1. In 2010 women who worked full time, year round, still only earned 77 percent of what men earned. The median earnings for women were $36,931 compared to $47,715 for men, and neither real median earnings nor the female-to-male earnings ratio have increased since 2009.

2. The gender wage gap does not only affect individuals—entire families are impacted by women’s earnings. In 2010, in nearly two-thirds of families (63.9 percent), a mother was either the breadwinner—either a single working mother or bringing home as much or more than her husband—or a co-breadwinner—bringing home at least a quarter of the family’s earnings. When women’s wages are lowered due to gender discrimination, their families’ incomes are often significantly lowered as well.

3. Women earn less than men within all racial and ethnic groups. In 2010, the latest year for which data are available, white women earned 78.1 percent compared to white men, African American women earned 89.8 percent compared to black men, Hispanic women earned 91.3 percent compared to Hispanic men, and Asian women earned 79.7 percent compared to Asian men. The wage gap is lower for black and Hispanic women in part because wages for people of color tend to be lower overall. This gap occurs within racial/ethnic groups as well. In 2010, according to the Census Bureau, African Americans earned only 58.7 percent of what whites earned, while Hispanics earned only 69.1 percent of what whites earned.

4. Even though women are outpacing men in getting college degrees that’s not enough to close the gender pay gap. The American Association of University Women tackled the pay gap question by looking at workers of the same educational attainment—same kind of college, same grades—holding the same kinds of jobs, and having made the same choices about marriage and number of kids. They found that college-educated women earn 5 percent less the first year out of school than their male peers. Ten years later, even if they keep working on par with those men, the women earn 12 percent less.

5. Women are more likely to work in low-wage, “pink-collar” jobs such as teaching, child care, nursing, cleaning, and waitressing. The top 10 jobs held by women include: secretaries and administrative assistants (number one); elementary and middle-school teachers (number four); retail salespeople (number six); and maids and housekeepers (number 10). These jobs typically pay less than male-dominated jobs and are fueling the gender wage gap. These are also the “jobs of the future,” the kinds of jobs that the Department of Labor projects will grow faster than other occupations, so addressing the pay gap here will have long-term consequences.

6. The wage gap accumulates over time. Over a 40-year working career, the average woman loses $431,000 as the result of the wage gap. The pay gap accumulates in no small part because initial pay matters: If a woman earns less in her first job, when she takes a new job and her new employer sets her pay scale, they will often base it on her pay history. The lifetime wage gap for a woman who did not finish high school is $300,000, while the lifetime wage gap for a woman with at least a bachelor’s degree is $723,000. Making sure that young women understand the importance of negotiating for good pay from day one should be a pressing policy concern and is included in the Paycheck Fairness Act.

7. As women age the wage gap continues to grow. For working women between the ages of 25 to 29, the annual wage gap is $1,702. In the last five years before retirement, however, the annual wage gap jumps to $14,352.

8. Single women are even more adversely affected by the wage gap than married women. Single women earn only 78.8 percent of what married women earn, and only 57 cents for every dollar that married males earn.

9. More than 40 percent of the wage gap cannot be explained by occupation, work experience, race, or union membership. More than one-quarter of the wage gap is due to the different jobs that men and women hold, and about 10 percent is due to the fact that women are more likely to leave the workforce to provide unpaid care to family members. But even when controlling for gender and racial differences, 41 percent is “unexplainable by measureable factors.” Even if women and men have the same background, the wage gap still exists, highlighting the fact that part of the discrepancy can be attributed to gender-based pay discrimination.

10. Mothers earn about 7 percent less per child than childless women. For women under 35 years of age, the wage gap between mothers and women without children is greater than the gap between women and men.

There are pay discrimination laws on the books, but the continuing gender pay bias shows that enforcement is weak or lacking.  The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would help women and minority workers challenge discriminatory pay in the courts.  The Paycheck Fairness Act would be an important step further and close the wage gap by prohibiting gender-based pay discrepancies and banning workplace policies that prohibit employees from disclosing their wages with each other.  However, the measure has stalled in Congress and currently seems unlikely to even come to a vote in the House.

