Jimmy Carter Writing Book on Women's Rights, Ties to Religion

Former President Jimmy Carter's next book will champion women's rights and criticize those who hide behind religion to deny equality.

"A Call To Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power" is scheduled for publication March 25, according to publisher Simon & Schuster.

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Carter, 89, was the United States' 39th president, serving from 1977-81. The book is described as his personal observations from his travels around the globe, according to The Associated Press. He describes many abuses against women and girls, and cites the twisting of religious texts used as justification.

Carter has also written "In An Hour Before Daylight" about his Depression-era boyhood on a Georgia farm, as well as "The Virtues of Aging" and a controversial book on the Middle East titled, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."

"I am convinced that discrimination against women and girls is one of the world's most serious, all-pervasive and largely ignored violations of basic human rights," Carter wrote in his book proposal, which was obtained in September 2013 by The New York Times. "It is disturbing to realize that women are treated most equally in some countries that are atheistic or where governments are strictly separated from religion."

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