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"By this point, you&amp;#039;ve probably learned all about Susan B. Anthony in school and are a pro on women&amp;#039;s rights in the States. But do you know what issues other girls just like you are facing across the globe? Read on to find out! P.S. You can get involved with the issues below by helping to pass the International Violence Against Women Act! It addresses United States leadership to safeguard girls across the globe from violence.  1. Unequal Government Laws In places like Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq, the government makes women unequal before the law. They also restrict their participation in public life and put male family members in charge of them. Honor killings also take place \u2014 which are when females are murdered because they are considered to have shamed their families through immoral behavior. Usually male relatives commit most of these murders or crimes because they believe that it will restore their family&amp;#039;s honor. Scary stat: In April 2007, a 17-year-old girl named Du&amp;#039;a Khalil Aswad was stoned to death in Iraq for an honor crime. She was allegedly in a relationship with a Sunni Muslim boy and went missing from her home one night. Male relatives with the help of other men committed the murder and captured it on videotape.  2. Sexual Assault Any unwanted sexual act can be considered assault, such as molestation and rape. This is a huge problem in Darfur, where rape has been used as a weapon of war since the conflict started in 2003. Many girls and women there are forced to leave their homes, which puts them at increased risk for violence, sometimes from government officials who are supposed to be protecting them. Sex trafficking is also a form of assault, and takes place in countries like Thailand. An estimated 1.8 million kids, mostly girls, are involved in commercial sex work. Many of them are abducted or sold by their families, who are desperately poor. Scary stat: One out of every three women worldwide will be physically or sexually abused during her lifetime, and rates can reach a whopping 70 percent in some countries. 3. Female Genital Mutilation According to the World Health Organization, FGM is the injury or removal of a female&amp;#039;s genital organs for cultural, nonmedical reasons. It is performed to guarantee a girl&amp;#039;s chastity until marriage and takes place in 28 countries in Africa, as well as several countries in Asia and the Middle East. The practice can have devastating consequences, such as failure to heal, increased susceptibility to HIV, childbirth complications, and inflammatory diseases. In some cases, severe bleeding and infection can even lead to death. Although girls are threatened to stay silent, some have begun to speak out about this issue, like Fatima from this season&amp;#039;s America&amp;#039;s Next Top Model. Female genital mutilation is internationally recognized as a human rights violation. Several countries have enacted policies and laws that ban it. Scary stat: Between 100 and 140 million women of all ages are estimated to have undergone female genital mutilation, and 3 million are at risk for it each year. 4. The Wage Gap Significant strides in women&amp;#039;s rights have been made, and it is now totally common, and even encouraged, for girls and women to work. However, there is still a wage gap whereby females don&amp;#039;t make as much as men for the same job \u2014 even in the United States! According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women are only paid 77 cents for every dollar that a man is paid. Although this isn&amp;#039;t true for all countries, it is for the great majority of them. In places like Guatemala, South Africa, and Mexico, employment laws can be discriminatory. Private employers can even use a woman&amp;#039;s reproductive status to exclude them from work. Scary stat: Women are estimated to make only around 30 percent of what men make in the countries surveyed in the Middle East/North Africa, 40 percent in Latin America/South Asia, 50 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, and 60 percent in industrialized countries. 5. Child Quota In China, there is a limit to how many children a couple can have. According to their law, urban families are only allowed to have one child and rural families can have up to two if the first-born is a girl. This started in the late &amp;#039;70s as a way to control the amount of people living in China, since it is the country with the largest population in the world. It has created a gender imbalance because there are so many more boys than girls, and it could take up to 15 years to sort it out! Although there is no conclusive evidence, census data shows that the number of male births is abnormally high, because the traditional view in most Asian countries is that men are worth more than women. Sex-selective abortions \u2014 which aren&amp;#039;t a crime in China \u2014 may account for the imbalance. Scary stat: In 2005, 118 boys for every 100 girls were born in China. CG! Cheers:  Not all of international women&amp;#039;s rights issues are negative. Check out these recent accomplishments! -In 2006, Chile and Jamaica elected women for the first time as their heads of government. -In 2006, the Republic of Korea appointed its first female prime minister. -In 2005, a woman was elected president of Liberia. -Finland, Ireland, and the Philippines currently have female presidents. -Women are heads of government in Bangladesh, Germany, Jamaica, New Zealand, Mozambique, and the Netherlands! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/advice/a11212/issues-across-the-globe/>