U.S. is ‘culpable’ in oppressing women’s rights, Carter says

Judy Woodruff interviewed President Jimmy Carter today about his new book “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power,” and the conversation touched on the Carter Center’s efforts to promote human rights for women worldwide.

But women’s rights aren’t only an issue abroad in poor nations according to Carter. “The United States is very culpable,” he said. “Only 4 percent of the rapes on college campuses are even reported, because the presidents of the greatest universities don’t want to report sexual abuse on their campuses, because it brings discredit to them.”

In his book, Carter takes on issues affecting women around the world, from trafficking, to lack of education, to honor killings, to issues of pay equality. And a central cause for many of the abuses, he contends, is “largely caused by a false interpretation of carefully selected religious texts and a growing tolerance of violence and warfare, unfortunately following the example set during my lifetime by the United States.”.