November 2005
Tina Johnson
New Titles in the Women, Ink. Collection Our four new books this month were all launched at the AWID International Forum on Womenís Rights and Development, held from 27-30 October 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Defending Our Dreams: Feminist Voices for a New Generation
- Guide to Equality in the Family in the Maghreb
- Women and the Politics of Place
- Women, Development, and the UN: A Sixty-Year Quest for Equality and Justice
Defending Our Dreams: Feminist Voices for a New Generation
edited by Shamillah Wilson, Anasuya Sengupta and Kristy EvansThis pioneering collection presents the original experiences, perspectives and visions of young feminists seeking to understand the current world order and shape a better future. Engaged as advocates, organizers, protesters, researchers and strategists, their energies, creativity and passion help to define social movements globally. The book brings together analyses by feminists of diverse identities on themes including women's rights and economic change, new technologies, sexuality and feminist organizations and movements. It presents key issues arising out of the experiences of young women living in both North and South, the challenges confronting young feminists and the agenda for a new era of feminist leadership and activism.2005. ISBN: 1-84277-727-0. 288 pages. WE728. US$27.50
Guide to Equality in the Family in the Maghreb
by Collectif 95 Maghreb-EgalitÈGuide to Equality in the Family in the Maghreb was developed by a coalition of womenís organizations from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia to communicate a shared vision of legal reform supporting the development of more egalitarian families, communities and societies. It is a unique advocacy tool that outlines a process relating meaningful social change to womenís capability to make deliberate and thoughtful choices.Family law in Muslim-majority societies governs every aspect of a woman's life - from minimum age and conditions of marriage, to divorce, child custody and the right to work, travel or decide on a place of residence. The reform of family law is therefore crucial to women's ability to participate on equal terms in both family life and the public arena. In each thematic module, the Guide presents the current state of the law then proposes religious, human rights, sociological and domestic legal arguments for reform, well-supported by relevant data.
Guide to Equality in the Family in the Maghreb is the first volume in a new Translation Series launched by Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP) to increase the availability of feminist works produced in the Global South, especially those that lucidly define womenís issues, identify fields of opportunity and map out strategies to empower women and promote their human rights.
2005. ISBN: 0-9770990-1-6. 207 pages. WE729. US$24.95
Women and the Politics of Place
edited by Wendy Harcourt and Arturo EscobarWomen and the Politics of Place examines how women's place-based politics - the various political activities carried out by women around the body, the environment, the community and the public arena - are effecting social change by creating and providing new ways of thinking about culture, identity and rights in today's world, where nothing is purely local or global. It looks at how women's economic and social justice movements successfully network, build solidarity, use ICTs, link together different issues and work with diverse cultural and social realities (including the contradictions and differences among women's groups).The authors argue that women's work towards greater equity, respecting and working with cultural and other differences, could well repudiate dominant development in the name of the defence of place, creating new structures of power and new forms of culture. They develop a conceptual framework, based on the most current debates in anthropology, geography, ecology and feminist and development studies, to guide academics, activists and policy makers toward an understanding of how women are politically negotiating globalization.
Also featured are the experiences of women working to defend their homelands on issues such as reproductive rights, land and community, rural and urban environments and global capital. Written for wide use by academics, students and practitioners, Women and the Politics of Place bridges the division between academic and activist knowledge with an original analysis of global feminist issues.
2005. ISBN: 1-56549-207-2. 232 pages. WE730. US$24.95
Women, Development, and the UN: A Sixty-Year Quest for Equality and Justice
by Devaki JainIn Women, Development, and the UN, internationally noted development economist and activist Devaki Jain traces the ways in which women have enriched the work of the United Nations from the time of its founding in 1945. Synthesizing insights from the extensive literature on women and development and from her own broad experience, Jain reviews the evolution of the UN's programmes aimed at benefiting the women of developing nations and the impact of women's ideas about rights, equality, and social justice on UN thinking and practice regarding development. Jain presents this history from the perspective of the South, which recognizes that development issues often look different when viewed from the standpoint of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.The book highlights the contributions of the four global women's conferences - in Mexico City, Copenhagen, Nairobi and Beijing - in raising awareness, building confidence, spreading ideas and creating alliances. The history that Jain chronicles reveals both the achievements of committed networks of women in partnership with the UN and the urgent work remaining to bring equality and justice to the world and its women.
2005. ISBN: 0-253-21819-5. 245 pages. WE727. US$22.95
Resources
Also launched at the AWID Forum was the fully redesigned Gender & Development, the thematic journal published three times a year by Oxfam UK. Each issue focuses on a topic of key interest, offering an up-to-the minute overview followed by a range of articles from researchers, academics, policy makers and practitioners. Recent topics have included the Millennium Development Goals (March 2005) and Mainstreaming: a critical review (July 2005). Each issue includes a resources section, listing publications, electronic resources and organizations. From 2006 Gender & Development will also include
- news and views on current events and trends in gender equality and women's rights;
- interviews and debates on cutting-edge issues; and
- book reviews on the latest publications.
For information on how to subscribe to Gender & Development, go to www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13552074.asp
Gender & Development is also available in electronic form to subscribers of the print version.The Focus on Gender series makes available each thematic issue of Gender & Development in book form. For titles carried by Women, Ink., visit www.womenink.org or contact us (see below).
If you have friends and colleagues whom you think will find the Booklinks useful, please let us know. To subscribe to Booklink, send an e-mail to wink@womenink.org and type the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
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