 5:57of the women are cut that way
before they reach maturity. -
5:57 - 6:00This is a horrible affliction
-
6:00 - 6:04on all women that live in those countries.
-
6:04 - 6:07Another very serious thing
is honor killings, -
6:07 - 6:11where a family with misinterpretation,
again, of a holy scripture -- -
6:11 - 6:13there's nothing in the Quran
that mandates this -- -
6:13 - 6:18will execute a girl in their family
-
6:18 - 6:19if she is raped
-
6:19 - 6:23or if she marries a man
that her father does not approve, -
6:23 - 6:26or sometimes even if she
wears inappropriate clothing. -
6:26 - 6:29And this is done by members
of her own family, -
6:29 - 6:31so the family becomes murderers
-
6:31 - 6:36when the girl brings
so-called disgrace to the family. -
6:36 - 6:39An analysis was done in Egypt
not so long ago by the United Nations -
6:39 - 6:43and it showed that 75 percent
of these murders of a girl -
6:43 - 6:49are perpetrated by the father,
the uncle or the brother, -
6:49 - 6:52but 25 percent of the murders
are conducted by women. -
6:52 - 6:54Another problem that we have in the world
-
6:54 - 6:57that relates to women
particularly is slavery, -
6:57 - 6:59or human trafficking it's called nowadays.
-
6:59 - 7:04There were about 12.5 million people
sold from Africa into slavery -
7:04 - 7:08in the New World back in
the 19th century and the 18th century. -
7:08 - 7:12There are 30 million people
now living in slavery. -
7:12 - 7:17The United States Department of State
now has a mandate from Congress -
7:17 - 7:20to give a report every year,
-
7:20 - 7:24and the State Department reports
that 800,000 people are sold -
7:24 - 7:28across international borders
every year into slavery, -
7:28 - 7:31and that 80 percent
of those sold are women, -
7:31 - 7:33into sexual slavery.
-
7:33 - 7:36In the United States right this moment,
-
7:36 - 7:3960,000 people are living
in human bondage, or slavery. -
7:39 - 7:42Atlanta, Georgia, where
the Carter Center is located -
7:42 - 7:45and where I teach at Emory University,
-
7:45 - 7:50they have between 200 and 300 women,
people sold into slavery every month. -
7:51 - 7:54It's the number one place
in the nation because of that. -
7:54 - 7:56Atlanta has the busiest
airport in the world, -
7:56 - 8:01and they also have a lot of passengers
that come from the Southern Hemisphere. -
8:01 - 8:04If a brothel owner
-
8:04 - 8:07wants to buy a girl
that has brown or black skin, -
8:07 - 8:10they can do it for 1,000 dollars.
-
8:10 - 8:14A white-skinned girl brings
several times more than that, -
8:14 - 8:17and the average brothel owner in Atlanta
and in the United States now -
8:17 - 8:22can earn about $35,000 per slave.
-
8:22 - 8:27The sex trade in Atlanta, Georgia, exceeds
the total drug trade in Atlanta, Georgia. -
8:27 - 8:31So this is another very serious problem,
and the basic problem is prostitution, -
8:31 - 8:35because there's not
a whorehouse in America -
8:35 - 8:38that's not known by the local officials,
-
8:38 - 8:42the local policemen, or the chief
of police or the mayor and so forth. -
8:42 - 8:44And this leads to one
of the worst problems, -
8:44 - 8:49and that is that women are bought
increasingly and put into sexual slavery -
8:49 - 8:51in all countries in the world.
-
8:51 - 8:53Sweden has got a good approach to it.
-
8:53 - 8:57About 15 to 20 years ago, Sweden
decided to change the law, -
8:57 - 8:59and women are no longer prosecuted
-
8:59 - 9:02if they are in sexual slavery,
-
9:02 - 9:08but the brothel owners and the pimps
and the male customers are prosecuted, -
9:08 - 9:12and -- (Applause) --
prostitution has gone down. -
9:12 - 9:15In the United States, we take
just the opposite position. -
9:15 - 9:22For every male arrested
for illegal sex trade, -
9:22 - 9:2725 women are arrested
in the United States of America. -
9:27 - 9:31Canada, Ireland, I've already said Sweden,
-
9:31 - 9:35France, and other countries are moving now
towards this so-called Swedish model. -
9:35 - 9:37That's another thing that can be done.
