Global Empowerment of Women: Responses to Globalization and Politicized Religions (Routledge Research in Gender and Society)

Contains critiques on the notion of empowerment of women by seventeen international scholars. This volume considers opportunities for women in the context of globalization, resurgent nationalism and politicized religion, cultures of masculinity, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. 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 Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 10 Dedication and Acknowledgments......Page 16 Introduction: Markets, Communities, and Empowerment......Page 18 Part I: Globalization and Neoliberal Governance......Page 40 1 Competing Empowerments: Gender and Neoliberal Punishment in the East and West......Page 42 2 Biology and Destiny: Women, Work, Birthrates, and Assisted Reproductive Technologies......Page 62 3 Socio-Economic Transformation under Globalization: The Case of Nepalese Women......Page 74 4 Empowerment of Women Migrant Factory Workers in South China: Opportunities and Contradictions......Page 94 5 Transnational Domestication: State Power and Indonesian Migrant Women in Saudi Arabia......Page 118 6 Domains of Empowerment: Women in Micro-Credit Groups Negotiating with Multiple Patriarchies......Page 136 Part II: Politicized Religions and Citizenship......Page 158 7 Gender, Nation, and the Dilemmas of Citizenship: The Case of the Marriage Acts of Trinidad and Tobago......Page 160 8 Constructing the Female Muslim Citizen: Law as a Site of Struggle for Inclusion and Exclusion......Page 178 9 Shariah Activism in Nigeria Under Hudud......Page 190 10 The Land of Real Men and Real Women: Gender and EU Accession in Three Polish Weeklies......Page 208 Part III: Gender Violence and Masculinities......Page 230 11 Sexual Violence Against Women and the Experience of Truth Commissions......Page 232 12 Rape, Trauma, and Meaning......Page 250 13 Understanding Masculinities, Empowering Women: What Have Boys in Ghana Got to Do with It?......Page 264 14 The Truth Will Set Us Free: Religion, Violence, and Women’s Empowerment in Latin America......Page 282 Part IV: Sexual Autonomy and Global Politics......Page 302 15 Women, Culture, and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Does the “Empowerment” Discourse Leave Out?......Page 304 16 Age of Consent Law and Moral Order: The Criminalization of Youth Sexual Relationships in Uganda......Page 320 17 Hijacking Global Feminism: Feminists, the Catholic Church and the Family Planning Debacle in Peru......Page 344 Works Cited......Page 366 Contributors......Page 394 Other Scholars in the NCS Program......Page 400 Index......Page 404 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. Through case studies in twenty countries the volume probes meanings of women?s empowerment in the context of local conflicts around power, culture and violence, and initiatives from national and global levels Edited By Carolyn M. Elliott. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [349]-376) And Index.