How can we understand and contest the global wave of violence against women? In this book, Alison Brysk shows that gender violence across countries tends to change as countries develop and liberalize, but not in the ways that we might predict. She shows how liberalizing authoritarian countries and transitional democracies may experience more shifting patterns and greater levels of violence than less developed and democratic countries, due to changes and uncertainties in economic and political structures. Accordingly, Brysk analyzes the experience of semi-liberal, developing countries at the frontiers of globalization--Brazil, India, South Africa, Mexico, the Philippines, and Turkey--to map out patterns of gender violence and what can be done to change those patterns. As the book shows, gender violence is not static, nor can it be attributed to culture or individual pathology--rather it varies across a continuum that tracks economic, political, and social change. While a combination of international action, law, public policy, civil society mobilization, and changes in social values work to decrease gender violence, Brysk assesses the potential, limits, and balance of these measures. Brysk shows that a human rights approach is necessary but not sufficient to address gender violence, and that insights from feminist and development approaches are essential.

Alison Brysk is Mellichamp Professor of Global Governance at University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the author or editor of fourteen books on human rights, including Speaking Rights to Power, From Tribal Village to Global Village, and Human Rights and Private Wrongs.

List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: Violence Against Women
Chapter 2: Constructing Human Rights
Chapter 3: Acting Globally: The International Rights Repertoire
Chapter 4: Standing Up for Security: Mobilization
Chapter 5: Freedom: From Sexual Slavery to Self Determination
Chapter 6: The Right to Life: Femicide and Intimate Partner Violence
Chapter 7: The Right to Bodily Integrity: The Struggle to End Sexual Violence
Chapter 8: Ending Impunity: Law and Its Limits
Chapter 9: Expanding Rights: Gendered Public Policy
Chapter 10: Norm Change: Pathways of Persuasion
Chapter 11: Conclusion. The Quest for Freedom from Fear
Notes
Bibliography
Index