The gender pay bias is a form of discrimination as ugly as any America has experienced.  It hurts the women who are its victims and the families they support.  No society will ever achieve its full potential if it demeans and disenfranchises half of its population in this way.

This incident was the latest in a series of brutal assaults on very young girls that have sparked outrage in the country and raised awareness about how women and girls are treated in India, and around the globe.

Statistics collected by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women about violence against women and girls worldwide paint a grim picture of the scope of the tragedy.

• Worldwide, up to 50 percent of sexual assaults are committed against girls under 16.
• An estimated 150 million girls under the age of 18 suffered some form of sexual violence in 2002 alone.
• Most of this violence takes place within intimate relationships, with husbands or partners as the perpetrator.
• The first sexual experience of some 30 percent of women was forced. The percentage is even higher among those under the age of 15 at the time of their sexual initiation.  Up to 45 percent of girls in this group reported that the experience was forced.

And the violence takes many forms:

• Approximately 100 to 140 million girls and women in the world have experienced female genital mutilation.
• Over 60 million girls worldwide are child brides, married before the age of 18. Women who marry early are more likely to be beaten or threatened, and more likely to believe that a husband might sometimes be justified in beating his wife.
• Women and girls are 80 percent of the estimated 800,000 people trafficked across national borders annually, with the majority (79 percent) trafficked for sexual exploitation.
• Between 40 and 50 percent of women in European Union countries experience various forms of sexual harassment at work. In Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea 30 to 40 percent of women suffer workplace sexual harassment.
• In the United States, 83 percent of girls aged 12 to 16 experienced some form of sexual harassment in public schools
• Conservative estimates suggest that hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been the victims of rape and other forms of violence during recent conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans.

Gender-based violence both reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims. It encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, trafficking of women and girls and several harmful traditional practices. Any one of these abuses can leave deep psychological scars, damage the health of women and girls in general, including their reproductive and sexual health, and in some instances, results in death.

Over the years, there have been many theories about the causes of violence against women range from biological to social, political and economic.  To varying degrees, in many countries, women have restricted access, relative to their male counterparts, to education, health services and justice systems.  Gender inequality is often rooted in social attitudes and traditions, and enshrined in a web of legal statutes.

The United Nations has developed a list of recommendations aimed at dismantling gender inequality in all its forms and ending the violence it spawns.  But the very first step must be to bring this issue into the light where it can be acknowledged and acted upon at all levels of society.  In India, the recent brutal attacks against young women and girls have brought a public furor and activism never seen before.  This recognition of an intolerable situation is the first step to real change.  The struggle of women around the world for equality and freedom from violence is one that we all share.

We want to hear your thoughts, ideas and suggestions.  Join the discussion – here, on Twitter and on Facebook.  (On Twitter use the hashtag #dtpfsvaw.)

The change from “non-member entity” to “non-member state” for Palestine at the UN has deepened the concerns and hardened the positions of both sides in the conflict.  Israel considers the fact to be counter-productive in terms of returning to direct negotiations for peace while Palestine continues to call for a freeze on building new settlements in the occupied territory as a precondition for direct negotiations.  Hence, the upgraded status for Palestine at the UN seems to have largely impeded further efforts and possibilities to reach reconciliation.

The complex issue of whether Israeli settlements in the occupied territory are legal or illegal was addressed in the UN Human Rights Council report, approved in Geneva in March 2013.  The report states that the settlements are illegal because they violate international humanitarian law under the Fourth Geneva Convention, specifically Article 49 which sets out basic criteria for what is acceptable as humane during wartime.  Palestine insists that before direct negotiations for peace can resume with Israel, building by Israel in the occupied territory must stop.  Israel is firm in its position that there can be no preconditions to the resumption of peace talks.

The recent change of status allows the Palestinians to participate in UN General Assembly debates, and gives them a chance to join UN agencies and the International Criminal Court (ICC). Palestine could choose to sign the ICC’s treaty and Rome Statute which may offer the opportunity to urge an investigation of perceived Israeli war crimes, and/or make other legal claims against Israel. This possibility, however, is not without potential problems for Palestine as Israel could lodge charges of their own against Palestine and ask for an ICC investigation.  Hence, while Palestine’s access to the ICC through its new UN status could eventually lead to enforcement of international law decisions resulting in an Israeli retreat from its present positions, ICC access exposes Palestine to the same international law and its enforcement.

