The gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old Indian women on a bus in December 2013 shocked India and the world. A new awareness of the problem awakened hope that things might change but systematic corruption means progress has been slow.

In Afghanistan, Africa, China, Eastern and Western Europe women are still being oppressed in the 21st century. What are the causes? Why are female foetuses aborted? Why are women subjected to genital mutilation, imprisoned in their own homes, sentenced to death by stoning? What role does war, poverty, lack of access to education play in turning women into victims? Is a male-dominated society to blame? Why are women in many countries still considered the possessions of fathers, husbands and brothers without any autonomy? Why do they not have the same rights as men?

This week Malala Yousafzai will receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She has been a tireless campaigner for the rights of children, in particular girls, to attend school. Malala almost paid for this activism with her life.

So what is holding back the empowerment of women? How long do women around the world have to wait for justice and equal rights?

What do you think? Write to us: Under Attack - Women in a Man's World
Quadriga[at]dw.de

Our guests:

Martina Sabra - has studied Islam and Islamic societies, and has worked as a journalist for more than 20 years in the Middle East and North Africa (including in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria). She has written mainly on topics such as migration, democratic development and human rights.

Katarzyna Stoklosa –is a cultural scientist from Poland. She studied at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt on the Oder and also at the Moscow State University in Russia. After completing her studies, she worked in numerous institutes. In 2003, she then took over leadership of the Central and Eastern Europe department at the German Council on Foreign Relations. Today, she works as an assistant professor in the Department of Border Region Studies at the University of Southern Denmark.

Catherine Wolf - is a research associate with the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) in Berlin. As a public international lawyer, she has expertise in human rights, development cooperationand gender-based violence. Before joining GPPi, Catherine worked with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Lima on justice administration, services and public awareness regarding gender-based violence in Latin America. Catherine completed an LLM in public international law at King’s College London. She has published commentaries for the Berlin based newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.