At the Women in the World summit last weekend, Tina Brown, editor of The Daily Beast, kicked off the three-day event with a provocative statement:

“Women’s rights are to 21^st century what the civil rights movement was to the 20^th century.”

For those who may be ignorant to the global women’s crisis, this sort of proclamation could be seen as sensationalist language. However, if you watched any part of the weekend’s programming, you would quickly retract your doubts.

The myriad of panelists from around the world – Ireland, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the United States – demonstrated that feminism need to go global and we must stand beside our international sisters as we lead the revolution toward worldwide equality for women and girls.

Recent struggles in the United States surrounding health care, in addition to the alarming news that maternal mortality has doubled in the past 20 years, demonstrate that even in one of the most developed nations, women still sit at the feet of a patriarchal system. However, it is clear that there are even larger battles to fight abroad. Feminists in America need to not only work to protect their own rights, but also open their eyes to the major needs of women around the world.

Fatima Bhutto, the daughter of Benazir Bhutto, discussed the problems women face in Pakistan related to Hudood Ordinances which makes it impossible for women raped in Pakistan to testify in their own rape trial because they are considered “half a witness.” At the end of the panel, Bhutto issued a call to American feminists saying that it would “be useful to ask your government to stop propping up corrupt governments.”

Madeline Albright, the first woman to become Secretary of State, discussed how women are the key to the future stability of countries around the world saying, "When women are politically and economically empowered, countries are more stable." She noted that "women are often the canary in the coal mine" and when women are treated badly, it indicates larger structural problems.

There was also a compelling discussion about the sex slave industry that is proliferating around the world, particularly in India, where 1.2 million children are caught up in human trafficking as child prostitutes. 

Listening to the panelists discuss the treacherous cycle for young women who get trapped into sex slavery as early as 10 years old, made me wonder if a country like India can even be considered a true democracy when the powers of globalization and the severe class divide institutionalizes this abusive environment for the nation’s female population.

Luis CdeBaca, U.S. Ambassador-At-Large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons discussed how to define the problem of sex slavery saying, “It doesn’t matter if they are in a factory or a brothel – it depends if they are a woman.”

From this description, it made sense when Shoma Chaudhury, Managing Editor of Tehelka shared how in places such as India, “politics matters less that corporate behavior.” The question of corporate sponsorship versus corporate social responsibility prevailed in this discussion in terms of how international players can help India break the cycle of sex and labor slavery.

Chaundry pushed back on corporate interests and said that “It is not enough that you partner with an NGO on how to run a factory – I want to know how you run your business.”

From this discussion, it became clear that not only do we need labels on our food and clothing to tell us if it is organic, fair trade and sustainable – but also a label identifying our products as “slave free.”

Additional highlights from the weekend came from Secretary Hillary Clinton, who introduced the reading from the play “Seven” where the likes of Meryl Streep shared amazing true stories of female change agents around the world. The real world heroines came on stage after the reading and seeing them all together really helped solidify the sense of a true global women’s movement for me.

As you can probably tell, it was a jam packed weekend with stories shared by women from all over the world – from Anchee Min, Chinese author and activist, to Kiran Bedi, India’s first female police officer to Queen Rania – it was an all-star cast of women who are at the forefront of the feminist struggle to create a better future. The presence of major female television journalists such as Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer,  Barbara Walters, Christiane Amanpour (just to name a few) helped to connect the important narratives being told with the mainstream media.

After I left the summit, I was left with a lot of knowledge, but many more questions. And they are questions that I think we all should be asking ourselves as activists in the United States and around the world.

When it comes to dealing with corporate versus political entities, which one has the real power to create change? When it comes to forcing women out of brothels – how do we know what is “best for them” if we are not creating a new system where women won’t fall prey to future objectification? We say we want to give women a voice, but are we giving the true survivalists a chance to speak for themselves and a seat at the table? Have we identified the conflict between the western and global feminist movements? What are we doing to work together?

It is clear that the global women’s movement has arrived. And this century is indeed the time for women to finally gain equal footing with men around the world. Thanks to Tina Brown, who organized the summit, we have heard the stories, we have listened to our international sisters, now it is time to act.

See videos of interviews and summit coverage over at The Daily Beast.