Global Empowerment of Women

The empowerment of women is a broadly endorsed strategy for solving a host of difficult problems, from child poverty to gender violence to international development. The seventeen international scholars in this multi-disciplinary volume offer thoughtful critiques of the notion of empowerment based on their studies in twenty countries in all regions of the world. The comparative introduction places concepts of empowerment in the context of models of the market and of community, showing how contradictions in these models as they are enacted on the ground provide both spaces and constraints for women. The chapters consider opportunities for women in the context of globalization, resurgent nationalism and politicized religion, cultures of masculinity, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. They show how initiatives at national or global levels are transformed by local cultures and power structures, and demonstrate the fruitfulness of tensions between universal values of human rights and contextualized understandings. This landmark, multi-disciplinary collection of original studies by distinguished international feminist scholars will be an essential addition to the fields of Political Science, Women's Studies, Economics, Sociology, International Development, and Environmental Studies.

Carolyn Margaret Elliot is Professor Emerita of Political Science, University of Vermont.

Introduction: Markets, Communities and Empowerment Carolyn M. Elliott Part 1: Globalization and Neoliberal Governance 1. Competing Empowerments: Gender and Neoliberal Punishment in the East and West Lynne Haney 2. Biology and Destiny: Women, Work, Birthrates and Assisted Reproductive Technologies Wendy Chavkin 3. Socio-Economic Transformation under Globalization: The Case of Nepalese Women Meena Acharya 4. Epowerment of Women Migrant Factory Workers in South China: Opportunities and Contradictions Esther Ngan-ling Chow 5. Transnational Domestication: Indonesian Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia Rachel Silvey 6. Domains of Empowerment: Women in Micro-Credit Groups Negotiating with Multiple Patriarchies Lakshmi Lingam 7. Gender, Nation and the Dilemmas of Citizenship: The Case of the Marriage Acts of Trinidad and Tobago Rhoda Reddock Part 2: Politicized Religions and Citizenship 8. Constructing the Female Muslim Citizen: Law as a Site of Struggle for Inclusion and Exclusion M.L.P. (Titia) Loenen 9. Shar'iah Activism in Nigeria in the Era of the New Hudud Laws Margot Badran Part 3: Gender Violence and Masculinities 10. Sexual Violence Against Women and the Experience of Truth Commissions Julissa Mantilla Falcon 11. Rape, Trauma and Meaning Nicola Gavey 12. The Land of Real Men and Real Women: Gender and EU Accession in Three Polish Weeklies Agnieszka Graff 13. Understanding Masculinities, Empowering Women: What Have Boys in Ghana Got to Do with it? Akosua Adomako Ampofo and John Boateng 14. The Truth Will Set Us Free: Religion, Violence and Women's Empowerment in Latin America Monica Maher Part 4: Sexual Autonomy and Global Politics 15. Women, Culture and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Does the Empowerment Discourse Leave Out? Kawango Agot 16. Age of Consent Law and Moral Order: The Criminalization of Youth Sexual Relationships in Uganda Shanti A. Parikh 17. Hijacking Global Feminism: Feminists, the Catholic Church and Family Planning Debacle in Peru Christina Ewig