Down-shifting GEAR

United Nations | Pro-life activists gather to fight a proposed international, billion-dollar, pro-abortion agency | Alisa Harris

Liu Xin/Newscom

NEW YORK—Just days before Meryl Streep swished across the Academy Awards red carpet in a white dress, she came to the United Nations in a gray suit and glasses and lent her expressive voice to a plea for women's rights. "Women should not have to wait," she said before introducing Sarah Jones, who took the stage and said in a British accent that she was nervous about speaking before the distinguished body: "I thought a very civilized British accent might kick things off with a bang."

She drew laughs, the accent melted away, and she said she decided instead to be herself—a girl from Queens, New York. Then she launched into a one-woman performance of her play "Women Can't Wait," taking on the persona of seven women who suffered discriminatory laws, ranging from the absurd (women are still not allowed to wear pants in Paris) to the tragic—honor killings and rape. In the character of a bustling Indian woman who had suffered marital rape—a practice banned in India only five years ago—Jones joked about the blockbuster film, Avatar: "I agree that the blue alien women seem to have more rights on their planet."