the reality of inequality

in my research on sexual and gender-based violence, i came across these quotes:

'Each time a person stands up for an idea, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, (s)he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.'
Robert F. Kennedy

'Violence against women is global in reach, and takes place in all societies and cultures... It affects women no matter what their race, ethnicity, social origin, birth or other status may be... Much more reamins to be done to create and sustain an environment where women can go about their lives free from this scourge.'
Kofi Annan

'Where after all do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home... such are the places where every man, woman and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination.'
Eleanor Roosevelt

'The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.'
Albert Einstein

'[Rape] is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear.'
Susan Brownmiller

'The day will come when men will recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside, but in coucils of the nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race.'
Susan B. Anthony

'Women are the victims of this patriarchal culture, but they are also its carriers. Let us keep in mind that every oppressive man was raised in the confines of his mother's home.'
Shirin Ebadi

'There must be no impunity for gender based violence. Let me be clear. What we are talking about is not a side issue. It is not a special interest group of concern to only a few. What we are talking about are not only women's rights but also the human rights of over one half of this globe's population... Violence against women concerns not only women but above all the rest of us.'
Sergio Vieira de Mello

'A great many people think they are thinking when they are just rearranging their prejudices.'
William James

although the material i am reading is shocking, disgusting, and appalling, i am grateful to be in the position to use it in appeals for money to combat such inequality. as a friend told me this morning, i won the lottery by being born in canada. i don't disagree.