I dont want to be someone in my sixties holding on to a group that I created when I was in my twenties.

Since a very young age, my mother made sure to tell me about the plight of women... As she raised my awareness about women's issues, she also made sure to ingrain in me the importance of being strong and independent and not to let anybody define me by their images of what women should be.

Unfortunately, violence against women is not the only injustice women face globally; it is one of the many inequalities that impede the full development of socially excluded women globally.

Historically speaking, religious and conservative groups always wanted the control over the private sphere that impacts women most, as reflected by family law and women's access to resources and mobility. And often secular groups traded this for economic incentives and trade.

Everything is give and take. The solutions are in the middle not in the extremity of the situation.

I grew up with injustice and could do nothing about it. But once in America, I had freedom of choice.

I firmly believe today that the only way to stop violence against women is to speak out and refused to be silenced.