Women's Movements in the Global Era ─ The Power of Local Feminisms

This book provides a path-breaking study of the genesis, growth, gains, and dilemmas of omen’s movements in countries throughout the world. Its focus is on the global South, where women’s movements have engaged in complex negotiations with national and international forces. It challenges widely held assumptions about the Western origins and character of local feminisms. The authors locate women’s movements within the terrain from which they emerged by exploring their relationships with the state, civil society, and other social movements.

This fully revised second edition contains new chapters by leading scholars of women and gender studies. The book includes chapters on individual countries alongside chapters on several major regions of the world—Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East—to enable readers to identify regional patterns and also learn from in-depth case studies. This is book is essential reading for anyone interested in the global scope and implications of feminism.

Amrita Basu is the Paino Professor of Political Science and Sexuality, Women’s and Gender Studies at Amherst College. She is the author of Two Faces of Protest: Contrasting Modes of Women’s Activism in India and Violent Conjunctures in Democratic India. She is the editor or coeditor of Appropriating Gender: Women’s Activism and Politicized Religion in South Asia, Beyond Exceptionalism: Violence and Democracy in India, The Challenge of Local Feminisms: Women’s Movements in Global Perspective, Community Conflicts and the State in India, and Localizing Knowledge in a Globalizing World. She has received research awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Social Science Research Council, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and American Institute of Indian Studies.