'It's much worse than I ever dreamed it was' Women and girls all over the world continue to suffer from human rights abuse

From the United States to Libya, women experience inequality with men.

The serious issue of women inequality and women's rights is one that often gets pushed aside or placed on the back burner in the male-driven world of today. The United States stands as one of the leading countries on Earth, and it still suffers massively with women inequality.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Former President, Jimmy Carter has made it his life mission to fight against violence and injustice against girls and women.

With a wife, daughter, three granddaughters and five great-granddaughters, women's rights hits close to home for Carter. "That's your children and your children's children," he said, arguing that everyone should be similarly compelled. "And action needs to be taken."

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"Anybody that has a daughter or granddaughter knows how precious that person can be," Carter said to CNN. "... And anybody who is interested in the future of (their) country or city that if they deprive half of their own citizens of an equal right to an education or an honest job, then their whole community is going to suffer."

According to CNN, about half of the world's population is male, the other half is female. "In many ways, that's where the equality stops."

While females in families are beginning to be seen as the leaders of the family, outside their home is where the real suffering is seen.

Women hold no bar against men in both the United States and world politics, women continue to make less than men while both working full-time, women face a higher likelihood of sexual abuse, women are turned in to sex slaves and women are subjugated and mistreated in general.

"The more (the Carter Center was) involved in 80 different countries around the world, the more we saw clearly the most serious and unaddressed human rights abuse on Earth is among women and girls," Carter explained. "It's much worse than I ever dreamed it was."

Many women around the world are trapped in inequality because of the poor development they live in and their religion.

Treatment of women in the Middle East and Africa has become significantly worse as men fight for power against each other.

"People are not being silenced," the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights' Dalia El-Hameed said. "It's a time of social uprising in the whole world. We are not alone in this."

"Death is not the worst thing that can happen," Manal Omar, from the United States Institute of Peace said about women fighting back, comparing the consequence of death to sexual assault, physical abuse, psychological degradation and the loss of face and hope. "Death is mercy, compared to the alternatives.

Men are using God as "one justification... for their higher standing over women, basing their views on their interpretation of holy books. Groups like ISIS and Boko Haram have used this rationale to horrific ends, claiming women are inferior and effectively property under their strict interpretation of Sharia law," according to CNN.

Everyone knows a woman; women's rights can no longer be avoided.

Although there are definite signs of improvement with President Carter's humanitarian and advocacy organization, the Carter Center, "the prominent global role played by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Christine Lagarde leadership of the IMF and Yousafzai becoming the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner."

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However, the success comes as more horrific atrocities are committed against women every day, especially by Islamic extremists.

"Women cannot wait for change," expressed Bolanle Makanju, the founder of a faith-based organization in Nigeria. "We've waited for centuries and centuries. We've got to push for it."

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