Considering the historical experience and rapid developments in the Middle East, it remains very hard to predict whether a sustainable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be reached for the long-term. But the UN action in November 2012 to upgrade Palestine’s status can be a first step to bringing the elusive lasting peace in the Middle East, so long sought after by both Palestine and Israel.  Perhaps it can offer an alternative road-map to Israeli-Palestinian coexistence.

Ms. Pandey’s death is a tipping point that triggered a major backlash against Violence Against Women in India and worldwide and we hope this collective musical tribute will be a positive way of keeping the momentum of the activism going.

The Pixel Project is a global, virtual, volunteer-led 501(c)3 nonprofit working to raise awareness, funds and volunteer power for the cause to end Violence Against Women using the power of the internet, social media, new technologies and popular culture/the Arts.

We are joined and supported by an all-star panel of judges including:

• AHMIR (also The Pixel Project’s YouTube Music Ambassador)
• Ali Brustofski
• J Rice
• Lisa Lavie

Our YouTube Cover Carnival Contest is open to all up-and-coming YouTube artistes. Contestants have a choice of 2 songs to cover:
“Little Things” by One Direction
“Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston

Music For Pixels Music Campaign
YouTube Cover Carnival Contest:
http://is.gd/YouTubeCoverCarnival

Artists Submission page:
http://music4pixels.thepixelproject.net/the-youtube-cover-carnival-about/youtube-cover-carnival-submit-a-youtube-cover/

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
MUSIC FOR PIXELS CAMPAIGN:
music4pixels@thepixelproject.net http://music4pixels.thepixelproject.net

GENERAL INFORMATION:
inf2013 YouTube Cover Carnival contest

The Pixel Project – It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.
Buy Pixels, Reveal Our Mystery Men, Change Lives http://bit.ly/buypixels
Check us out at http://www.thepixelproject.net
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Blog: http://www.thepixelproject.net/blog

Everything that Desmond Tutu has expressed in his life as an activist for global peace is relevant to young people today. Even though it seems that our world is filled with people just resorting to violence every day without any logic, there are still many good people striving to make the world a better place for all.  At times it seems that violent reactions happen for the sole purpose of making perpetrators look superior in some way within peer groups or certain communities. Violence may also be chosen as the easy way out for some because they have not learned how to express their thoughts and emotions in a civilized manner.

Many people around the world have become accustomed to “immediate gratification.”  Negotiation, whether within the family, between friends, among citizens in a given community or among nations, takes time and patience.  At the top level of government that effort is called diplomacy, and fewer and fewer officials in governments around the world seem to choose sticking with the path of diplomacy, opting instead for the “instant violent conflict” solution.  It is for that very reason that all people must learn how to resolve conflict within themselves and among others in a non-violent way.

In a time like this, it is best to reflect on Desmond Tutu’s philosophy to not only strengthen the relationships we have with each other, but make this world a better place to live in by valuing human life above all else. These recent outbreaks of violence we hear about every day on the News are appalling, and they call out to all of us to apply the wisdom and philosophy which aided Desmond Tutu to succeed in his role within the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa.

We see much too much of the violent ways conflicts are handled, but we almost never see the stories about successful acts of nonviolent conflict resolution led by prominent figures as well as their many followers who apply nonviolence to their everyday lives. There is no sense of balance in the messages we receive about how people handle conflict.  Sure, we learn about great nonviolent leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Desmond Tutu in textbooks, but we seldom ever really learn how to apply those acts and beliefs in our own daily lives.

Desmond Tutu did what only a few others would have done which solidified his acts of peace. There are good people in this world and everything they do is pertinent to what prominent figures have done as well, and we should hear more about the efforts of those people. Let us seek out Desmond Tutu’s philosophy of Ubuntu which will ensure that we become champions of nonviolent conflict resolution. What Desmond Tutu has set forth to do—to make global peace a reality—is based on the idea of learning from birth from the family into which we are born and raised to see others as we see ourselves, which subsequently leads to more right than wrong.

