Women, Gender, and Human Rights: A Global Perspective

Book Description:
"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 "The devastating commonalities and startling differences in women's oppression and activism around the world are keenly explored in this excellent anthology. Agosín's collection provokes a powerful reexamination of the human rights field."-Jacqueline Bhabha, Harvard University "This moving anthology, masterfully compiled by poet and human rights activist Marjorie Agosín, is a must for scholars, students, and human rights workers; it also will captivate the general reader."-Elena O. Nightingale, scholar-in-residence, National Academy of Sciences "Essential reading, Women, Gender, and Human Rights argues forcefully and convincingly that the elimination of gender-based violence and discrimination, so often ignored by governments and aid organizations, must be at the center of the struggle for social justice and human dignity in this new century."-Eric Stover, author of The Graves: Srebrenica and Vukovar 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 women's rights to be human rights, and bring gender issues into the global arena for the first time. Women, Gender, and Human Rights is the first collection of essays encompassing a wide range of women's issues, including political and domestic violence, education, literacy, and reproductive rights. Most of the essays 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. Recipient of the Henrietta Szold Award by Hadassah (2001), the Gabriela Mistral Medal of Honor (2000), and the United Nations Leadership Award (1999), Marjorie Agosín 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).