With the devastating sentencing of two American journalists, North Korea once again is thrust into the spotlight. With no due process Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been sentenced to 12 years in the notorious labor camps of North Korea. One can only hope that with the power behind these two women there will be a swift resolution and they will be returned home to their families.

However, what about the thousands of women who simply don’t have the resources or people working on their behalf as these two women do? Women are at risk constantly in countries where they are both marginalized and economically disadvantaged.

Drug trafficking has greatly increased the number of women being incarcerated, as many see little recourse to help remove them from desperate situations most of us can’t even imagine. It’s estimated that at least 65% of women if foreign prisons are there for drug smuggling.

With no access to lawyers or due process the release of these women is bleak at best.

“Females are secondary.”

This statement, made in 1998 by Andrew Winston, the chairman of the Virginia Board of Corrections, essentially sums up the position of women in the larger scheme of the U.S. prison hierarchy. Although Winston conceded that this is the unfortunate case in terms of the design of many American prisons and inmate services, little has changed in the past 11 years (Winston still serves on the Board of Corrections). Most prison services, he stated at the 1998 Friends of Incarcerated Women conference, are built to benefit males.

The power dynamics of prison severely disadvantage the prisoner. Being at the absolute mercy of her guards and correctional officers and relying on them for basic necessities such as food there is little balance. Guards have unlimited access to prisoners and their living environment, including where they sleep and where they bathe. And with little in the way of punishment they act with almost complete impunity.

And this is in the U.S. where, although still far from where we should be with women’s rights, we’re leaps and bounds ahead of such countries as North Korea or Cambodia.

“While the potential of women is recognized at the international level,” says World Health Organization director-general Margaret Chan, “this potential will not be realized until conditions improve – often dramatically – in countries and communities. Too many complex factors, often rooted in social and cultural norms, continue to hinder the ability of women and girls to achieve their potential and benefit from social advances.”

With no improvements in the structure of these communities there will be no improvements in the treatment of women, particularly those incarcerated.