Editor’s Note:  Go to the inspirational site of Combatants for Peace http://cfpeace.org/?page_id=2, a coalition of former Israeli and Palestinian enemies who used violent methods to attack each other over years but came to the conclusion that nonviolent methods of conflict resolution would be more powerful in getting to an understanding of each other and peaceful coexistence.  This organization is proof positive that the goal of global peace is, indeed, attainable.  They exemplify Ubuntu.

“Rotary believes, as I believe, that it is possible to have a world without war,” said Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. “By educating future peace-builders and working to ease the conditions that breed violence and conflict, Rotary is demonstrating to the rest of the world that peace is attainable.”

Rotary – Voices for Peace

Voices For Peace from Rotary International on Vimeo.

Since 2002, Rotary has sponsored 50 fellows every year, each of whom embark on one to two years of master’s-level study at leading Rotary Peace Centers around the world including:

• Uppsala University, Sweden
• University of Bradford, UK
• University of Queensland, Australia
• International Christian University, Japan
• Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

Additionally, in 2004 Rotary added the Professional Development Certificate program at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.  Each year, the Rotary Peace Center in Thailand trains up to 50 mid-level professionals from peace-related fields such as public health, education, international law, economic development, journalism, and social justice.

Now Accepting Applications

Applications for the 2014-15 class are due by 1 July 2013.  In order to apply applicants must contact their local Rotary club or district to gain endorsement.  Use the Club Locator to find your nearest club.

“When I talk about peace, I tell people that you must do more than simply ‘care’ about peace — you have to take action to achieve it,” said Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams, who won her prize in 1997 for helping ban antipersonnel landmines. “That’s what I admire about Rotary members—they lead by example, both at the community level and through their support of the Rotary Peace Centers.”

Rotary Peace Center alumna Izabela da Costa Pereira, now a director and project analyst for the United Nations Development Program, says the need for trained peace-makers has never been greater.  “With the plethora of conflicts in so many regions, more specialists are needed, particularly coming from conflict zones,” she said.  “One of Rotary’s greatest contributions is the promotion of peace through specialized education.”

Other Rotary Peace Center alumni of note:

Brigitta von Messling, Germany, earned her master’s degree at the Rotary Peace Center at the University of Bradford in 2006. She is the senior advisor for training and organizational development for the Center for International Peace Operations in Berlin, Germany.

Robert Opira, Uganda, earned his master’s degree at Rotary Peace Center at University of Queensland in 2007. Robert is a peace and conflict consultant providing technical support to humanitarian agencies helping internally displaced persons in Northern Uganda. He is also the director of the Great Lakes Center for Conflict Resolution in Uganda.

Rajaa Natour, Israel, earned her master’s degree at Rotary Peace Center at University of Bradford in 2011. Today she is a program manager of the Gemini Project in Jafaa, Israel. The project promotes constructive dialogue between groups of Jewish and Palestinian students across ten campuses and cities.

Jason Hutson, Japan, earned his master’s degree at Rotary Peace Center at International Christian University in 2009. He is the founder and CEO for What Sport Creative, a Tokyo-based organization that uses sports as a catalyst for youth development and cultural exchange.

Cameron Chisholm, USA, earned his master’s degree at the Rotary Peace Center at University of Bradford in 2008. He is the president of the International Peace & Security Institute and teaches peace studies courses at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Rotary is a global humanitarian organization with more than 1.2 million members in 34,000 Rotary clubs in over 200 countries and geographical areas. Rotary members are men and women who are business, professional and community leaders with a shared commitment to make the world a better place through humanitarian service.

Folklore is the foundation of a culture.  It is the sum total of the stories, experiences, art and beliefs of the people living in that culture.  But much of it is hidden, and it is the task of the folklorist to discover a people’s heritage and communicate it to others.  In  a world frequently torn by ethnic and sectarian conflict, the role of the folklorist has expanded to that of peacemaker.  The artistic, human and material expressions of culture unearthed by the folklorist offer a way forward for validating all the cultural traditions that comprise our modern societies.

Kiran Singh Sirah is a modern day folklorist.  He began his career as an artist and teacher. This led him to establish a number of award winning peace and conflict resolution programs in museums and cultural centers in the UK, focused on sectarian, ethnic and religious conflict, poverty, and gang violence.

