Some countries adopt policies that are supportive toward women while other countries, despite being rich with oil and resources, having a democratic system and a high number of women in parliament, are still not overturning regulations unfavorable to women.

Last month, Laurel Weldon and Mala Htun published The Civic Origins of Progressive Policy Change: Combating Violence against Women in Global Perspective, 1975-2005. The two professors researched data from four decades and 70 countries, including Indonesia.

Weldon and Htun argue that in some parts of the world, violence against women is far more dangerous to the female population than terrorism or cancer. It is happening not only in homes or public transportation but also in offices and in government institutions. The range of violence varies from domestic abuse, rape, harassment, the sati practice of burning widows in ...