The protests sparked by gang-rape in India aren't the beginning and they won't be the end

The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. This latest wave of protests swells an ever-growing tide – from the Egyptian women marching against sexual harassment in the very streets where they fought for revolution, to the Belgian student whose film exposed to the world the harassment and abuse women face daily on the streets of Brussels, to the Reclaim the Night marches and the ‘ Slutwalks’ sparked when a policeman told a group of women in Toronto to stop “dressing like sluts” if they wanted to avoid victimization. The Vagenda website’s satirical take-down of traditional women’s magazines has been a success, while nearly 20,000 women have added their voices to the Everyday Sexism Project, documenting in shocking detail their daily experiences of street harassment, workplace sexism and assault. One woman told us: In so many situations where women were previously told to put up and shut up, they are now standing up regardless, and finding thousands of others standing alongside them. “I calmly took his registration and went straight to the police… He's been charged…” Another woman wrote: “reading the stories here and knowing that there are thousands of other women out there who are sick of this kind of thing has made me feel more confident to challenge it and stand up for myself, because I know that I am not alone.” As Eve Ensler’s One Billion Rising Event nears; as Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard speaks out passionately against misogyny in politics; as a 14-year-old girl takes on a massive magazine empire in her quest for un-airbrushed teenage models; as women in India, Nepal and Pakistan take to the streets to fight for their right to safety from violence and assault, we are seeing a global groundswell.