He went on to develop arts-led projects exploring modern slavery violations, war, and issues facing socially marginalized peoples. He is now a Rotary Peace Fellow and a folklorist interested in the power of human creativity, arts and social justice to build a truly multicultural society, based on understanding and peace.

Kiran’s new toolkit, Telling Stories That Matter, is a “How To” for prospective folklorists.  He created this easy to use guide with support for its production by the Partners for Democratic Change, Laina Reynolds Levy, Editor.

Download the free toolkit here and find specific guidance from storytelling to theater production to slam poetry.

Additional folklorist resources:

• http://citylore.org/ – City Lore (New York City)
• http://www.folkloreproject.org/ – Philadelphia Folklore Project
• http://www.folklife.si.edu – Smithsonian Folklife and Heritage Center

The son of a slave woman and an unknown white man, “Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey” was born in February of 1818 on Maryland’s eastern shore. He spent his early years with his grandparents and with an aunt, seeing his mother only four or five times before her death when he was seven. While growing up, he was witnessed the degradations of slavery, seeing firsthand brutal whippings and spending much time cold and hungry. At the age of eight he was sent to Baltimore to live with a ship carpenter named Hugh Auld. It was there he learned to read and first heard the words abolition and abolitionists. “Going to live at Baltimore,” Douglass would later recall, “laid the foundation, and opened the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity.”

Douglass enjoyed seven relatively comfortable years in Baltimore before being sent back to the country, where he was hired out to a farm run by a notoriously brutal “slavebreaker” named Edward Covey. And the treatment he received was indeed brutal. Whipped daily and barely fed, Douglass was “broken in body, soul, and spirit.”  These events were to propel him to become an activist against slavery.

Frederick Douglass – Mini Bio

On January 1, 1836, he resolved that he would be free by the end of the year. He planned an escape. But early in April he was jailed after his plan was discovered. Two years later, while living in Baltimore and working at a shipyard, Douglass would finally realize his dream: he fled the city on September 3, 1838. Traveling by train, then steamboat, then train, he arrived in New York City the following day. Several weeks later he had settled in New Bedford, Massachusetts, living with his newlywed bride (whom he met in Baltimore and married in New York) under his new name, Frederick Douglass.

Douglass continued to educate himself and was an avid reader. In New Bedford, he attended Abolitionists’ meetings and subscribed to William Lloyd Garrison’s weekly journal, the Liberator. After meeting Garrison in 1841, Douglass was mentioned in the Liberator and a few days later gave a speech at the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society’s annual convention in Nantucket. It was reported that, “Flinty hearts were pierced, and cold ones melted by his eloquence.” Douglass became a lecturer for the Society for three years and his career as a speaker was launched.

Douglass was also an author and publisher.  In 1945, despite fears that the information might endanger his freedom, he published his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written By Himself.  Three years later, after a speaking tour of England, Ireland, and Scotland, Douglass published the first issue of the North Star, a four-page weekly, out of Rochester, New York.

Frederick Douglass' House

During the Civil War, he conferred with Abraham Lincoln and helped the Union Army recruit northern blacks to fight in the conflict.  Later he would go on to serve as U.S. minister to Haiti.

During his long life, he fought for the right not only of African Americans, but women and other oppressed minorities.  Through his writing, speaking and political activities, he helped establish the modern American civil rights movement. He had an enduring vision of America achieving justice and equal rights for all its citizens.  But first and foremost, he had a continually evolving vision of himself as someone who, despite his early years as a slave, deserved the freedom, dignity and respect he fought so diligently to obtain for others.

The real historic person, the Saint – of St. Valentine’s day -  lived as a peacemaker, embodying love for others demonstrated in allegiance with his Christian piety & care.  The Saint lived to embody relational, reciprocal love between humans that stood in opposition to warfare, violence, enemies, empires or allegiance to nationalistic overlords.

“Not much is known about St. Valentine. He lived in the third century, was a priest in Rome, and was martyred in the final years of the Emperor Claudius II’s reign. Stories about Valentine have him ministering in various ways to persecuted Christians. But the story that best expresses what the saint stands for has it that he secretly married dozens of young Christian couples during a time when Claudius had forbidden male youths from marrying because he wanted them as unencumbered soldiers for his legions. Valentine was discovered officiating at one such wedding and was hauled in chains before Claudius. Once there, he tried to convert the emperor. Enraged at the priest’s presumption, Claudius had him beaten nearly to death and then beheaded.”

