Women and girls like Najdah and Malala are targeted in the hope that their heroic voices will not be heard.

When Kadi entered the United States for the second time, she knew there would be no returning to her home country of Mali. An activist who fought for women’s rights and who defied her husband and community to protect her daughter from female genital mutilation, she knew that returning would cost her her life and leave her daughter without a protector.

Tahirih’s fortified presence in Baltimore could not come at a more critical time, as the community’s immigrant population continues to grow exponentially.

The two women met for the first time last week at a sleek Georgetown hotel, where they were speakers at a glittering charity dinner. They shook hands and hugged across a vast gulf of culture, geography and faith: one a devout Muslim from West Africa with her hair carefully hidden under a tight scarf, the other a gregarious South Asian in a stylish sari and costume earrings.

Tahirih Houston celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, 2012, with a gathering to honor pro bono attorneys, volunteer interpreters, and others who have assisted Tahirih throughout the year.

For women and girls like Tahirih’s clients, it is not enough to have just any attorney. Their unique gender-based violence cases require attorneys who are well-versed in both sensitive cultural issues and the extremely complicated and often unexplored territory of gender-based immigration law.

She tried to get help from the police, but they told her, ‘Woman, that is a family affair. Go and submit to your husband.’