Women, Gender and Human Rights: A Global Perspective

M. (ed.) Agosin

Rutgers University Press, 2001 - Social Science - 339 pages

"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. Agos n'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 Agos n, 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 Agos n 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).

Contents

• Introduction: 11
• Womens Human Rights in the Public: 65
• Women Violence and the Human Rights System: 83
• Mainstreaming a Concern for the Human: 98
• WOMEN AND HEALTH: 123
• The Rights of the Girl Child JULIA CHILL: 152
• Psychocultural Factors in the Adaptation of Jmmigrant: 170
• AND SOCIAL CHANGE: 189
• The Forgotten Minority JEAN TROUNSTINE: 205
• Degrees of Separation JANE STAPLETON: 219
• Gender Apartheid Cultural Relativism: 234
• Meeting the Challenge of the LocalGlobal Link: 246
• IViWOMEN AND THE CULTURES: 265
• Epistolary Literature JOSEPH SLAUGHTER: 289
• Before the Mirror CHRISTOPHER MERRILL: 312
• About the Contributors: 323
• About the Editor: 340

About the author

Marjorie Agosin was born in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1955. She has written many books of poetry and fiction. Her childhood and early adolescence were spent with her Jewish family in Chile, where her family also participated in the dominant Catholic culture. The young Agosin became keenly aware of her dual identity in her country, both as a participant and as an outsider. The overthrow of Salvador Allende forced her family to immigrate to Athens, Georgia, where she was then ostracized as an emigrant. She is a professor of Spanish at Wellesley College. The poet's current residence is in New England.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Women, Gender and Human Rights: A Global Perspective
• Editor: M. (ed.) Agosin
• Contributor: M. (ed.) Agosin
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2001
• ISBN: 0813529832, 9780813529837
• Length: 339 pages
• Subjects: Political Science / Civil Rights; Political Science / Human Rights; Social Science / Women's Studies