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Have you, or do you know of anyone who has participated in the women's march?

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“I was raised evangelical, which means I spend a good part of my life feeling sorry for the rest of humanity...I just assumed that Buddhists went to hell for worshiping Buddha, Catholics went to hell for worshiping Mary, and Al Gore went to hell for worshiping nature. I didn’t even think to have a faith crisis about it until college.” (16)

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“According to James Dobson, women weren’t inferior to men, just created for different roles. Our ultimate calling, he said, is in the home, where we can serve God and our husbands by keeping things clean, having supper on the table at six, and, most important, making babies.” (17)

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How can we fix some of these justice issues against women as FIT women in high school?

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Are there any justice issues that you see on an everyday basis? Explain.

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Recently, two girls, aged 14 and 15, were gang-raped in the poverty-stricken Uttar Pradesh state of India. They were later found dead, hanging from the branches of a mango tree. In Pakistan late last month, family members of a pregnant woman beat her to death with bricks and clubs outside a Lahore courthouse for marrying a man of her choice instead of the cousin her family preferred. Last February, in conflict-ravaged South Sudan, 20 women in the Mayendit region were raped by soldiers. Then the soldiers urinated into victims' mouths, according to an eyewitness.

The litany of abuses perpetrated against women and girls around the world goes on and on. The U.N. Development Fund for Women estimates that 1 out of every 3 women will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused by an intimate partner during her lifetime. The fund also reports that between 100 million and 140 million girls and women have gone through female genital mutilation. More than 60 million girls worldwide are child brides, married before the age of 18. And women in war-ravaged countries are especially vulnerable; in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, there have been at least 200,000 cases of sexual violence since 1996, mostly involving women and girls, according to the fund.

Many of the most horrible of these atrocities take place in countries that receive tens of millions of dollars in annual economic and development aid from the United States. It makes sense for the U.S. to leverage its economic influence to persuade countries in which abuse based on gender is part of the culture to take steps toward preventing it. The International Violence Against Women Act - HR 3571 in the House and S 2307 in the Senate - calls for the U.S., in countries where it is engaged in foreign assistance, to address the problem of violence against women and girls, to help create programs to educate local populations about recognizing and preventing such violence, to promote gender equality and to support existing programs that are confronting these issues. The proposed law would also make the U.S. State Department's Office of Global Women's Issues permanent, headed by an ambassador at large appointed by the president and reporting to the secretary. If passed, it would also require that U.S. contractors and grantees take measures to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse within their workforces.

The legislation, introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), is broad and somewhat vague. But it should not be controversial. It does not call for cutting aid to countries, even if they have a vile history of tolerating the abuse of women. Nor does it discourage or divert funds from programs that might be used to stem violence against men and boys. The legislation concentrates on women and girls because they are disproportionately the victims of rape, often carried out with impunity; in some places they can be sold or given away to men, or killed for disobedience.

There's no denying that the United States has its own continuing domestic problems with sexual violence, human trafficking and gender violence. This proposed law is not meant to suggest otherwise. But that does not mean that this country should not also have a role in fighting the violence against women that has become routine in other parts of the world, even as it seeks to address such issues here at home.

The litany of abuses perpetrated against women and girls around the world goes on and on.

It's difficult to understand why anyone would oppose a plan to combat gender-based violence, yet the International Violence Against Women Act has languished in both houses of Congress. Oh, wait - could that be because it is supported by the Obama administration, and in an earlier incarnation in 2007 it was cosponsored by then-Sen. Joe Biden?

Particularly offensive are the attempts of some opponents to pretend that the proposed law is merely a misguided liberal hobby horse. One critic, for instance - a research fellow at the Independent Institute, a nonpartisan think tank - called it an attempt "to insert politically correct feminism into the structure of other nations." Not only does that malign feminism and reduce rape and gender violence to issues of political correctness, but it misses the point of the legislation. This isn't about ideology, it's about human rights.

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international violence against women act

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Want to help protect women worldwide? Apparently, Congress doesn't.

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Recently, two girls, aged 14 and 15, were gang-raped in the poverty-stricken Uttar Pradesh state of India. They were later found dead, hanging from the branches of a mango tree. In Pakistan late last month, family members of a pregnant woman beat her to death with bricks and clubs outside a Lahore courthouse for marrying a man of her choice instead of the cousin her family preferred.

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“Women should not have to pry equality from the grip of Christian men. It should be surrendered willingly, with the humility and love of Jesus...I don’t respect Dan because he is a man. I respect Dan because when one of his friends moves, he’s the first to show up with his Explorer to help. I respect him because he’s the kind of guy who treats everyone with the same level of dignity.” (219)

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Mel B, the "America's Got Talent" judge once known as Scary Spice, has been awarded a temporary restraining order against her estranged husband, Stephen Belafonte, but only after publicly alleging a dark history of domestic violence she says went on during their nearly 10-year marriage.

The former Spice Girl, whose real name is Melanie Brown, filed for divorce from Belafonte, whose real name is Stephen Stansbury, on March 23.

