Jimmy Carter, former US President
sarah sanders
Like many others, I was saddened by the news of Jimmy Carter, the activist, author, and 39th President of the United States, who passed away yesterday at the age of 100.
Since leaving the White House in 1981, Carter has been one of the most active presidents. In 1982, he and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, founded the Carter Center, which is dedicated to promoting peace and health around the world. President Carter has written 32 books and was recognized in 2002 for his “decades of tireless efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, advance democracy and human rights, and promote economic and social development.” He was recognized and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. For more than 40 years, he has continued a life of philanthropy and public service, working with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for those in need and working for peace and diplomacy around the world. I did it.
What is perhaps less known about President Carter is his continued dedication to what he at one point called the “most serious and unaddressed global challenge” of our time: the global discrimination and abuse of women and girls. It happened.
I have had the honor of interviewing this tireless human rights activist and humanitarian twice during my career. The most recent was a few years ago for his book, A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power. This book has traveled to more than 145 countries and is a first-hand witness to the discriminatory systems that prevail in every country, where women and girls are routinely deprived of education, health care, equal opportunity, and “owned” by men. It reflects his wisdom and perspective. They are forced into slave labor, child marriage, undergo female genital mutilation, and are caught up in cycles of poverty, war, and violence.
I also interviewed President Carter about his involvement in a group called the Elders. They describe themselves as “an independent group of distinguished world leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela, working together for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet.” The elders had just announced a women and girls equality initiative that included a call to “end the use of religious and traditional practices to justify and perpetuate discrimination against women and girls.”
As a woman and a long-time activist for gender equality, I was heartened and moved by the passion of our former president to address this often ignored issue with such passion, dedication, and inclusiveness. In many ways, Carter was ahead of his time and represented an important and growing trend of men opposing violence against women and supporting women’s equality. It is a long overdue recognition that these are not “women’s issues” but serious human issues that affect and affect us. all.
As people around the world mourn his passing, I wanted to share excerpts from my wise and inspiring conversations with President Carter. My wish is to be empathetic, courageous, and able to address the suffering of others and find our own solutions amidst the serious problems and injustices we face around the world. We can all honor his legacy by following his strong example as an active advocate above. Take action to create positive change in the world.
Marianne Schnall: What inspired you to write your book “A Call to Action”?
PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER: We have programs in 79 countries, many of them in the Third World, in some of the most impoverished countries and villages on earth. And we increasingly saw girls and women being abused and deprived of proper food, health care, and education in local families and farms. And we have seen the horrific murders of newborn girls and the abortion of girls. So the Carter Center began focusing on the abuse of girls and women, and we just saw that this problem was far worse than I had ever dreamed. So I decided to write a book to bring this abuse of women and girls to the public’s attention.
Schnall: What do you think is the most serious issue or challenge currently facing women around the world?
Carter: The scariest thing is what I just told you. We lost perhaps 40 million people in World War II, and four times that many in this generation to the murder of young girls by their parents. That’s more terrifying than anything.
The second is international human trafficking, or slavery, which far exceeds anything that took place outside Africa in the 19th century. And this also happens in our country. This country has a huge problem with human trafficking and human slavery. And this is worldwide.
Another is the gross mistreatment of female students on the campuses of great universities, including some of the most prestigious. And because university administrators, presidents, and deans don’t want female students to take legal action to publicize their rapes and tarnish the campus’ credibility, they generally go unpunished. What happens is that as soon as these male students who are inclined to rape enter campus, they realize that they can rape with impunity. In other words, about half of the rapes that occur on campus today are committed by serial rapists, who are never punished.
You may also have heard about the mistreatment of cadets at the Naval Academy. There, three football players raped the female cadet. Incidentally, she underwent a gruesome 21 hours of cross-examination in public, after which all were found not guilty, sending a signal to the entire US military that the girl was wrong to report.
So this is compounded when you come not only to a wealthy world like ours, but also to countries where girls may resort to honor killings because it brings shame to their families if they are raped. It is. , or other matters of that kind.