-
9:37 - 9:41We have two great institutions
in this country that all of us admire: -
9:41 - 9:45our military and our great
university system. -
9:45 - 9:49In the military, they are now analyzing
how many sexual assaults take place. -
9:49 - 9:53The last report I got,
there were 26,000 sexual assaults -
9:53 - 9:56that took place in the military --
-
9:56 - 9:5726,000.
-
9:57 - 10:02Only 3,000, not much more than 1 percent,
are actually prosecuted, -
10:02 - 10:07and the reason is that the commanding
officer of any organization -- -
10:07 - 10:11a ship like my submarine,
or a battalion in the Army -
10:11 - 10:13or a company in the Marines --
-
10:13 - 10:17the commanding officer
has the right under law to decide -
10:17 - 10:20whether to prosecute a rapist or not,
-
10:20 - 10:23and of course, the last thing they want
is for anybody to know -
10:23 - 10:26that under their command,
sexual assaults are taking place, -
10:26 - 10:28so they do not do it.
-
10:28 - 10:31That law needs to be changed.
-
10:31 - 10:35About one out of four girls
who enter American universities -
10:35 - 10:37will be sexually assaulted
before she graduates, -
10:37 - 10:40and this is now getting
a lot of publicity, -
10:40 - 10:42partially because of my book,
but other things, -
10:42 - 10:46and so 89 universities in America
are now condemned -
10:46 - 10:49by the Department of Education
under Title IX -
10:49 - 10:54because the officials of the universities
are not taking care of the women -
10:54 - 10:55to protect them from sexual assault.
-
10:55 - 10:59The Department of Justice says
that more than half of the rapes -
10:59 - 11:03on a college campus
take place by serial rapists, -
11:03 - 11:05because outside of the university system,
-
11:05 - 11:08if they rape somebody,
they'll be prosecuted, -
11:08 - 11:12but when they get on a university campus,
they can rape with impunity. -
11:12 - 11:14They're not prosecuted.
-
11:14 - 11:18Those are the kinds of things
that go on in our society. -
11:18 - 11:23Another thing that's very serious
about the abuse of women and girls -
11:23 - 11:28is the lack of equal pay for equal work,
-
11:28 - 11:30as you know. (Applause)
-
11:30 - 11:37And this is sometimes misinterpreted,
but for full-time employment, -
11:37 - 11:40a woman in the United States now
gets 23 percent less than a man. -
11:40 - 11:43When I became president,
the difference was 39 percent. -
11:43 - 11:47So we've made some progress,
partially because I was president -
11:47 - 11:53and so forth -- (Applause) (Laughter) --
-
11:53 - 11:57but in the last 15 years,
there's been no progress made, -
11:57 - 11:59so it's been just about 23
or 24 percent difference -
11:59 - 12:02for the last 15 years.
-
12:02 - 12:04These are the kind of things that go on.
-
12:04 - 12:07If you take the Fortune 500 companies,
-
12:07 - 12:1023 of them have women CEOs,
-
12:10 - 12:12out of 500,
-
12:12 - 12:15and those CEOs, I need not tell you,
-
12:15 - 12:17make less on an average
-
12:17 - 12:20than the other CEOs.
-
12:20 - 12:22Well, that's what goes on in our country.
-
12:22 - 12:25Another problem with the United States
-
12:25 - 12:29is we are the most warlike
nation on Earth. -
12:29 - 12:33We have been to war
with about 25 different countries -
12:33 - 12:35since the Second World War.
-
12:35 - 12:38Sometimes, we've had soldiers
on the ground fighting. -
12:38 - 12:40The other times,
we've been flying overhead -
12:40 - 12:42dropping bombs on people.
-
12:42 - 12:46Other times, of course, now, we have
drones that attack people and so forth. -
12:46 - 12:48We've been at war
with 25 different countries -
12:48 - 12:51or more since the Second World War.
-
12:51 - 12:53There was four years,
I won't say which ones, -
12:53 - 12:55where we didn't --
-
12:55 - 13:01(Applause) -- we didn't drop a bomb,
we didn't launch a missile, -
13:01 - 13:02we didn't fire a bullet.
