ABOUT THIS BOOK

The 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights expresses the credo that all human beings are created free and equal. But not until 1995 did the United Nations declare that women’s rights to be human rights, and bring gender issues into the global arena for the first time. The subordination of indigenous and minority women, ethnic cleansing, and the struggle for reproductive rights are some of the most pressing issues facing women worldwide.

Women, Gender, and Human Rights is the first collection of essays that encompass a global perspective on women and a wide range of issues, including political and domestic violence, education, literacy, and reproductive rights. Most of the articles were written expressly for this volume by internationally known experts in the fields of government, bioethics, medicine, public affairs, literature, history, anthropology, law, and psychology.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

MARJORIE AGOSIN is recipient of the Henrietta Szold Award by Hadassah (2001), the Gabriela Mistral Medal of Honor (2000), and the United Nations Leadership Award (1999). She is a professor of Spanish at Wellesley College. Among her books are A Map of Hope: Writings on Women and Human Rights and The Alphabet in My Hands (both by Rutgers University Press).

REVIEWS

The Devastating commonalities and startling differences in women's oppression and activism around the world are keenly explored in this excellent anthology. Agosin's collection provokes a powerful reexamination of the humans rights field.— Jacqueline Bhabha, Harvard University

This anthology adds strength and credence to the struggle for women's human rights. It reinforces the conviction that no society can prosper and no new world be born until the rights of women are fully protected and realized.— William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International, USA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. Theoretical Visions
Becoming Human: The Origins and Development of Women's Human Rights ARVONNE S. FRASER
Indivisible or Invisible: Women's Human Rights in the Public and Private Sphere SHEILA DAUER
Women, Violence, and the Human Rights System SALLY ENGLE MERRY
Mainstreaming a Concern for the Human Rights of Women: Beyond Theory FELICE D. GAER

II : Women and Health
Women's Health and Human Rights JULIE H. LEVISON AND SANDRA P. LEVISON
The Rights of the Girl Child JULIA CHILL AND SUSAN KILBOURNE
Psychocultural Factors in the Adaptation of Immigrant Youth: Gendered Responses CAROLA SUÁREZ-OROZCO

III : Women, Activism, and Social Change
Women's Rights as Human Rights: Women as Agents of Social Change TEMMA KAPLAN
The Forgotten Minority JEAN TROUNSTINE
Degrees of Separation JANE STAPLETON
Gender Apartheid, Cultural Relativism, and Women's Human Rights in Muslim Societies MAHNAZ AFKHAMI
Grassroots Organizations and Women's Human Rights: Meeting the Challenge of the Local-Global Link MARY GESKE AND SUSAN C. BOURQUE

IV : Women and the Cultures of Displacement
"What Was She Doing There?": Women as "Legitimate Targets" BARBARA HARLOW
How Long Does Exile Last? AGATE NESAULE
Letters of the Law: Women, Human Rights, and Epistolary Literature JOSEPH SLAUGHTER AND JENNIFER WENZEL
Before the Mirror CHRISTOPHER MERRILL
About the Contributors
Index
About the Editor