International Perspectives on Women

Book excerpt: "International Perspectives on Women" provides an interdisciplinary examination of the local and global impacts of the institutionalization of gender roles, class, race, religion, and nationality in social, economic and political policies. This anthology explores how these factors differentiate the life experiences of women. It also examines the negative impacts of such policies on gender relations, environmental health, and economic development, in addition to discussing the mechanisms used to counteract such policies. Readers will learn how gendered perspectives are integrated into economics, politics, and global processes. Selections in "International Perspectives on Women" are organized into three major thematic sections: Part One of the book reviews the origins and constructions of gender roles, class and race, among other factors; Part Two offers a critique of Western feminisms in their universality; and Part Three addresses economic reforms advocated by the international financial institutions and the resultant of feminization and informalization of labor. Dr. Esther Wangari is an Associate Professor of Women s Studies at Towson University. She was the recipient of the prestigious Henry Welcome Award from Maryland Commission of Higher Education and served as Director, Women's Studies Graduate Program from 1999-2005. She has a Ph.D. in International Development and Political Economy from the New School for Social Research in New York, and was a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Clark University in Worcester. Dr. Wangari is the author of ""The Heritage Library of African Peoples: Ameru (1995) and co-editor and contributor to "Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and Local Experiences" (1996). She is also an author or co-author of eighteen publications covering a wide range of issues such as "Globalization in the Third World: Impact on Women's Land Rights and Education in Kenya; Reproductive Technology From A Third World Feminist Perspective; Lifespan Development Revisited: African-Centered Spirituality Throughout the Life Cycle"; and "The Effects of Science and Development on Environment and Gender."