Nirbhaya, as the media has nicknamed her, is a martyr for women’s liberation. The New Delhi medical student’s gang rape and murder brought international attention to rape culture in India and inspired global protest against sexual violence. She is called Nirbhaya, or "Fearless" in Hindi, for the brave fight she put up in her final moments and, fittingly, she is now one of ten women who will receive the U.S. State Department’s International Women of Courage Award.

When will the U.S. recognize the victims of gendered violence within its own borders? (Newtown grafitti)

The posthumous award will be presented by Secretary of State John Kerry and First Lady Michelle Obama tomorrow (March 8) for International Women’s Day. For a terrible price, Nirbhaya has more than earned the honor. But just when exactly is the U.S. government going to recognize the tens of millions of women within its own borders who have suffered from America’s very own rape culture?

The most uncontestable truth about gender-based violence is that it is everywhere—first world and third world, democracy and dictatorship, glam neighborhood and ghetto. Worldwide, this type of violence has affected over 1 billion women, approximately one third of all women living on the planet. It is a universal problem supported by universal systems of gender inequity and silence.

As grateful as I am that Nirbhaya’s brutal death generated such an outrage, I wonder why similar outrage has not erupted over the rampant sexual violence perpetrated within the United States military and at colleges.

A 2012 documentary, "The Invisible War," revealed that 20 percent of female veterans have been sexually assaulted while serving in the U.S. military and that a woman in a combat zone is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.

On college campuses, the situation is equally alarming. Americans seem woefully unaware of the extent of sexual violence in this context, but it is estimated that one in four women attending college in America will be raped or sexually assaulted. One in four. That isn’t a much smaller percentage than the global figure of one third—and the former fraction only includes victims of sexual violence. Countless more young women will experience physical or emotional abuse within sexual or romantic relationships.

Beyond the sheer statistics, institutional responses to these events are disturbingly inadequate. In 2011, less than six percent of sexual assault reports in the U.S. military ended in a conviction of the perpetrator. College administrations, meanwhile, have recently fallen under media scrutiny for underreporting and under-addressing sexual violence. Last October, Amherst College was vetted in national and college student media for sweeping allegations of sexual assault under the rug in the interest of keeping up appearances as a prestigious liberal arts institution.

Landen Gambill, a sophomore at the University of North Carolina, has actually been threatened with expulsion for speaking publicly about her rape. University officials have accused Gambill of “disruptive” behavior intended to “disparage” her rapist and jeopardize his academic opportunities—even though she has kept his identity anonymous. Meanwhile, Gambill’s rapist continues to attend UNC with full privileges and even live across the street from the woman he victimized.

So, while the State Dept. is entitled (and right) to present Nirbhaya with the International Women of Courage Award, theirs will only be a legitimate commitment to combatting sexual violence if they also turn their attention to assaults perpetrated on American soil. If we only ever point fingers at other cultures for the encouragement and tolerance of rape, we are failing in our duty to uphold basic human rights and equality between women and men. We are also derailing the global movement against sexual violence by skewing public perception of where, how and why assaults occur.

To be frank, the whole thing smarts of Gayatri Chakrovorty Spivak’s characterization of the typical global response to women’s oppression: “White men are saving brown women from brown men.”

Too often, the state, society and individuals within it act like sexual violence is a phase the West has outgrown. War rape and female genital mutilation are splashed across newspaper pages, but women who report sexual assaults in their college dormitories are silenced or ignored. France’s law forbidding the wearing of Muslim headscarves in public schools is celebrated by some as a victory for women’s rights—but it’s yet another piece of legislation telling women what they can and can’t do with their bodies. The U.S. government did not hesitate to use the gender oppressive aspects of the Taliban and the Hussein regime as justification for the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, but we are not above lampooning the plight of the women who suffered under these systems in order to glorify our country’s own treatment of women.

Improvement is on the horizon. The release of "The Invisible War," the increased media attention given to sexual assault on college campuses—as well as the increased willingness of victims to share their stories, the amendment of the Violence Against Women Act to include provisions clarifying the rights of victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence and stalking on campus. But the fact remains that rape culture has not been given enough attention on the international or domestic level.

A recent study published by the American Political Science Review reveals that the mobilization of feminist movements may be more effective in reducing violence against women than political parties, the wealth of a nation or the number of female politicians. If our government refuses to make a public statement about sexual violence in America, then perhaps the responsibility is indeed better in the hands of the public themselves.

The statement we make will not be incomplete; it will take a stand against rape culture wherever it exists and it will acknowledge that every culture—Western or non-Western—still has a long way to go to ending gender-based violence.

Reach Deputy Opinion Editor Francesca Bessey here; follow her here.