The Unfinished Revolution: Voices from the Global Fight for Women's Rights

by Minky Worden (Editor), Christiane Amanpour (Introduction)

Overview

“It’s a time of change in the world, with dictators toppling and new opportunities rising, but any revolution that doesn’t create equality for women will be incomplete. The time has come to realize the full potential of half the world’s population.”
       —Christiane Amanpour, from the foreword
 
The Unfinished Revolution tells the story of the global struggle to secure basic rights for women and girls, including in the Middle East where the Arab Spring raised high hopes, but the political revolutions are so far insufficient to guarantee progress. 
 
Around the world, women and girls are trafficked into forced labor and sex slavery, trapped in conflict zones where rape is a weapon of war, prevented from attending school, and kept from making deeply personal choices in their private lives, such as whom and when to marry. In many countries, women are second-class citizens by law. In others, religion and traditions block freedoms such as the right to work, study or access health care.  Even in the United States, women who are victims of sexual violence often do not see their attackers brought to justice.
 
More than 30 writers —Nobel Prize laureates, leading activists, top policymakers, and former victims—have contributed to this anthology. Drawing from their rich personal experiences, they tackle some of the toughest questions and offer bold new approaches to problems affecting hundreds of millions of women.  
 
This volume is indispensible reading, providing thoughtful analysis from a never-before assembled group of advocates. It shows that the fight for women’s equality is far from over. As Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate says, “Women are not free anywhere in this world until all women in the world are free.”
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781609803872
Publisher:	Seven Stories Press
Publication date:	03/06/2012
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

As Human Rights Watch's Director of Global Initiatives, Minky Worden develops and implements international outreach and advocacy campaigns. Before joining Human Rights Watch in 1998, Ms. Worden worked in Hong Kong and in Washington, D.C. at the Department of Justice. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she is the editor of China's Great Leap: The Beijing Games and Olympian Human Rights Challenges (Seven Stories Press, May 2008) and the co-editor of Torture (New Press, 2005).

Table of Contents

Foreword: A historic moment for women's rights ~ Christiane Amanpour; Introduction: Revolutions and Rights ~ Minky Worden; PART ONE: A revolution in thinking: women's rights are human rights: The Shoulders we stand on: Eleanor Roosevelt and roots of the women's rights revolution ~ Ellen Chesler; How women's rights became recognized as human rights ~ Charlotte Bunch; Technology's quiet revolution for women ~ Isobel Coleman; PART TWO: Revolutions and transitions: Islamic law and the revolution against women ~ Shirin Ebadi; A civil society-led revolution? Promoting civil society and women's rights in the Middle East ~ Sussan Tahmasebi; After the Arab spring, mobilizing for change in Egypt ~ Esraa Abdel Fattah and Sarah J. Robbins; Women in Iraq: losing ground ~ Samer Muscati; Saudi women's struggle ~ Christoph Wilcke; PART THREE: Conflict zones: Devastating remnants of war: the impact of armed conflict on women and girls ~ Jody Williams; Under siege in Somalia ~ Hawa Abdi and Sarah J. Robbins; Confronting rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo ~ Anneke Van Woudenberg; "I was sold twice": harmful traditional practices in Afghanistan ~ Georgette Gagnon; Letters in the night: closing space for women and girls in Afghanistan ~ Rachel Reid; PART FOUR: The economies of rights: education, work and property: Unequal in Africa: how property rights can empower women ~ Janet Walsh; Cleaning house: the growing movement for domestic workers' rights ~ Nisha Varia; Ending trafficking of women and girls ~ Mark P. Lagon; Do no harm: "post-traffiking" abuses ~ Elaine Pearson; PART FIVE: Violence against women: A needed revolution: testing rape kits and US justice ~ Sarah Tofte; Violence against immigrant women in the United States ~ Meghan Rhoad; Behind closed doors: domestic violence in Europe ~ Gauri van Gulik; PART SIX: Women and health: Maternal mortality: ending needless deaths in childbirth ~ Aruna Kashyap; PHOTO ESSAYS: THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTION IN IMAGES; Lasting wounds: female genital mutilation ~ Nadya Khalife; Fistula: giving birth and living death in Africa ~ Agnes Odhiambo; Fatal consequences: women, abortion and power in Latin America ~ Marianne Mollmann; PART SEVEN: Political constraints and harmful traditions: Claiming women's rights in China ~ Sharon K. Hom; A long march for women's rights in China ~ Sheridan Prasso; Girls not brides ~ Graça Machel and Mary Robinson; Damned if you do, damned if you don't: religious dress and women's rights ~ Judith Sunderland; PART EIGHT: The next frontier: a road map to rights: Funding an unfinished revolution ~ Gara LaMarche; The challenge of changing the world for women ~ Liesl Gerntholtz; Afterword: The revolution continues ~ Dorothy Q. Thomas.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This important book brings together the stories of women across the world who still struggle for their rights, and their rightful place in their own societies. Some of their stories are heart-breaking, others inspiring and uplifting. They tell us about the "power of an idea" to bring about real change in the lives of women and girls, however painfully slow in some places, and visibly strong in others." Lyse Doucet, BBC special correspondent

"The unfinished revolution made me angry and hopeful in equal measure - angry because it charts the abuse of women's rights the world over, hopeful because it tells the stories of brave women and men who are bringing change. Essential reading for those who work in the field of human rights." Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4 News

Editorial Reviews

Starred Review.

This compilation of commissioned essays, anecdotes, and photos presents a powerful overview of contemporary women's issues-from the unsettlingly enormous backlogs of untested rape kits in Los Angeles, to genital mutilation and child marriage in Kurdistan and Afghanistan-and the ongoing fight for women's rights around the world. Encompassing the voices of Nobel laureates (e.g., Tawakkyl Karmen and Jody Williams), a Somali gynecologist, domestic workers, an Egyptian social media activist, and many more, this invaluable tome provides an introduction to women's rights as human rights, tracks some of the movement's successes, reveals many lingering problems, explores "The Next Frontier," and offers suggestions for further reading. While women have come a long way in the past century-especially in the U.S.-Worden (Media Director of Human Rights Watch) and myriad contributors (men among them) show that women must unite as a whole in order to effectuate lasting, global change. Gara LaMarche-former vice president of the Open Society Foundations-maintains that "there can be no social or economic justice, or human rights progress around the world, that does not have women and girls at the core." While sociologically and academically relevant, this is a cohesive and eminently readable document that is simultaneously an inspiration and a call-to-action. Photos.
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Publishers Weekly

"Diverse voices of hopeless, hopeful, and boldly determined women from around the world comprise a compelling, multicultural resource supplemented by copious endnotes, a reading list, and an index." Booklist

"While sociologically and academically relevant, this is a cohesive and eminently readable document that is simultaneously an inspiration and a call-to-action." Publishers Weekly

"The unfinished revolution is a great read, essential for any reader who is passionate about human rights, freedom, justice, and equality for all." 5 star review on Amazon.com

"The book’s thoughtful organization and structure make it easily accessible to anyone interested in human rights, women’s issues or global inequalities." LSE Review of Books

From the Publisher