-
13:02 - 13:07But anyway, those kinds of things,
the resort to violence -
13:07 - 13:09and the misinterpretation
of the holy scriptures -
13:09 - 13:15are what causes, are the basic causes,
of abuse of women and girls. -
13:15 - 13:18There's one more basic cause
that I need not mention, -
13:18 - 13:24and that is that in general,
men don't give a damn. -
13:24 - 13:27(Applause)
That's true. -
13:27 - 13:32The average man that might say,
I'm against the abuse of women and girls -
13:32 - 13:36quietly accepts the privileged
position that we occupy, -
13:36 - 13:40and this is very similar
to what I knew when I was a child, -
13:40 - 13:42when separate but equal had existed.
-
13:42 - 13:47Racial discrimination, legally,
had existed for 100 years, -
13:47 - 13:51from 1865 at the end of the War
Between the States, the Civil War, -
13:51 - 13:53all the way up to the 1960s,
-
13:53 - 13:56when Lyndon Johnson got the bills passed
-
13:56 - 13:58for equal rights.
-
13:58 - 14:01But during that time,
there were many white people -
14:01 - 14:04that didn't think that
racial discrimination was okay, -
14:04 - 14:06but they stayed quiet,
-
14:06 - 14:12because they enjoyed the privileges
of better jobs, -
14:12 - 14:15unique access to jury duty,
-
14:15 - 14:17better schools, and everything else,
-
14:17 - 14:19and that's the same thing
that exists today, -
14:19 - 14:23because the average man
really doesn't care. -
14:23 - 14:29Even though they say, "I'm against
discrimination against girls and women," -
14:29 - 14:33they enjoy a privileged position.
-
14:33 - 14:35And it's very difficult to get
the majority of men -
14:35 - 14:38who control the university system,
-
14:38 - 14:41the majority of men that control
the military system, -
14:41 - 14:44the majority of men that control
the governments of the world, -
14:44 - 14:50and the majority of men that control
the great religions. -
14:50 - 14:53So what is the basic thing
that we need to do today? -
14:53 - 14:56I would say the best thing
that we could do today -
14:56 - 15:00is for the women in the powerful nations
-
15:00 - 15:03like this one, and where you come from,
-
15:03 - 15:08Europe and so forth, who have influence
and who have freedom to speak and to act, -
15:08 - 15:13need to take the responsibility
on yourselves -
15:13 - 15:16to be more forceful in demanding
-
15:16 - 15:20an end to racial discrimination
against girls and women -
15:20 - 15:22all over the world.
-
15:22 - 15:25The average woman in Egypt
-
15:25 - 15:27doesn't have much to say
about her daughters -
15:27 - 15:30getting genitally mutilated and so forth.
-
15:30 - 15:32I didn't even go down
to detail about that. -
15:32 - 15:34But I hope that out of this conference,
-
15:34 - 15:39that every woman here
will get your husbands to realize -
15:39 - 15:43that these abuses on the college campuses
and the military and so forth -
15:43 - 15:45and in the future job market,
-
15:45 - 15:50need to protect your daughters
and your granddaughters. -
15:50 - 15:56I have 12 grandchildren,
four children, and 10 great-grandchildren, -
15:56 - 15:58and I think often about them
-
15:58 - 16:01and about the plight that they
will face in America, -
16:01 - 16:04not only if they lived in Egypt
or a foreign country, -
16:04 - 16:07in having equal rights,
-
16:07 - 16:09and I hope that all of you will join me
-
16:09 - 16:13in being a champion for women
and girls around the world -
16:13 - 16:14and protect their human rights.
-
16:14 - 16:17Thank you very much.
-
16:17 - 16:21(Applause)
- Title:
- Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse
- Speaker:
- Jimmy Carter
- Description:
-
With his signature resolve, former US President Jimmy Carter dives into three unexpected reasons why the mistreatment of women and girls continues in so many manifestations in so many parts of the world, both developed and developing. The final reason he gives? “In general, men don’t give a damn.”
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 16:36
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse | ||
Morton Bast approved English subtitles for Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Why I believe the mistreatment of women is the number one human rights abuse |