From:  a wonderful new book by Kerry Walters and Robin Jarrell—Blessed Peacemakers: 365 Extraordinary People Who Changed the World.

Today – let’s celebrate a Peacemaker who valued love for others.  St. Valentine was willing to die for his commitment to love as testimony to how he understood God’s love for the world.

 ”St. Valentine’s feast day has fallen on hard times. It’s become an annual occasion marked by mawkish verse, images of fat cupids shooting arrows into hearts, and binge spending (in 2011, U.S. consumers blew nearly $16 billion on Valentine cards, candy, flowers, and jewels). Even the Roman Catholic Church contributed to the day’s decline by taking if off the General Roman Calendar in 1969. But despite all the marketing hoopla that’s almost swallowed up the day, peacemakers ought to remember it, because at its best it’s a commemoration of the nonviolent power of love.”  (Same source as above.)

Saint Valentine valued human-reciprocal love more than earthly allegiance to warfare and violence, the militarism of his day.

Brutal Gang rape and murder shocks South Africans

The attack on Anene Booysen is one of several similar incidents in India and Pakistan that have attracted worldwide attention and brought widespread public condemnation.  It has also brought into much sharper focus, the problem of violence against women around the world.   In South Africa, the problem is especially acute. As reported in The Daily Beast, “the Medical Research Council estimates that up to 3,600 rapes happen daily in this nation of close to 52 million people. This places South Africa among the countries with the highest incidences of rape worldwide–and, outside of war zones, makes it one of the most violent societies, especially towards women.”

The attack has stirred public outrage in the African nation.  Marches have been held in protest and hundreds attended Booysen’s funeral.  Activist Zubeida Shaik is one of the organizers of a planned mass march demanding an end to violence against women to take place on Valentine’s Day, Feb 14, 2013, in Cape Town and Johannesburg.  She declared:

“We’re placing demands now. It’s no longer about being polite about rape. It’s not about saying, you know, ‘we’re going to advocate, and we’re going to lobby, and we’re going to do all of this with government structures and institutions etc.’ That’s gone now. We’ve done that. It hasn’t worked, we’ve got to move on, we’ve got to make it a community problem or find solutions within the community because that’s where the problems are.”

Many groups in South Africa, like Shaik, have been working outside official channels to bring attention to the problem and spur action by authorities.  One such organization is the One Man Can Campaign which supports men and boys to take action to end domestic and sexual violence and to promote healthy, equitable relationships that men and women can enjoy.

This strong public reaction surprised many observers who say it may represent a fundamental  shift in attitudes about violence toward women.

Female activists in India have also gone on the offensive following the brutal gang rape and death of a 23-year-old medical student.  They have pushed for changes to Indian laws about rape, but are denouncing an ordinance put forth by Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday to amend criminal laws on sexual crimes against women.  The activists say the law was “crafted behind closed doors” and if passed by the Indian Parliament, would do little if anything to confront the widespread culture of violence against women there.  As in South Africa, organizers and community activists are not waiting on their governments to take action.  New alliances are forming across a wide swath of Indian society.  As women’s rights activist Kamla Bhasin of Sangat, a South Asia feminist network noted:

“The spontaneous churning that has taken place is absolutely incredible. This agency by young people, students, lawyers, doctors, housewives and groups across the spectrum is a defining moment for us. It means violence against women is no longer just a woman’s issue.”

The lethargy of governments in taking action on the issue of violence against women is not unique to the developing world.  In the United States, Congress has been slow to renew the Violence Against Women Act in the U.S. which was originally passed in 1994 and then allowed to expire in 2011.  Congressional wrangling has blocked efforts to renew the law.  Now it appears that the Senate may finally be close to renewing the Act, though its passage is far from certain.

The recent rapes in India and South Africa were horrifying in their savagery.  Justice will be sorted out in the courts and law making bodies; history will determine whether the measures taken were appropriate.  But the real tipping point will come when we, as a world community, realize that such attacks against women do violence to all of us, and degrades our humanity.