and social empowerment given how these factors undergird a woman’s safety.
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Rachel Jewkes Jewkes, a doctor and specialist in public health medicine, is a professor and the Director of the Medical Research Council’s Gender and Health Research Unit based in Pretoria, South Africa and acting Vice-President of the South African Medical Research Council. She has spent the better part of the last 20 years examining the intersections of gender-based violence, particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence (including child sexual abuse) and gender equity and health in South Africa—a nation with remarkably high rates of sexual abuse, especially against women and girls. Working with the government of South Africa, she has helped shape public health policy. She also sits on the advisory board for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) among others. A serious, and seriously effective, pro in the space of sexual violence reduction.
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Rishi, Nishi and Ravi Kant Ravi Kant is the President of Shakti Vahini an organization that combats human trafficking and violence against women and children in India. The group was founded by Ravi and his brothers in 2001; Nishi is its Executive Director and Rishi is a social activist. The triumvirate supports the organization that has become a leading voice in the debate about violence against women in India. The Kant brothers work together to get their country to wake up to the needs of women who have been abused, trafficked, attacked and enslaved. “Shaki is the mother goddess, the goddess who has fought injustice,” explains Ravi. “Vahini is a brigade. There are many of us and we’re fighting together.”
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Nicholas Kristof What do we really need to say about Nicholas Kristof? Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author and journalist, he has lived on four continents, reported on six—and traveled to more than 150 countries. A writer for the New York Times since 1984, Kristof has covered presidential campaigns, China’s Tiananmen Square movement (for which he and his much-acclaimed journalist wife Sheryl WuDunn were awarded a Pulitzer—the first married couple to win such an award for journalism), the genocide in Darfur, climate change and much more. Kristof has developed a very serious interest in the issue of violence against women, and dedicates many of his columns to the subject. In 2009, Kristof and WuDunn published Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity, which rapidly became a best-seller. The book is a passionate call to arms against what they perceive to be our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls the world over. The
book soon became a movement by the same name, bringing together video, websites, games, blogs and other educational tools to not only raise awareness of women’s issues, but to also provide concrete steps to fight against issues they face.
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Senator Patrick Leahy The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was enacted in 1994 in the U.S.; the legislation has been the bedrock of the federal government’s response to domestic violence since. It provides critical funding for programs and initiatives designed to support and help victims of domestic and sexual violence— programs that have saved lives and helped reduce domestic violence across the country. It also provides assistance to state and local law enforcement and to organizations that support and serve survivors of abuse. Senator Leahy (D-VT) has been a longtime defender of VAWA and spearheaded the recent multi-year effort to renew and improve this lifesaving piece of legislation. Partnering with Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Senator Leahy shepherded the legislation to passage in the Senate on February 12, 2013, with a strong bipartisan vote of 78-22. On February 28, 2013, a bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives voted to pass the bill. President Obama signed the bill into law on March 7, 2013. The Leahy-Crapo Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 renews VAWA’s charter for another five years and includes new and essential protections for all victims of domestic violence, including college students, immigrant women, tribal women and members of the LGBT community. The bill increases focus on sexual assault and will help reduce the backlog of untested rape kits and has provision to allow police and victim assistant providers to better respond.
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Somaly Mam Head of her eponymous foundation, Somaly Mam, a Cambodian human rights activist and survivor of sex slavery herself, empowers other survivors of sex slavery to end the horrible practice. Working with recovery centers in South East Asia in places like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, Mam estimates that she and her team have assisted more than 7,000 survivors to date. Also of note is AnnaLynne McCord, an actress in the American show “90210” who is a survivor who speaks out against sexual violence. She first disclosed her personal story in 2012 and works with the Somaly Mam Foundation to protect and empower others.
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Matthew McVarish The Scottish actor who stars in CBeebies hit TV show “Me Too!” is a survivor of child sexual abuse and an outspoken advocate for the fight against sexual violence. Currently, he’s on a 10,000 mile walk around Europe to raise awareness and educate people about sexual violence against children. The initiative, called “The togetherforgirls.org 53