Schnall: In terms of starting to address the problem, what do you think is the root of the problem?
Carter: There are two general underpinnings to it. One is religion. If husbands tend to abuse their wives, or if employers tend to pay their female employees less than their male counterparts, then at least indirectly or subtly, by the fact that women are treated, it is actually It gives you confidence that it’s not a bad thing. As an inferior human being in a great religion. For example, the Catholic Church does not allow women to become priests or deacons. And in the Southern Baptist division, to which I have been loyal for 70 years, women are being robbed of those two opportunities. So when men in secular lives, whether religious or not, see women being treated as secondary in God’s eyes, they think it’s okay for them to do so. I end up assuming it.
And the other thing is the excessive involvement in violence in this country. Since the United Nations was founded, we have been involved in far more wars on a bilateral basis than any other country. And our country also has the only policy in developed North America or NATO to execute criminals. We still have the death penalty in this country, and nowhere else in the world that we know of. Currently, there are approximately 7.5 times as many prisoners in prison in the United States as there were when I was governor. And right now, there are people in the United States who have never committed a violent crime who are in prison for life. Therefore, excessive resort to violence of all kinds and misunderstanding of the words of the Bible are two common causes.
Schnall: I wrote a book called “What Does It Take to Make a Woman President?” “Conversations about Women, Leadership, and Power” was sparked by my 8-year-old daughter asking why there had never been a female president. Since we’re talking about people in leadership positions, obviously the number of women is very low. Why do you think there are so few women in leadership positions? What do you think can be done to change that inequality?
Mr. Carter: The United States is exceptionally guilty. I think we rank about 60th in the world in the percentage of women who hold political office at all levels: local, state, and national. And according to the World Economic Forum, the United States ranks 23rd in the world in overall rankings for women compared to men. In other words, the other 22 countries have a better track record in giving women equal rights than men. When I became president, only 3 percent of Congress were women. Although the proportion has now increased, it is still below the global average. (Note: Since the time of this interview, the United States has fallen to 73rd in the world in percentage of women in Congress, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and 43rd in global gender inequality, according to the World Economic Forum.)
Schnall: This is all often incorrectly framed as a “women’s issue.” How do you think the status of women relates to other issues facing the world?
Carter: There’s a pretty good correlation between a country’s overall economic well-being and how it treats women in terms of, for example, the right to education and the right to work. We’re doing pretty well with that in the US. However, women still receive (a smaller percentage of) the average male salary, and if you look at Fortune 500 companies, only about 20 of them have female CEOs. And at such high levels, women are paid less than men. So we still have a long way to go to fix it, and the only way to fix it, or abuse in any area, is for it to be heavily publicized by me, you, and others who are aware of it. I think so. of the problem. (Note: Since the time of this interview, the number of female CEOs in Fortune 500 companies has increased to 52.)
Schnall: How can people get involved? What encouragement and advice would you give people to make a difference?
Carter: If you read the last chapter of my book, there are 23 specific things that I recommend that readers of this book do. We can help the State Department publish annually the incidence of sexual slavery around the world. We can encourage the church to treat women as equals in the eyes of God. Activists can be heard. We can encourage college presidents to take action against rapists on campus or the U.S. Department of Education to enforce Title IX. Title IX was once designed specifically for sports, but the U.S. government can withhold funding, even for research, if universities don’t correct their abuse of women.
Schnall: Why are you personally so passionate about this issue?
Carter: Because I think that’s probably the single most important issue I’ve ever worked on since I left the White House. When I was president, it was important to keep peace in the country and promote human rights around the world. But nothing shocks and convinces me more than that abuse is horrible and that very few people are, and probably are, trying to do anything about it. My voice can persuade people to join us, join the Carter Center, join each other, and let’s right some of these most horrific abuses.
To pay further condolences and learn more about Jimmy Carter’s life and work, please visit the official memorial website at www.jimmycartertribute.org.
This interview was conducted in 2014 and has been condensed for brevity and clarity.
