This ambitious volume brings together original essays on the U.S. women's movement with analyses of women's movements in other countries around the world. A comparative perspective and a common theme--feminism in social movement action--unite these voices in a way that will excite students and inspire further research. From the grassroots to the global, the significance of the U.S women's movement in the international arena cannot be denied. At the same time, the way in which international feminism has developed--in Asia, in Latin America, in Europe--has altered and expanded the landscape of the U.S. women's movement forever. These distinguished authors show us how. Visit our website for sample chapters!
A must read for feminist activists, scholars, and policymakers. As this book amply demonstrates, women s movements around the world have much to learn from each other. The Challenge of Local Feminisms is the best place to start ... an inspiration and a challenge for us all. —Bella AbzugCochair, Women's Environment and Development Organization
The analysis of gender and political inequality, and the women's movements that have contested it, has concentrated on the West. In this wide-ranging reevaluation, incorporating development studies and political sociology, Maxine Molyneux redresses this balance by analysing Latin American women's movements within liberal, authoritarian and revolutionary states. These studies of Argentina, Nicaragua and Cuba, alongside comparative discussions of socialism, women's movements and citizenship, examine the complex, and persistent, interaction of states and women's movements, and the diversity of responses engendered.
This book provides a path-breaking study of the genesis, growth, gains, and dilemmas of women's movements in countries throughout the world. Its focus is on the global South, where women's movements have engaged in complex negotiations with national and international forces. It challenges widely held assumptions about the Western origins and character of local feminisms. The authors locate women's movements within the terrain from which they emerged by exploring their relationships with the state, civil society, and other social movements. This fully revised second edition contains six new chapters by leading scholars of women and gender studies, on both individual countries and on several major regions of the world? Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Maghreb. This balanced coverage enables readers to identify regional patterns and also learn from in-depth case studies. Women's Movements in the Global Era is essential reading for anyone interested in the global scope and implications of feminism.
Women, Politics, and Power provides a clear and detailed introduction to women's political participation and representation across a wide range of countries and regions. Using broad statistical overviews and detailed case-study accounts, authors Pamela Paxton and Melanie Hughes document both historical trends and the contemporary state of women's political strength across diverse countries. In addition to describing worldwide themes, the book acknowledges differences among women through attention to intersectionality and heterogeneity among women. Dedicated chapters on six geographic regions highlight the distinct paths women may take to political power in different parts of the world. There is simply no other book that offers such a thorough and multidisciplinary synthesis of research on women's political power around the world.
Women's Movements in the Global Erais a path-breaking study of the genesis, growth, gains, and dilemmas of women's movements in countries throughout the world. Its focus is on the Global South, where women's movements have engaged in complex negotiations with national and international forces. It challenges widely held assumptions about the Western origins and character of local feminisms. All the authors locate women's movements within the terrain from which they emerged by exploring their relationships with the state, civil society, and other social movements. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the global scope and implications of feminism. Contents 1. Introduction Africa 2. South African Feminisms: A Coming of Age? (Elaine Salo) 3. "The Future Will Be Better Next Time": Opportunities and Challenges of the Zimbabwean Women's Movement (Shereen Essof, Ramagwana Rakajeka) Asia 4. The Women's Movement in Pakistan: Challenges and Achievements (Farida Shaheed) 5. Feminist Deliberative Politics in India: Some Reflections (Kalpana Kannabiran) 6. The Chinese Women's Movement in the Context of Globalization: Opportunities and Challenges (Naihua Zhang) Europe 7. Polish Feminism between the Local and the Global: A Task of Translation (Elzbieta Matynia) 8. Russian Women's Activism: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back (Lisa McIntosh Sundstrom) Latin America 9. Contemporary Feminisms in Brazil: Achievements, Shortcomings, and Challenges (Cecilia M. B. Sardenberg, Ana Alice AlcÁntara Costa) 10. Seeking Rights from the Left: Gender and Sexuality in Latin America (Elisabeth Friedman) 11. Towards a Culturally Situated Women Rights Agenda: Reflections from Mexico (R. AÍda HernÁndez Castillo) The Middle East 12. The Demobilization of the Palestinian Women's Movement: From Empowered Active Militants to Powerless and Stateless "Citizens" (Islah Jad) 13. The Women's Movement and Feminism in Iran: A Glocal Perspective (Nayereh Tohidi) The United States 14. Intersecting Oppressions: Rethinking Women's Movements in the U.S. (Julie Ajinkya)
This book chronicles the dawn of the global movement for women's rights in the first decades of the twentieth century. The founding mothers of this movement were not based primarily in the United States, however, or in Europe. Instead, Katherine M. Marino introduces readers to a cast of remarkable Latin American and Caribbean women whose deep friendships and intense rivalries forged global feminism out of an era of imperialism, racism, and fascism. Six dynamic activists form the heart of this story: from Brazil, Bertha Lutz; from Cuba, Ofelia Domingez Navarro; from Uruguay, Paulina Luisi; from Panama, Clara Gonzalez; from Chile, Marta Vergara; and from the United States, Doris Stevens. This Pan-American network drove a transnational movement that advocated women's suffrage, equal pay for equal work, maternity rights, and broader self-determination. Their painstaking efforts led to the enshrinement of women's rights in the United Nations Charter and the development of a framework for international human rights. But their work also revealed deep divides, with Latin American activists overcoming U.S. presumptions to feminist superiority. As Marino shows, these early fractures continue to influence divisions among today's activists along class, racial, and national lines. Marino's multinational and multilingual research yields a new narrative for the creation of global feminism. The leading women introduced here were forerunners in understanding the power relations at the heart of international affairs. Their drive to enshrine fundamental rights for women, children, and all people of the world stands as a testament to what can be accomplished when global thinking meets local action.
The third edition of the Feminist Theory Reader anthologizes the important classical and contemporary works of feminist theory within a multiracial transnational framework. This edition includes 16 new essays; the editors have organized the readings into four sections, which challenge the prevailing representation of feminist movements as waves. Introductory essays at the beginning of each section lay out the framework that brings the readings together and provide historical and intellectual context. Instructors who have adopted the book can email [email protected] to receive test questions associated with the readings. Please include your school and location (state/province/county/country) in the email. Now available for the first time in eBook format 978-0-203-59831-3.
The Women's Movement Inside and Outside the State argues that the mobilization and success of the U.S. women's movement cannot be fully understood without recognizing the presence of feminist activist networks inside the federal government. Utilizing in-depth interviews and historical sources, Lee Ann Banaszak's research documents the significant contributions that these insider activists made to the creation of feminist organizations and the vital roles that they played in the development and implementation of policies in many areas, including education, foreign policy, and women's health. Banaszak also finds that working inside government did not always co-opt or deradicalize these activists. Banaszak's research causes us to rethink our current understanding of many social movement concepts and processes, including political opportunities, movement institutionalization, and confrontational tactics, and it alters our conception of the interests and character of the American state.