In her explosive restraining-order request, which was filed Monday and obtained by The Times, Brown said she didn't know her ex's legal name until after they were married, as he'd held himself out as the son of entertainer Harry Belafonte, which he is not. His criminal record, detailed in the filing, includes a 2003 conviction for domestic violence against the mother of his first child.

A judge granted the temporary restraining order the day Brown filed for it. Belafonte is required to stay 100 yards away from Brown and the kids, including the 5-year-old daughter they share. He's also prevented, among other things, from contacting or threatening her in any way.

"I'm shocked at these allegations ... ," Belafonte told TMZ on Tuesday. "I think someone's trying to set me up to look like a bad guy."

In a case like Brown's, "the goal is to get protection obviously," family law attorney Peter Walzer, who doesn't represent either party, told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. However, he added, "these domestic violence restraining orders are extremely powerful in family law - can be a factor in setting spousal support, especially if he's a dependent spouse, and also is a factor in custody awards."

As a dependent spouse, he said, Belafonte would be looking at spousal support in the neighborhood of 25% of Brown's net income. Allegations of domestic violence could change all that.

At this point criminal charges are unlikely, Walzer said. "In this case, the police were never called," he said. "The police are not going to read the tabloids and then bring a prosecution for something that happened many years ago, probably in a foreign country."

Brown's divorce filing may have been prompted by the death of her father. In her restraining order request, she accuses Belafonte of hiding her passport so she nearly missed getting to see him before he died March 4 in Britain.

Monday's petition has plenty of shocking allegations - which at this point remain unproven. Brown told the court that Belafonte allegedly:

Choked her in a rage in 2007, which she labels the first incidence of physical violence between them.

Punched her in the face in Australia after accusing her of flirting with fellow "X Factor" judge Usher while she was working on the Aussie version of the show.

Punched her in the face with a closed fist in Prague when they got into a fight while traveling after the Spice Girls performed at the London Olympics.

Forced her to lie about injuries from those incidents after the marks were seen publicly. She told colleagues that her split and swollen lip in Australia was because of an allergic reaction to shellfish and tweeted that she'd hurt her face in Prague after falling while running in high heels.

Enlisted her in threesomes with "random women" and made sex tapes without her permission, then threatened to release the recordings to destroy her career.

Employed a nanny whom he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, had an affair with and eventually impregnated.

Suggested that the nanny have the child so they could all live together as a family. (The nanny ultimately had an abortion, the petition says.)

Brown says in the document that she tried to leave Belafonte "many times" during their marriage, which followed a two-month courtship at a time in her life when she described herself as "vulnerable." She said she didn't know until after they were married that her then-husband wasn't the son of entertainer Harry Belafonte, as he'd claimed to be. Every time she tried to leave, she said, he threatened her with violence and swore he would release the sex tapes.

"Thank God she got away," a source close to Mel B told " Entertainment Tonigh t" on Wednesday. "Mel's friends are shocked that it took her this long to finally leave him, but are so relieved that it happened. Everyone is so proud that she finally had the courage to leave him."

Family-law attorney Walzer said something similar.

"I'm glad she got the courage to do it, and it's not over. I'm sure she'll be under tremendous pressure to drop it," he said.

"But remember, now there is a restraining order. If he violates it, that's a criminal act and he will be prosecuted for that. I'm sure he's been told, be very careful, because if he threatens her, invades her e-mails, does any act that would be a violation of this order - and many people do, they can't control themselves. They think they're above the law."

Belafonte's conviction record in Los Angeles County includes a couple of crimes. In 2001, he pleaded guilty to vandalism - a charge Brown says was reduced from assault against two men - and was sentenced to 24 months summary probation.

In 2003, he entered a no-contest plea on a charge of domestic battery and was sentenced to 36 months of summary probation and 30 days in jail, the latter of which he swapped for 20 days of community labor with Caltrans.

On Friday, according to TMZ, Belafonte was patted down by federal agents outside his Hollywood Hills home. They were reportedly searching for firearms, though apparently none was found. Days later in her petition, Brown alleged that he possessed a gun illegally during their marriage.
cdz@latimes.com @theCDZ

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Mel B's marriage to Stephen Belafonte unravels in a slew of domestic violence allegations

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Mel B, the "America's Got Talent" judge once known as Scary Spice, has been awarded a temporary restraining order against her estranged husband, Stephen Belafonte, but only after publicly alleging a dark history of domestic violence she says went on during their nearly 10-year marriage.

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Ending Violence

Reproductive Rights

LGBTQIA Rights

Worker’s Rights

Civil Rights

Disability Rights

Immigrant Rights

Environmental Justice

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“He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into light.” Job 12:22

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-"Harness the political power of diverse women to create transformative social change"
-"Women-led movement providing intersectional education on a diverse range of issues; through trainings, outreach programs and events"
-"Committed to dismantling systems of oppression through nonviolent resistance and building inclusive structures guided by self-determination, dignity and respect"

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“Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation in on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm.” Isaiah 51:4-5

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“But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” Amos 5:24

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“When justice is done it is a joy for the just, downfall for evildoers.” Proverbs 21:15